Dead Words
There are some words that are so overused that their effectiveness had declined drastically and their alternatives are barely used. In this activity you will find such a word and make a personal commitment to put that word to death within your own vocabulary. To commemorate your commitment, you will create a tombstone for the word as well as show the alternatives available.
Instructions
Think of the word
On the next empty page of your comp book (vocab 6), draw a tombstone (big)
Write the word, cause of death, and examples of over-use on the tombstone
Write the alternatives (in sentences) "arising" from the scene (flowers, spirits, etc)
Create the ACTUAL scene on separate paper (construction paper, etc)
Due at the end of class on Friday, 9/6/2013
Examples:
Like. "...it is like, a hour walk to my house". Other options: "approximately", "about", or nothing at all.
Like. "and she was like, 'Oh wow, that was a hard assignment'". Other options: "exclaimed", "complained", "pointed out"
Totally. "that was totally fun". Other options: extremely, quite, completely,
Websites with lists of words and a few alternatives for each.
http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us/h2007/English/Dead.Words.htm
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/paperassignments/a/tiredwords.htm