First aid for your writing

All of us have trouble at times introducing some variation into our writing.

All of us tend to use the same verbs over and over again.

All of us need to refresh our prose style and introducing some variation in our verbs.

Here is a list one of my students passed on to me, and I pass it on to you.

Do note that ‘imply’ and ‘infer” appear on the list and this is a big stone in the road that many students trip on, so just remember that ‘imply’ means putting in and ‘infer’ taking out or from.  Maybe remember the the putting in word has a ‘p’ in it, and the taking from word has an ‘f’; if you can get this straight, you’ll be way ahead of many of your IB peers.

Also note that ‘evoke’ appears on the list; this is the one that is generally relevant when writing about literature. (“The lexical field of darkness evokes the opposite feeling we may experience with the references to light in the first stanza.”) The ‘invoke’ word means calling upon some power, whether of the gods or of ideas or words. (“Cassandra invoked the power of the gods in her attempt to curse her opponents.”)

Just click.