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One of the most important skills in speaking English powerfully and effectively is the ability to select the right words.

A few well-chosen words, or sometimes even a single word, can make a big difference in the listeners’ minds over the impression about the speaker and the importance to be assigned to his or her speech:

‘Successful persuaders know how to use the right words to create the desired response in their audiences. Speakers with greater verbal skills come across as more credible, more competent, and move convincing. Speakers who hesitate, use the wrong words, or lack fluency have less credibility and come across as weak and ineffective,’ (Mortensen, K W, 2004, p. 85).

It is not always easy to decide which words to use in a particular situation. First of all, you should have a good vocabulary, so that you have a large number of words to choose from.

You should also be familiar with the general meaning, precise meaning in the context, and usage of a word to artfully include it in your speech.

Even among synonyms, the words may not have exactly the same meaning in a specific context, or one word may be preferable to another even if they have the same meaning.

Zock, M (1996, p. 990) states that words cannot be directly mapped on their conceptual counterparts, that is, there is no one-to-one correspondence between concepts and words; and that a given word may express more than a single concept.

Even with an outstanding vocabulary and good language skills, it often requires experience and training to choose the most appropriate words to use in different circumstances.

Even if you say a fancy word, if you use it in the wrong way, it might make the wrong sense or be taken out of context. It could lead to awkward or even embarrassing situations.

In fact, it is better not to use a word at all rather than use it inaccurately. In order to select the right words to use, you should consider a number of things.

First is the accuracy of the word and its usage. You should also consider whether the use of the word is necessary and whether there is a better word to replace it in the present context.

Furthermore, you must take your audience into account. You must decide whether the audience will understand and appreciate your words and expressions.

This can also be difficult as different groups of people might prefer words with varying complexity, and even different styles of speech altogether. You must take care to direct the right words at the right audience.

In using words and expressions, preciseness in meaning and relevance of context is of utmost importance. The words must flow eloquently and effortlessly to generate maximum impact on your audience.

REFERENCES

Mortensen, K W 2004, Maximum Influence: The Twelve Universal Laws of Power Persuasion, 1st edn., AMACOM, Broadway, NY.

Zock, M 1996, ‘The Power of Words in Message Planning,’ Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Computational Linguistics, vol. 2, pp. 990-995.