{"id":291,"date":"2014-03-03T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T17:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=291"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:47:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:47:21","slug":"the-importance-of-using-synonyms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/the-importance-of-using-synonyms\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Using Synonyms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One activity that I use to build vocabulary is this: I say a word or expression, and then my students work together to list as many synonyms of that word as they can. When they\u2019ve finished, I choose how to continue. Either they get out a thesaurus and look for other, new synonyms, or they make a similar list in their native language and we work on translating them into English together. It may seem silly to teach six ways to say the same thing instead of teaching six different things, one way each, but synonyms are actually more useful than many people realize.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Changing register<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve written before about register, the amount of formality or informality that language has. The TOEFL tests several different registers, ranging from the high register of academic writing to the lower (but not too low) register you may use to express a belief on the speaking section. Knowing synonyms and how they compare in terms of formality can really help you to make these changes in register clear\u2014and not knowing them can lead to embarrassing situations. Take, for example, the phrase \u201cmake a mistake.\u201d We\u2019ve all done it. If you wanted to talk about this on the writing section, you would probably say exactly that: \u201cmake a mistake.\u201d Perhaps you would say \u201cerror\u201d instead of mistake. If, however, you were speaking, it would be perfectly acceptable to say \u201cmess up\u201d instead. Not only will this better suit the relatively informal medium you\u2019re working in, but the graders may be pleased with your varied vocabulary and use of phrasal verbs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Avoidance of repetition<\/h2>\n<p>Synonyms are also necessary to keep us from getting bored. Take a look at this <a href=\"http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1133\/\">picture<\/a> to see what I mean. It uses only the thousand most common English words, and as a result there are some bizarre circumlocutions and a lot of repetition. In this example, of course, the repetition is funny, but on the TOEFL it\u2019s boring at best, and may cause the graders to think you don\u2019t have a well-developed vocabulary.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Phrasal verbs are great practice<\/h2>\n<p>Phrasal verbs usually have lots of synonyms in English, and you can find lists of them in almost any English book or website. Doing the synonym activity I wrote about at the beginning of this article with phrasal verbs is a great way to expand your <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/how-to-improve-english-vocabulary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary<\/a>. Often, phrasal verbs are pretty informal, so this activity can help you sort out when they\u2019re appropriate and when you\u2019re better off using a synonym (and which synonym that should be).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One activity that I use to build vocabulary is this: I say a word or expression, and then my students work together to list as many synonyms of that word as they can. When they\u2019ve finished, I choose how to continue. Either they get out a thesaurus and look for other, new synonyms, or they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13604],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13632],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocab"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Importance of Using Synonyms - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/the-importance-of-using-synonyms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Importance of Using Synonyms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One activity that I use to build vocabulary is this: I say a word or expression, and then my students work together to list as many synonyms of that word as they can. 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