In order to encourage independent work on writing goals, I have created this post for students to reflect on what makes diction strong or weak etc. This is a good place to discuss strategies for improving your diction etc. These responses can be used as "proof" that you are independently finding strategies etc. Keep revisiting this post as people update it.
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50 comments:
my diction is alright. I have some good vocab but with other words i have trouble on. The main source i use is a thesaurus. All you do is look up the word and it comes up with 10 others. This has helped me with many prompts and projects in language arts. anyone know any others?
I was looking online and i found a really kool way to improve your vocab. Vocabulary tree is where you think of one really simple word like cup and when i think of cup i think about knife, fork, late, dishes, etc. so then youd take a word from the frist list like knife and think of words that remind you of a knife. then you keep going till u want to stop.
When doing the drag and slash editing method for many peices of my writing i found that it also helps with chosing the right words. If you go through each sentence and read it carefully its easy to take a plain sentence and turn it into something that sounds really important. Also, as i was looking at methods online i saw that many sentences with better diction start with a different subject... for example, before: (Nobody liked him because a lot of people were saying bad things.)
after: (False rumors tarnished his reputation. )
I find it easier to come up with words like tarnished and reputation when i rephrase the sentence.
I need to work on my diction. Its funny because sometimes i will use terrific words and my sentences will sound great and other times my head is completely emty of creative words or phrases.
my diction is improving a lot more then i ever though it would. I never thought i would be able to understand all the words that we would circle and underline during class, but i eventually learned stratigies how to. like i just stated, i always circle or underline words that i don't really know the meaning to and i try and take a guess. after that(when i get up to 20 words maybe,) i search them up in the dictionary and get the full and complete meaning. ever since i did this, i have been extending my vocabulary to a very more excellerated level.
my diction is definately improving from the beginning of the year. we have done so many methods for making our stories really good. for example, like julia, drag and slash editing does help you alot because you read each sentence and you break it down to eventually see if the sentence make sense or if they have good diction. so with drag and slash editing you remember better words to improve either your story or the other persons story. Also this marking period we are trying to make our diction better. so i went online and found many websites to improve my word choice which has helped alot.
Just thinking about what the person is feeling helps. If they are "happy," are they just happy? Or are they ectstatic? Thrilled? Jovial? Jubilant? Or are they sad? Depressed? Crest-fallen? If they are mad, they can be infuriated. Agrivated, furious, or wrathful. Sometimes, yes, you are just happy or mad or sad. But if they feeling a little different, or the situation is unique, they might be feeling something more.
My diction has miraculously improved this year. to improve my diction I would use many methods that we used in class, like drag and slash editing or just thinking of improved words to write down.I would also go online and see if there were any synonyms to that word that I could use. My sister would also tell me to put myself in that situatioin,and ask what would I really feel. Like if I wrote down Tommy was happy today, I would put myself in his position and feel what he should really feel. Joyous,cheerful,merry.....and it supported me alot- or should I say,immensely!:) ;)
-But I still really do need to work on my diction.
I agree with Bowen. The utalization of a thesaurus is an excellent stradegy for improved diction. The only blemish in the thesaurus is that if you make a mistake, like finding the incorrect use or tense of the word, it can ruin your sentence, thus making your diction atrocious.
Like most people have said, my diction has definately improved since the beginning of the year. When I look back at my first piece of writing, i found words like said or walk, that I could have replaced. Once in a while i will find myself looking in the thesaurus, but other times, i refer back to what I read in my pleasure reading book. You can find some other ways to write a word just by reading. This has helped me improve my writing.:)
My diction is slowly making its way to the top. I have tried many different stragities to improve like looking online. I have not found much that has helped me improve, but i have found some word games that help me on my Itouch. For example , there's this one game where you can try to figure out if the word is spelled correctly and if i'm not mistaken it will give you the definition. Also other games like bolderdash could help, but most of the time they give pointless words. Occasionally I look back at a thesaurus, which could help sometimes, but other times it doesn't. I have learned to look back in my book and write down all the words I don't understand. My mom encourages me to look them up online and use them in my stories. Thanks for giving me some other stragies. I will be sure to look up vocabulary tree;erin!
A way to improve your diction is to keep adding words to one word like a vocab tree or a list. You can put a word on the top of the list like mad and keep adding words to it like angry or frustrated. If you do it on word, then it has thesaurus if you right click.
