Effective writers balance general words, which name or describe groups or classes, with specific words, which identify individual and particular things. Some general words are abstract; they refer to things we cannot perceive through our five senses. Specific words are often concrete; they name things we can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. We can seldom draw a clear-cut line between general or abstract words on the one hand and specific or concrete words on the other. Instead, most words fall somewhere in between.
| GENERAL | LESS GENERAL | SPECIFIC | MORE SPECIFIC |
| book | dictionary | abridged dictionary | the fourth edition of The American Heritage College Dictionary |
| ABSTRACT | LESS ABSTRACT | CONCRETE | MORE CONCRETE |
| culture | visual art | painting | van Gogh’s Starry Night |
Strong writing usually provides readers with both an overall picture and specific examples or concrete details to fill in that picture. In the following passage, the author might have simply made a general statement—their breakfast was always liberal and good—or simply given the details of the breakfast. Instead, he is both general and specific.
There would be a brisk fire crackling in the hearth, the old smoke-gold of morning and the smell of fog, the crisp cheerful voices of the people and their ruddy competent morning look, and the cheerful smells of breakfast, which was always liberal and good, the best meal that they had: kidneys and ham and eggs and sausages and toast and marmalade and tea.
– Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River