Different words, different meanings

It's important that you consider how well your writing meets your readers' needs. There are so many different ways to write things that sometimes it can seem confusing. Consider, for example, the following sentences. Don't they all mean much the same thing?

  1. James was annoyed when his friend was unable to lend him some money.
  2. Jim was troubled 'cos his mate wasn't able to lend him any cash.
  3. James was perturbed to find that his friend was in no position to forward a loan of money to him.
  4. Jimmy was raging cos his pal couldn't sub him any dosh.
  5. James's pal couldn't give him a loan. James wasn't too pleased.

In a general sense, you can see that each of the five sentences does mean the same sort of thing as the others. There are differences too, however. The way you use words in your writing can affect the communication in various ways:

  • Making it more or less formal
  • Making it more or less emotional
  • Making it more or less exciting
  • Making it subjective (based on your feelings) or objective (neutral, not based on feelings).