As you polish your writing, you’ll probably want to use a thesaurus or dictionary to find exactly the words you need. However, not all the choices a reference book offers are equally good. If, for example, you’re looking for a synonym of terrible but suspect that another word will make it clearer what kind of terrible you mean, don’t choose atrocious or egregious or vile unless you are familiar with the word and know it has the shade of meaning you want.

To learn how a particular word is used, go online and check out some of its uses in sources such as Google News or Google Scholar. See how these compare with the use you have in mind.

Whenever you have a choice between a simple word and a longer, fancier one that seems to have the same shade of meaning, choose the simple word.

Words of one syllable are the best.

The utilization of monosyllabic locutions is recommended as preferable.