My diction is okay. Like Bowen; i have good vocab, but need a better way to find other words that are related to what i am trying to say besides looking through a book that weighs 10 pounds. There are some good online sites, but most of them are useless, especially whenever you search somthing the first page and a half of results is from wikipedia. Another way that I thought of to improve my diction, i know that it is kind of random and can be totaly unrelated to what you are trying to do; say the word out loud and see if the first word that comes to mind would make any sense at all. Most of the time this doesn't work, but if you have nothing else to do, it works okay. Also like Joey said, if you go into Word 2007 you can highlight the word and right click for a thesaurus, i don't know if 2003 has it though. One final way to inprove diction is to use Microsoft Encarta, it is like an inteligent version of wikipedia, but it is computer software, you can get it at Target, it has a dictionary and a thesaurus.
My diction is pretty good. i think that it has improved from the beginning of the year, but could still improve more. The drag and slash editing has helped. When i am writing a piece for class, i usually look at the words that i put in the piece and try to improve them the best i can. Like if i put the word run, i would change it to something like bolted or dashed. i also do what colin said and use the thesaurus on microsoft word. a good site for getting better words is thesaurus.reference.com
My diction isn't that great. I tend to write the way I talk, but I'll improve. I could probably improve it by looking for better words in a thesaurus. But, like everyone else has said about their diction, mine has also improved.
My diction is ok but,is better then last year. A way to help me with my dictiont this year is after i finished a writing piece i would underline some words that could be more creative. Then i think of more creative words to replace it or if i have to use a thesaurus.
My diction is alright, I still need to work on it. I agree with Jaaaames because I do tend to write the way I talk as well. My diction has improved since last year though. When I do my drag and slash edit, I always look for weak words or weak descriptions to make my writing seem more realistic so you can picture it better. I think diction helps bring out the theme in the story and makes it much more enjoyable. I'm starting to understand it a lot more.
I need a little help with diction but what I do is make a list of words that mean the same. Also I found a mini thesaurus in my desk at home so I just bring that one to school and for homework when i need good diction. I agree with bowen when he says, "The main source I use is a thesaurus" because thats what I use the most.
This year my diction has improved immensely. While typing essays and short stories i re-read my work. In that process i find words that i used poorly or it didn't make sense so, i go to dictionary.com or thesaurus.com to find a better word. For example, after typing the word better in the previous sentence i looked for a more appropriate fit on thesaurus.com. It came up with...bigger, exceeding, choice, exceptional, finer, fitter, greater, prominent, improved, sophisticated and about 8 others! This gives me a wide variety to choose from even though some may not work...you just meed to look the synonyms up. Also after reading the short stories in class my diction has improved. When we search for good diction in short stories we find the definition and are required to use them in our own stories. I find this very useful...Although these techniques have helped improve my diction i still need to work on it and try to use exceptional diction outside of class!
I feel that my diction is very excellent. I know many synonymns for about every bland word out there like good and sad. In past writing assignments I feel that it was not as bold an exciting. However my word choice has greatly improved after constant rereadings of essays that were old. From this I now know that guite a few words can be replaced with a much more supireior vocabulary.
As we have talked about in Mr. Horvath's class, diction is not just about word choice. It is also about relating the chosen word to the theme of the story or essay. Synonyms may improve word choice, but they do not always improve diction. I can sit here and talk about how good or bad my diction is, but that wouldn't be doing anything. Everyone's diction still needs a little bit of work no matter how good you think it is. I believe that the posting of this topic was to influence people to reflect on how they can improve their diction instead of talking about how good it is.
Like all people, I can improve my diction. The first step to doing so would be to understand what it actually is, and how to use it. I have yet to be able to make my diction totally interpretive and not superficial. While I do believe that i have an adequate knowledge of word choice, i am still struggling with relating it to the theme. Google is a helpful tool for my improvement. For this topic, i have to agree with Mikaela. It is an immense help to re-read prior essays and improve not just vocabulary, but also tie organization into it as well.
Let's be honest. as of now, not many people have "perfect diction". So it is good to talk about ways to enhance sentences and make your writing more interesting to read. I find that one of the best ways to improve your diction is to simply pull out a thesaurus every time you use a word that seems ineffectual or insipid. This way you can always have powerful language in your writing.
i think people should maybe use a thesaurus. also maybe u can work with friends and come up with better words. also maybe a parent can help too.
