There are many ways that you can brighten up your standard English language and turn plain boring speech into something really interesting. Using acronyms, alliterations, analogy, anecdotes, antonyms, and clichés correctly is a good place to start.
Acronym.
If you take the initial, or first letter, of a group of words and put them together, they form an acronym. An acronym is a word in its own right. There are many examples of this:
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
CAT Computer assisted testing.
WHO World health organisation.
Alliteration.
Using alliteration makes English language sound expressive and it is often used in descriptive passages, or poetry. It is simply the grouping together of words which start with the same letter. The use of these can have a very dramatic effect and can often be seen in tongue twisters.
Softly, sobbing, sighs
Cool, calm and collected
Long, leafy, lanes
Betty Botter bought some butter,
But she said, this butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter.
(tongue twister!)
Analogy.
To make an analogy take another situation that corresponds to the one you are describing. This is an excellent tool to use in writing creative pieces, demonstrating practical issues and particularly when addressing an audience at a seminar, or similar meeting. Using analogy makes your English sound richer and more polished.
The arrival of the new kitten in my house had a similar effect to an unexpected tornado.
To use an analogy, his new haircut would have made an uprooted chrysanthemum look neat and tidy.
Anecdote.
An anecdote is a short story that is interesting, or amusing and is often used to illustrate the main topic. For example :
No matter what the subject, my father could always recount an anecdote about his life in Africa and keep us all enthralled.
The phrase, ‘anecdotal evidence’ is often heard in English when discussing legal matters. In this sense it refers to evidence that cannot be proven because it is just a story.
Antonym.
An antonym is a word that has the opposite meaning to another. These are particularly useful in making comparisons. For example, if you wanted to stress that someone was keen to do something at times but not keen at others you might describe them as being
hot and cold
off and on
Antonyms also make contrasts as in
light and dark
soft and hard
black and white
Cliché.
If a particular phrase is used very often it ceases to be effective in describing something. Clichés are overused phrases and should, in general, be avoided if you want to speak, or write effective English.
Newspapers tend to use these a lot.
…avoid like the plague
There’s no place like home.
Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.
When you use these ‘tools’ to improve your English be careful that you don’t use too many at once because you could end up making your English Language sound very contrived and stilted. Use the ones that you like best, little and often, to get the best effect.
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