For fiction writers the use of the word said can become tedious if used over and over again. Eager writers will look for ways to substitute said with other, possibly more descriptive words. There is a superb list of alternatives to choose from and budding novelists should not be discouraged.
For those who want to get stuck in right away, or write away, here’s a glimpse of just a few quick possiblities.
That’s just 10 ways to substitute said and should keep you busy as you fit the respective words to your characters. But getting back to said... You have to be careful that you substitute with purpose. The last thing you want is for your writing to sound forced and artificial. There’s many a time where a simple said, will do the job just fine. In fact, I work at a newspaper and said is the only attribution allowed. Here it’s all about simplicity.
As a provider of professional English writing services I have always found both a bother in the language. I find that is used in many, many phrases as a redundant word.
My believe is that every word must count. And both is bothersome because it is so often superfluous. For example, in the sentence ‘Joan and Mary both have measles,’ the sentence can stand and mean the same thing if you write, ‘Joan and Mary have measles’. And is a very efficient little word and does the job just fine. However, if you write ‘Joan and Mary are sick, they both have measles,’ both is functional in its own right.
If your write,’Catherine has two kids. Both are at nursery school’ both has a perfectly good function. But, in most cases where the word ‘and’ is used to couple two nouns, both is unnecessary and does not add to or clarify the meaning.
I particular dislike, ‘Both Jake and Bill are top business men’, when ‘Jake and Bill are top businessmen’. While ‘both’ gives a bit of emphasis in this usage, it is not really necessary, as ‘Jake and Bill are top businessmen’ does the job adequately.
I urge all practitioners of written English to dispense with an over-reliance on both, and only use it when absolutely necessary.
I also welcome discussion on this topic and would like to learn more about the origins of the usage of the word ‘both’.
Writing good English requires a depth of knowledge of the language. English is full of tricks, words that sound the same and are spelled differently and words that are spelled the same and have different meanings – and that’s just two. There are many areas of confusion in the English language so let’s just clear up one.
Licence is a word that is spelled two ways. Licence and License. It starts out being quite simple using Licence as the noun and License as the verb. And even that only works if you follow the UK English system. In America License is used as a verb and a noun.
In UK English all derivatives of the verb from of license are spelled with an S, such as licensing and licensed. It’s really quite tricky so pay close attention to your writing.
If you can’t manage, get hold of an editor or a proofreader to help you out.