Ways that I've got my diction up was by simply reading, the more you read, the better words you learn to use since, in great books, there are great description using words that aren't saying 'bad' instead they use words like 'unacceptable'. And if you don't understand the words, look them up in a dictionary, that way instead of not knowing or understanding, you learn what it means and what it says in the story. Simply reading has improved my vocabulary.
in class mr horvath uses alot of words i dont really know the meaning of. so i have been writing them down and infering what they mean. once i get home i look up what they mean. it has already helped alot and i have only been doing it for two days.
now after a couple weeks i have found myself using thesaurus and dictionary.com much more! this week (1/3 to 1/8) i used a simple word confused/puzzled...so i went on thesaurus.com to find a more enriching word to replace confused....ENIGMATIC!!! enigmatic and about 15 other ideas popped up but i decided to make enigmatic my word of the week...
i agree with julia. also, i have a pretty good vocab, i just dont always know how to put it into words. like mykaela, i try to look in a thesouraus to hlep me find better words to use. also, for a private school entry test i had to take, i had to know a lot more words and word roots. i still have a list of words i didnt look up yet and i think looking up some of those and adding them in when i write can really improve my writing.
I think i have an ok use of good word diction. But what really helped me was when i am writing an essay or something on microsoft word, after i finish i would go back and find boring, cliche-like words. then i would highlight them, right click them and go to synonyms. Usually it will come up with better words that help my writing as a whole. Try it!
I dont have good diction. I need to find ways to use bigger words and elaberate more. I will just have to work further with it.
As just about every other person has mentioned in this blog, most of us have diction that can be improved... I feel that my diction is pretty decent, but it wouldn't be at all near how it is if I didn't use the strategies that I do. When I'm typing up a draft of a piece that i've allready written in my journal, I takle the words that may not be the most fully0elaborated and go to thesaurus.com( My best friend), and find a word that is even more desirable word from the list...The only problem with this is that sometimes the words might not ALL fit in the context of what you're writing, so you have to know exactly what your new word means when substituting it into your writing. For example, you might wanrt to say " The girl was pretty." If you want a better word for pretty, you could go to thesaurus.com and look at their choices. Many of the choices are much improved, but you have to think of exactly what KIND of pretty you want. You may not want to use "elegant" or "dainty" ( both are choices) if you're describing a girl that is pretty in a more girl-next-door type of way. You have to make sure that the word you choose FITS and puts accross what you are trying to communicate. That is what i've learned.
aiden,
having a good diction is not necessarily just about using big words, because if i was talking to you and i kept using "Big" words i can sound like a total idiot. Having good diction is mostly about using the right words in the right places. Say i was talking about how a dog ate a shoe. I could say"The dog ate the shoe." Or if i was using good diction i could say " The little rascals puppy decided to tear apart the shoe" I didn't use complicated words, i just put the right words in the right order. Reading the dictionary is a an example of a boring way to to find out what words mean and how to use them. Why don't you try using a thesaurus when you write something. Its better then reading a dictionary. Also not alot of people use giant words when they talk so whats the point of writing them. Also it may be boring to you but just READ. Believe me it helps.
WELL..................................................................
STEP 1: Bland Sentence
ex. The boy chased the puppy.
STEP 2: Find subjects and "spice 'em up".
ex. The youth chased the puffball of a puppy.
STEP 3: Take any opportunity you have to make the sentence pop.
ex. The frustrated youth dashed after the puffball of a puppy.
STEP 4: If it still sounds bland, change the order!
ex. The puff ball of a puppy was dashed after by a frustrated youth.
IDK this is what I do. Diction isn't just word choice, as Tyler said, it's about word placement as well. Sometimes the sentence can be improved more by changing the order rather than the words.
Also as Massar$) said, anyone can use big words. It takes skill to have them actually make sense and sound intelligent.
danaK that definitly will help me whenever i have trouble with sentences. I like the steps better than just using "bigger words"
I have found just carrying a little dictionary/thesauras. These books are really resourceful and give you lots of information. For example once i need a better word for "ran". I took out a mini thesauras and looked it up. In the end I came out with "dashed" instead of "ran" and it helped me change the tone of the sentence from quick to really actionful and fast.
Yes but Garrett, if you don't have a thesauras (because most people don't carry one around with them), Dana's four steps would work better.
Dana's step 4 was like what i said in a previous commnet. A sentence almost always sounds better (if the right word shoice is used) when the order is changed. DanaK, i think your 4 steps will definately help alot of people including me. Thanks alot!!
