Abstract and Concrete Diction

Balance big ideas with concrete words that let readers see and feel them.

Abstract words name ideas, qualities, and concepts you cannot perceive directly: justice, freedom, progress, poverty, courage. Concrete words name things you can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell: a cracked window, a cold kitchen, an empty plate. Abstract words are necessary for argument and analysis, but on their own they can feel vague or hollow. Concrete words make ideas vivid and believable. Strong writers pair them. Worked example: 'Poverty affects many families in our city. ' That sentence is true but forgettable.

Now: 'In our city, many families choose each winter between heating their apartments and buying groceries. ' The concrete choice, heat or food, makes the abstraction of poverty felt. Analyzing speeches and essays, notice where the writer moves from abstract claims to concrete images, often at the moments meant to persuade most. In your own writing, follow each important abstraction with at least one concrete example.

• 1Abstract words name ideas; concrete words name sensory things.
• 2Abstractions alone can feel vague.
• 3Pair each key abstraction with a concrete example.