Roget's Thesaurus

‘I’ve brought you a present.'

Sarah looked up. ‘That’s nice. But why? It’s not my birthday.'

'I saw it in the charity shop and thought I’d get it for you for your new creative writing course. It will be very helpful – especially when you want an alternative for the word 'nice',' Aunt Sue added with a sly grin.

‘Roget’s Thesaurus,' Sarah said doubtfully. ‘I look things up online. But thanks anyway,' she added hastily in case she’d offended her aunt. ‘I will use it.'

She put it away in her desk and forgot about it. 

Her writing course was going to be demanding, but Sarah was excited to be on track to becoming a real writer. To that end she had decided to start writing a journal every day to create good writing habits. Sitting at her table a week later she opened her new exercise book. The blank page stared at her willing her to write something witty and intelligent. It was one of those days, though. Witty and intelligent was not what Sarah was feeling.

Start writing anyway, Sarah told herself. That was the advice to help you get started.

She deliberated about which pen to use, realising she was delaying the moment she actually had to write something. Grabbing the green gel pen, she touched the page with its point. An emerald dot appeared. It was a beginning but not actually writing, she conceded. She thought about her day yesterday. She’d met her friend, Millie, in the park and they’d had coffee in the local café. Write about what you know, she thought.

It was nice meeting Millie in the park yesterday, she wrote. The weather was nice and we went to that nice café just by the gate. 

Sarah sat back and read what she had written. She felt dismayed. That word ‘nice’ was everywhere. Her aunt would be horrified. She reached for her laptop to find some alternative words but the battery was dead. She opened her drawer and scrabbled around for the charger, but instead fished out the battered copy of Roget’s Thesaurus. 

‘Oh well’ she thought. ‘Maybe it will be useful after all.' 

She opened it. What could she use instead of ‘nice’? Pleasant, agreeable, enjoyable? Charming, appealing, delightful? She read on. So many alternatives to 'nice.'

Quickly she rewrote her paragraph, substituting words for ‘nice’ and then developing and extending her ideas. Twenty words had suddenly expanded to nearly two hundred! She was especially pleased with how her description of the ‘nice café’ had turned out.

‘Thank you, Aunt Sue,' she thought to herself. ‘You were right.' She smiled. ‘I’ll email her and tell her how useful I found her present.' She looked at her dead laptop. Better still, I’ll write her a card and tell she didn’t just give me a nice present. She gave me a –

She grabbed the Thesaurus.