Thesaurus is a list of words or dictionary containing words and phrases grouped according to their meanings; not to be mistaken for a prehistoric animal.

Well there’s a good opener for your workshop!

Thesaurus Importance

Bother Thesaurus

Importance:

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With a dictionary, we find the meaning of a word. With a thesaurus, we find other words that have the same / similar meaning as a particular word.

This means that someone who knows how to use a thesaurus has more “word power”, in the sense that he / she is able to look for the word that is most suitable in the particular writing context. You know how sometimes you want to say (or in this case write) something, you know what you want to say but you feel the word you have in your head is not the best one? With a thesaurus, you look for the word in your head, and you’ll see all other words that have similar / same meaning as that word. Chances are, one of those words will be more suitable in a particular context.

Skills in thesaurus usage:

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Hmmm… I dunno about this: Ability to spell? — if u don’t know how to spell the original word, u can’t find it in the thesaurus. Unless u use one of the online intelligent ones…

However, most people don’t bother using thesaurus because it is more like a “treasure hunt”, as one word leads you to another and another and another until you find the one that truly meets your requirement. So, probably someone who wants to use a thesaurus needs to have a sense of adventure and curiousity.

Exercises:

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You can list simple sentences, and have workshop participants list other alternative ways in which the same message can be expressed.

If you want to make the above “exercise” more exciting (and more difficult maybe), you can specify the context. For example:

“I want more copies of this letter.”

“I would like to have additional duplicates of this correspondence.”

“I fancy more photocopies of this missive”

etc etc etc

I should tell you also that I only use online thesaurus. The hardcopy version I fined too difficult and unwieldy, I usually don’t bother. You might want to include that particular exercise as part of your workshop too — different ways of using thesaurus: online and “snail” version.

i do no longer think of any self-respecting poet consults a dictionary to go with words for his diction (looking up the meaning for a observe is for sure passable). i take advantage of in basic terms those words which i might in many situations be mushy conversing in, case in point, a public assembly. Poetry is suitable, extra suitable than we predict of, to modern language. that is why there is even a difficulty as “Archaic words”. As WB Yeats says “think of like a clever guy. communicate in the language of the human beings.” Emily Dickinson used “glossary” words because of the fact, the objective marketplace of her time have been waiting to appreciate them without plenty attempt. that does no longer propose they could be used now. that is extremely like the Time value of money. An volume of 10$ 10 years back is extra useful then than now.

It’s extremely disturbing that you are designing a workshop and have no idea of what to do. Why don’t you stay at Holiday Inn tonight?