Skip to main content

Synonyms for "said" - Writing Struggles



As a young author, I have found myself stuck at some sentence because I feel like I've overused the word "said".

"I'm sorry," she said.
"Don't be," he said.
"I can't help it," she said.

I guess you get the point. So I've decided to share some synonyms for the word. Each won't be possible to use in any context but is definitely applicable in certain cases. So here we go:

  • acknowledge - admit truth or verbally recognize
  • add - make further comment
  • affirm - declare the truth of something
  • agree - be in unison
  • announce - make a proclamation
  • answer - reply
  • argue - verbally fight
  • ask - question
  • assert - insist, declare
  • break silence - make declaration
  • claim - demand
  • come out with - disclose information
  • comment - make statement of opinion
  • confirm - prove, reinforce
  • convey - express message
  • declare - make known clearly or officially
  • defend - protect, show support for
  • deliver - announce, proclaim
  • deny - disagree, renounce, decline
  • disagree - argue, hold different opinion
  • disclose - reveal, make public
  • estimate - guess, try to value
  • explain - make clear
  • express - articulate; signify, mean
  • guarantee - pledge, promise
  • guess - try to figure out; imagine
  • insist - order and expect; claim
  • imply - indicate, mean
  • judge - make decision from evidence; deduce
  • maintain - care for, keep up, assert, claim; argue for
  • mention - refer to
  • mouth - backtalk
  • notice - observe, perceive
  • plead - present a defense
  • pledge - guarantee; give word of honor
  • promise - give word that something will be done, bring hope
  • put into words - express, articulate, mean etc.
  • question - ask, doubt
  • read - express, state
  • remark - notice and comment
  • repeat - duplicate, do again, echo
  • reply - answer
  • report - communicate information, present oneself
  • respond - act in answer to something
  • reveal - tell, show, uncover
  • speak - talk, address, give a lecture
  • state - declare, assert
  • stress - accentuate, emphasize
  • suggest - convey advice, imply, bring to mind
  • tell - communicate, narrate, describe etc.
  • utter - say, reveal
  • voice - express opinion; put into words
This post will be useful for me and I hope that some of you will also find it handy. And if you think I just googled "useful synonyms", you are completely right. 
In order to demonstrate the use of the synonyms for "said", here is the same example from the beginning.

"I'm sorry," she apologized with tears streaming down her face.
"Don't be," he insisted and wrapped his arms around her cold shoulders.
"I can't help it," she uttered burying her face in his shirt.
He patted her head knowing he would never get the mascara stains out of his favorite shirt.

If there are any other words stopping you from writing a masterpiece, let me know and together we will end their reign! :)


Labels:

Comments

  1. KaielaAugust 24, 2017 at 9:32 PM

    Haha...mascara stains can be difficult to remove indeed... I loved this post and definitely understand the struggle, I feel the same way with the word "said", I'll definitely be coming back to this post, when I'm lacking words to describe a conversation. I also have a difficult time finding synonyms for "zombie", i don't think that's as common of a problem though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PearlAugust 24, 2017 at 10:55 PM

      It might be not that common, but in a story about zombies it is a real problem.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The problems of a wannabe author

I have tried to write something meaningful more than I dare to admit. There's a box underneath my bed filled with notebooks. All of them containing parts of stories that weren't good enough to make it into something more. I've tried rereading them and finding mistakes to avoid in the future but for some unknown reason I am back at where I started.  I've always enjoyed writing and creating worlds in my head. I don't know how old I was when I wrote my first "book" but it was made out of coloring book pages. It described the life of an Indian girl but I can't remember anything else. There was a story I wrote as a play that I actually finished. It wasn't really that good but I am proud of it. I guess I must have been such an innocent little girl, because a few years back 9gag taught me I had named my protagonist after a famous porn star. For some reason I didn't feel as motivated to keep going with that story. Changing the name would have ...
2 comments
Read more

Preview

Hi, everyone! This is a sample chapter from my upcoming book Stone Birds. Hope you like it! * * * Dre had never felt this scared in her life. Her heart was beating so loud, she could hardly hear the explosions and people screaming all around her. Where ever she looked, she saw stone rubble, smoke, and dust. Pieces of what used to be her home were laying around everywhere. She heard someone scream. It was the kind of cry someone lets out when they’re being tortured. Dre tried to move, but she couldn’t. She felt petrified. There was already a thick layer of stone dust in her eyes and no matter how much she cried, it wouldn’t wash out. For a moment she thought it would be best to just close her eyes but that way she would’ve been even more vulnerable. She sat behind one of the remaining walls. One of her legs was injured, probably broken. The adrenaline filling her body eased some of the pain. She felt so helpless. The smoke and dust stopped her from seeing far. Her friends we...
1 comment
Read more

Chapter I

A group of people had gathered around the fire. It wasn’t particularly cold, but it was fairly dark already. They were all wearing brown dirty clothes that had a hint of fish on them. There weren’t many children nor old people. The oldest of them, a man about sixty years of age, was speaking in a croaky voice, sharing tales from a time where hope wasn’t such a rare thing. He was almost bald, yet had bushy white eyebrows and a big mustache which moved energetically as he was speaking. There was a hint of blue in his beard - a reminder of who he was and where he was from. Though his body might have been tired, his eyes were burning brighter than the embers the group was sitting around. Andy was the only one who was listening to Grandpa Mussos. Others were always tired after a long day of scavenging the lake. Their eyes were dull as they slouched on the ground. No one seemed to smile. In fact, no one seemed to feel anything. Grandpa Mussos never let it bother him. Every night he would...
1 comment
Read more