Choosing Precise Words

Read this sentence: “The very, really big, scary monster.” Now read this one: “The monster towered over them.” The first sentence has more words in it — so why does the second one actually feel scarier?

It's tempting, when a moment needs to feel big, to pile on more describing words: very, really, big, scary, all stacked on top of each other. But stacking vague words doesn't make a sentence more vivid, it just makes it longer. One precise word almost always does more work than three vague ones, because a vague word like “big” leaves a reader to imagine something in the gap, while a specific word like “towered” tells them exactly what to picture.

A quick test while revising

Whenever you spot a word like “very,” “really,” or “big” sitting in your own draft, pause and ask whether there's a single more exact word already waiting nearby to replace the whole phrase. “Very tired” can become “exhausted.” “Really scary” can become “terrifying,” or better yet, a specific detail that shows the fear instead of naming it — a shaking hand, a held breath.

This isn't about reaching for bigger, fancier words to sound smart. It's about picking the one word that says exactly what you mean, so the sentence doesn't need three others propping it up around it.