18 Common Words That You Should Replace in Your Writing

　　――By ALICIA PRINCE

　　A perfectly constructed world is flat on the page if you use feeble, common words. When you’re finished constructing your perfectly balanced world, do your writing a favor and take another pass to weed out these 18 haggard words. 本文中让大家适当替换的词，并不是为了追求所谓的“高大上”，而是为了让我们的文章更加清楚地表述我们想要表达的内容。

　　单击回顾1-9：换掉这些词，让你的写作level up!

　　10. Next

　　Whenever we describe something coming “next,” we run the risk of losing our readers. Good options to make your reading more powerful include “upcoming,” “following” or “closer.”

　　这段描述中有一个说法很值得学习呢：run the risk of doing sth.冒着……的危险。比如，为了警告年轻人不要总是熬夜，可以说：If you were to stay up late all the year around, you would definitely run the risk of dying prematurely. 想要描述将士们准备好拯救被困民众，可以说：Soldiers are ready to run the risk of losing their lives to rescue the people trapped in the disaster areas.

　　11. Young

　　Another case of being too generic（普通的） is what makes “young” a problematic adjective. If you want your writing to be more captivating（吸引人的）, try switching “young” out for “youthful,” “naive” or “budding.”

　　替换的时候请务必注意单词的感情色彩：

　　（1）youthful = typical of young people or seeming young【褒】年轻的，青春的，有青春活力的

　　（2）naive = innocent = not having much experience of how complicated life is, so that you trust people too much and believe that good thigns will always happen【贬】幼稚的，无知的，容易轻信的

　　（3）budding = someone who is just starting to paint, act, etc. and will probablybe successful at it 【褒】崭露头角

　　关于young和old的替换，常被应用哦！

　　Question:

　　Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is just as important for older people to study and learn new things as it is for younger people.

　　年轻人的其他说法：the young，young people，adolescent (青少年，就是初中-高中生这样) ，youngster（少年，儿童）， young generation (年轻一代)

　　大家可以思考一下，那么old people可以如何替换呢？欢迎在留言处回复~

　　12. Never

　　“Never” is also among common words to use sparingly. Not only is it a common, stale deor, it’s also usually incorrect. For something to never happen, even one instance makes this word inaccurate. Try “rarely,” “scarcely” or “occasionally” instead.

　　这个词最大的问题在于过于绝对：

　　never的意思就是“从未”，即使有一个反例也不算never，表述过于绝对。这就好像，我们在做托福的阅读和听力题时，只要见到这种绝对词，就一定不选。

　　所以，用rarely, scarcely这种表示“几乎从未”的词来替代，就会显得严谨许多。

　　类似的还有：hardly, barely 请注意，这些都是否定词，如果用在句首，需要整个句子都半倒装哦！

　　例如：正常语序是：Icanhardly live without you.

　　半倒装语序是：Hardly canI live without you.

　　所谓半倒装，就是将助动词提前啦！如果是完全倒装的话，就是提前谓语动词~

　　13. Thing

　　“Things” is another repeat offender when it comes to worn out words. Another word where specificity is the key, try replacing “things” with “belongings,” “property” or “tools.”

　　其实，things最大的问题，就是不够具体。我们要尽量避免在描述中过多使用things。

　　比如：问Do you think students should travel around from time to time? 很多同学喜欢说: I agree with the statement because students can learn a lot of things during the trip.那么究竟学到了哪些东西呢？如果可以具体一点就更好啦！比如：你可以这样说：I agree with the statement because students can learn about the local culture of the destination, like its language, arts and cuisine.

　　14 . All

　　Just like “never,” “all” is an encompassing, absolute term. Not only is “all” unoriginal, it’s not usually factual. Try using “each” and “copious” instead.

　　和never的问题一样，all也是过于绝对。

　　比如：今天晨读团练习的题目是：了解意大利文化的最佳方式是什么？有同学说是：上烹饪课。在论证中提到：Food represents the culture of all countreis。这就有点绝对，并不是任何一个国家的文化都可以为美食所代表，我们倒是可以说：大部分国家如此。In a majority of countreis, local cuisine can be seen as a cultural symbol.

　　当然，如果大家是想要表强调的时候，是没有问题哒！比如：想要强调这些全都是我自己做的，那可以说：I have done it all by myself.

　　15. Feel

　　“Feel” is also in the company of common English words. Try using “sense,” or “discern” instead. You can also move your sentence into a more active tense: “I feel hungry” could become “I’m famished,” for example.

　　在换词的时候，我们要注意：的确，最常用的词是最不容易错的，feel几乎可以用在任何“感觉”的句子中，但sense和discern则要因context来决定是否合适：（1）feel = experience a particular physical feeling or emotion 感知（通过五官的感受，或情绪的感受）（2）sense = feel that it exists or is true without being told or having proof 这种感受很微妙，有点第六感的感觉，比如：I could sense that something was wrong.（3）discern = to notice or understand something by thinking about it carefully【formal的表达】觉察出，是经过深思熟虑之后才觉察到的

　　16. Seem

　　“Seem” is bad habit word we are all guilty of using. Regardless of how well you think your sentence is constructed, try switching “seem” out for “shows signs of.” “Comes across as” is another good option to give your writing more power.

　　这组替换，主页君只想说：为了提升B格的成分比较多。类似的，我们在写作中可以把about换成concerning/ regarding，会把very important改成of great importance，把pursue改成in pursuit of 确实会B格满满~

　　17. Almost

　　Another easy adjective to let slip by, “almost” is a wasted opportunity to engage your readers. “Almost” is more interesting if you say “practically,” “nearly” or “verging on” instead.

　　记得之前听过汉语考试有一道题难道了一批外国人：要倒还没倒，没倒正要倒，到底倒没倒？差点摔倒了和差点没摔倒，哪个真倒了？其实，almost也是类似会让读者感到表意不清的说法，almost = nearly, but not completely or not quite从这个英英翻译中，我们不难看出，nearly其实是比almost表达了更确切的可能性的副词。

　　另外两词：

　　（1）practically = virtually = very nearly 别看这个词看着蛮正式的，当“几乎，差不多”这个意思讲的时候，它可是相当口语化而表达哦！尽量不要用到写作中。（2）verging 常用的说法是：be verging on，Many of his activities are verging on the illegal. 他的很多行为都近乎违法的。

　　18. Just

　　“Just making” it or “just barely” affording something isn’t very deive. To truly grab a reader, we must do better. Try “narrowly,” “simply” or “hardly” to give your phrasing more weight.

　　为了抓住读者，我们可以尝试把just换成一些更具有描述性质的词类似的改变就是昨天的Good啦~ 我们来温习 + 再补充一些更棒的转述：Good: （1）杰出的：excellent, outstanding, exceptional, incomparable, first-rate, fantastic, fantabulous, splendid（壮丽的，辉煌的hall, reputation）, magnificent（宏伟的palace, cathedral）, phenomenal（非凡的）, extraordinary（非比寻常的）（2）不可思议的：marvelous, unbelievable, unimaginable, fabulous,（3）吸引人的：appealing, attractive, enchanting, mesmerizing, engaging, absorbing,（4）令人满意的：decent, gorgeous（5）令人愉快的：agreeable, pleasant（6）精髓的：quintessential（7）高档的：fancy, high-quality

　　（8）有利的：beneficial

　　PS: 晨读团的北大学霸表示：聊到good的同义词时，想到以前玩开心消消乐里过关时听到的评价(递进哟）：good, outstanding, excellent, fantastic, unbelievable这就是活学活用！

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