Shades of Meaning: From Warm to Scorching

Arrange related words by strength to choose exactly the right one.

Words with similar meanings often differ in strength. Think of a temperature scale: cool, warm, hot, scorching. All describe heat or cold, but scorching is far stronger than warm. The same is true for feelings: content, happy, delighted, overjoyed. And for size: big, large, huge, enormous. Lining words up from weakest to strongest helps you choose precisely.

Compare: 'Lin was annoyed when her pencil broke' and 'Lin was furious when her pencil broke. ' 'Furious' seems too strong for a pencil, while 'annoyed' fits the small problem. Good readers notice these differences, because an author's word choice tells you exactly how big or strong something is.

• 1Similar words can differ in strength.
• 2Line them up from weakest to strongest.
• 3Word strength tells you how big a feeling or thing is.