The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus is like no other wordbook. Rather than merely presenting collections of words meaning more or less the same thing, it offers analyses of those semi-synonyms, and examples of usage in context, so that the user ends up with a word that means exactly what he or she wants to say. Use the Right Word! draws on this fine resource to make a stimulating, enlightening multiple-choice Q&A game. Each card’s front features a sentence with a hole in it and a selection of words with which one might fill the hole. The card’s back specifies the word that is precisely correct, then gives a lucid explanation of why it is and why the other words just aren’t quite. As something to read, this deck is absorbing and offers considerable food for thought; as a multiplayer game, it will induce the meekest of word lovers to shout the correct word before another player does so. Size: 3 1/4 x 4". ISBN 0-7649-3366-3. Sample card front: A parent faced with a rebellious teenager may try to [fill in the blank] him to do his homework by threatening to take away his allowance. Choices: a) coerce, b) compel, c) constrain, d) force, e) necessitate, f) oblige. Answer: b) compel. Compel commonly implies the exercise of authority, the exertion of great effort, or the impossibility of doing anything else (compelled to graduate from high school by her eagerness to leave home). It typically requires a personal object, although it is possible to compel a reaction or response (she compels admiration). Force is a little stronger, suggesting the exertion of power, energy, or physical strength to accomplish something or to subdue resistance (his mother forced him to confess that he’d broken the basement window). Coerce can imply the use of force, but often stops short of using it (she was coerced into obedience by the threat of losing her telephone privileges). Constrain means compel, but by means of restriction, confinement, or limitation (constrained from dating by his parents’ strictness). Necessitate and oblige make an action necessary by imposing certain conditions that demand a response (her mother’s illness obliged her to be more cooperative; it also necessitated her giving up her social life). |
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