If you want to add sizzle to your PR materials, or anything you write, start by eliminating lazy words.
A word I catch myself using, especially when I’m in a hurry, is “good.” Thanks to Custom-Writing.org, which writes academic papers, for a helpful infographic of 200 Powerful Words to Use instead. The photo above shows only one category of words: those used to describe work. Other categories include words for describing:
Taste
A performance
A book
A movie
A holiday
An opportunity
A change
A personality
A smile
An idea
A cafe
An exhibition
A view
An achievement
An adventure
A question
A look
Abilities
Don’t Print This Writing Cheat Sheet
When Jack Milgram of Custom-writing.org email me this week and shared the infographic, I told him I’d love to see the text in a Word document suitable for printing and posting on a bulletin board so we don’t have to waste all that ink for a clunky infographic, especially if we’re printing multiple copies for others in the office. He loved the idea and said he’ll add a link to the blog post. Stay tuned…
More Lazy Words and How to Strengthen Your Writing
Also see these lists, perfect for strengthening and toning your writing muscle:
50 alternatives to the word ‘excited’ by Laura Hale Brockway
41 alternatives to the word cool, also by Laura Hale Brockway
20 fabulous alternatives to the word awesome by Laura Pepper Wu
Alternatives to the word ‘but’ for academic writing by ProofreadMyDoc.com
Have you found similar lists? Share the link in the Comments.
If you’re a wordsmith, see my guidelines on how to pitch a guest blog post for The Publicity Hound’s blog.
Check out IEW Institute for Excellence in Writing. They have an exceptional routine for teaching writing to youth. Word lists for many ‘banned’ words such as like, see, good and many others.
Thanks for tipping us off to this site, Karl. But I can’t find any of the lists you mentioned. Can you provide a link?
I absolutely LOVE this post! Thank you for all the word knowledge!
Glad to help, Annette. That list is a keeper.