|
|
|
|
The development of online and computerized thesauruses has been a great convenience to writers struggling to find the right word, or a variation of an over-used word. Lately, however, writing instructors and editors are warning us all to be careful about varying our diction too much, particularly in scientific writing. Michael Alley at Virginia Tech warns students that "synonyms from a thesaurus are often imprecise." Notice how following a train of thesaurus synonyms can lead you to a meaning opposite to what you may intend: perfect—pure—unvarnished—unfinished—rough—imperfect valid—convincing—plausible—specious—unsound—invalid classified—secret—mysterious—unidentified—unclassified (The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd edition, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996, page 76)
|