Widening Your Vocabulary: Beyond Good and Nice

Limited range means leaning on a small set of words for everything, so good, nice, and a lot end up doing all the work. Those words are not wrong, but over-using them can make you sound repetitive.

Key takeaways

• Limited range is relying on a few overused words like good, bad, and thing.
• These words are not wrong, but they carry little meaning.
• Keep two or three stronger alternatives ready for each overused word.
• A wider range is one of the clearest signs of fluency.

How to widen a limited range

1. Upgrade good and bad to stronger words.

• ✓ The meal was delicious.
• ✗ The meal was good.

2. Replace thing with the actual noun.

• ✓ Pass me the remote, please.
• ✗ Pass me the thing, please.

3. Swap very plus an adjective for one stronger word.

• ✓ The room was freezing.
• ✗ The room was very cold.

4. Vary a lot and really.

• ✓ Prices have risen sharply.
• ✗ Prices have risen a lot.

Test yourself

You do not need a huge vocabulary, just a few strong alternatives for the words you use most. Practise swapping them out loud and get instant feedback on Speechful. Start practising free →