Some great strategies being offered here. A word of advice to everyone on this thread...great diction comes from caring about what you say. You have to search for authenticity in everything you put on the page...meaing this, I don't think that "my heart stopped when he smiled at me" is an authentic piece of writing. Better diction would force you to look inward and search for a real reaction...how do you react when someone "cute" smiles at you? Chances are your authentic feeling/reaction...averting eyes and tugging at a loose strand of hair...is something others can relate to. This makes it authentic as opposed to some hokey "heartstopping" moment when a "jawdropping" guy/girl smiles at you. Keep working hard. You guys continue to amaze me on this blog
Mr. Horvath is right(obviously). The best diction is achieved when you look for a actual reaction that you or somebody else would have. If you just replace words in a sentence, the great writing you may be looking for won't be there.
the main way i work on my diction is by using a thesaurus. i look up words that i would normally use and find more interesting words. for example if i would normally use the word "walk" i would look up walk and find new better words like strolled and skipped.
My word of the day??? Surreptitiously!! Meaning? Secretly/Clandestinely/covertly.
i think diction is hard for everybody and when your writing your not really thinking about using good word choice. I think that in order to be a really good writer you need to be able to stop while your writing and think about what words would be most interesting.
diction is very hard to improve. I cant understand alot of words and I dont use large words in everyday talking and I dont work well enough on it in my quick write. I still have work to do on it.
to improve my diction so far during the marking period, i printed out all my pieces of writing and did a drag and slash edit. i found for over half of my words i can edit and improve them to add more effect. on the words that i couldnt find substitutes for, i used a thesaurus and looked for the bect option. one other thing i did was for a few pages at a time in my book i read through and saw if i could improve any of the authors word choises, or just notice if he used any words that really stand out.
one great way to have better diction is to read alot. reading expands vocabulary by forcing new words on to you and you have to understand them so by reading alot it will expand your vocabulary and increase your diction.
I noticed that a few people mentioned that they write like they talk. So if that applies to you, like it does with me,a good way to practice incorporating better diction, may be to talk with better diction in your daily life.
To improve my diction i started using the thesaurus more often to find higher quality words. Also i re-read my stories to see if i can find better words instead of vauge words like, good, bad, pretty, ect. By reading the entries on this blog also gave me new ideas on how to im prove my diction.
Allright..here are my tips on how to fix some of the "normal" phrases that just really bug me:
Nobody is just "good" at something. They shne at whatever it is, they are brilliant at it, they are skilled at it, they have an acute understanding of it, and there are endless other possibilities( savvy, proficient, etc.)
"smart" can be any of the following: ingenious, adept, resourceful, shrewd, impertinent, etc. Just using "smart" leaves it so bland and uncreative, and it just bugs me.
Well, those are some of the things that i like to fix in my writing, and maybe they'll help someone else, too!
When I do my writing I go back and check every sentence. Even if a word sounds good to me I find a better one to replace it. Also with my sentences, I will try to change atleast one sentence in a paragraph to something with great diction and that catches the reader's attention. Although a word might sound great there is always a way to make it better. EXAMPLE:the word happy everyone uses but there are other words that fit, like; Convivial, Estatic, Contented, etc. Another great trick, like Erin said is the Vocabulary tree. It is a great technique to use. All you have to do is think of one word, and then think of words that come to mind when you say the word. Once you have those words use one of them and start up the cycle again. That could be very helpful when trying to think of words that will replace words that are weak. I think before this Marking period I wasn't as strong with word choice as I was with my other writing, but now that I have these tricks it has become much better.
(SARAH MCCAULEY)
Regarding Ian, you're right. Reading is probably the most important strategy in improving diction. On the other hand, reading will not improve your diction unless you aply what you learn. If everyday I read 5 great words in my book, but then I went to bed and didn't think about them, reading would be pointless. My stradegy is to circle the words in my book that i don't know. First I'll read with a pencil in my hand, circling all of the words that are foreign to me. Next I will go back into my book and next to the circled word I'll write thte dictionary definition. Now that I have found this stradegy very effective my dictino has improved immensely.
Ian reading a lot doest mean a thing unless you apply what you have read to real life. It is as Mr.Horvath told me ( well implied ) that unless you are writing in the style of your author then it does not really help your diction. the only really affective way is incorporating new vocabulary into everyday speech, because most of us tend to write as we speak. A very effective way of enhancing your diction is a big book that has been around for hundreds of years. AKA the dictionary. The word diction is in the word dictionary thus making it the best way to improve your diction. Just to make sure that you were listening THE ONLY WAY TO ENHANCE YOUR DICTION IS TO CONSTANTLY INGUIRE NEW VOCAB AND APPLY IT TO EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!!
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