Chapter 38 Accurate use of language and precise expression are highly valued

Even successful writers place great emphasis on the importance of precise use of language and precise expression.Those who learn to speak should also practice expressing themselves accurately in language every day until these words come naturally. Express what you mean as precisely as possible, expressing the most subtle of your thoughts.It's not easy—even for experienced writers.The famous American female writer Fanny Hearst once told me that she sometimes rewrites the sentences she has written, usually 50 to 100 times.Once she calculated it deliberately and found that she had rewritten a sentence 104 times.Another female writer, Uller, said frankly that sometimes she would spend an afternoon just deleting a sentence or two from a short story that was about to be published in the "United Times".

The American statesman Morris described how the famous American writer David painstakingly searched for an accurate word: "Every word in his novels is carefully selected from tens of thousands of common words. To be able to determine the words to use requires his meticulous judgment and must be able to stand the test. Every word, Every sentence, every paragraph, every page, even the entire novel, is written over and over again. He uses the principle of 'elimination', if he wishes to describe a car turning into a gate, start with a tedious narrative , without letting go of any details, and then delete these details that have been thought out one by one. Every time he deletes, he asks himself: "Does the situation I am going to describe still exist?" The deleted details were put back in place, and other details were tried to be deleted. After such painstaking efforts to delete one by one, the reader was presented with a concise and clear scene. Because of this, his Novels and love stories have always been popular with readers.”

Most of us don't have the energy and talent to spend time trying to find the right words.The reason I use this example is only to show that even successful writers attach great importance to the importance of accurate use of language and accurate expression.I also hope that people who learn speech can be encouraged to take a greater interest in the use of language and words.Of course, a speaker should not stop in a speech to find the exact words for the meaning he wishes to express, but he should also practice using words every day until the words come naturally.It should be done, but are you doing it?No, you didn't do that.

The great writer Milton used 8,000 words, and Shakespeare's vocabulary reached 15,000.The vocabulary of a standard dictionary is 45,000 words, but according to preliminary estimates, the average person only needs to learn 2,000 words, which is enough for daily expression. Usually, they only need to know some verbs, some conjunctions to connect them, plus some Noun, overused adjective.Everyone is also very lazy mentally, perhaps too focused on their careers, and have no time to learn how to express ideas accurately.What was the result?Consider this example: I spent a few days of a lifetime at the rim of the Grand Canyon in Colorado.One afternoon, I heard a woman use the same adjective to describe a dog, an orchestral selection, a man's temper, and the Grand Canyon itself—"beautiful."

Which adjective did she use?British linguist Roger listed many synonyms for "Beauty".Please think about it, which one should she use?