The Dictionary Of Synonyms

     Ah yes, the Thesaurus, a relic of the past that was once paired and sold together with the Dictionary.  Also known as The Dictionary Of Synonyms, thesauruses can be sold as a physical book but in this case, I will focus on the built in feature in Microsoft Word.  It is a little different from spell check as this feature does not underline any words in red or blue that would normally signify a misspelling or grammatical issue, for this reason, the user has to be able to think when using this feature.

    Here is an example of using the thesaurus. We begin by using Microsoft Word to write a simple sentence like "Alonso was mad that he could not stay home and play video games".  since the word mad is common word, lets see if we use something else. If we highlight it and right click, we get a few options, one of which is "synonyms for "mad".  Once we click on that, a new window pops up to the right of the screen and on this new window is a list of alternate words we can use.  Look through the list and once you have the appropriate word, right click on it and select insert.  This will replace the highlighted word with the newer, fancier word.  Lets use this feature to replace the word mad and a few others to fabricate a new sentence below.

Alonso was in a towering rage that he could not stay in his quarters and disport in video games.

    The Thesaurus is simple, easy to use function built into Microsoft word that allows the user to replace common words with words that refine the message that is being conveyed.  The best way to use this feature is during the review process of creating a document, once the spelling and grammar issues are addressed.  We want to look over the document to make sure we are not repeating too many words, or if we can change the tone of the document by using alternative words.  Next time you have to write a document, see what words can be changed to revitalize your work and so you stand out.