Tiny words and cool sentences for writing 💡

Even though some sesquipedalian words are certainly pulchritudinous, I am a huge fan of tiny and deceptively familiar words, like "so" or "if" or "one." These words can sometimes be harder to use than sesquipedalian ones.

Here are seven sentences from my recent quizzes. Check yourself one more time. Do you remember all these words and phrases? Do you understand the meanings? More importantly, do you share my love for such tiny words?

1️⃣ "Another possible, if more controversial, explanation for the benefits of blue spaces goes back much deeper into our evolutionary past."

2️⃣ "Another big question is one being voiced by many people excited by semaglutide's widespread effects: could everyone benefit from it in some way?"

3️⃣ "We tend to be optimistic about our own lives. We are also optimistic, although less so, about our family and friends."

4️⃣ "The behaviour of simple animals like fruit flies is usually assumed to be highly deterministic, involving reflexive responses to external stimuli. In fact, it is anything but."

5️⃣ "But as the technology evolved, so too did an extraordinary idea."

6️⃣ "... if we can formalise enough proofs so Als can access them, we could train these systems such that they can themselves generate proofs more quickly, and maybe even more effectively, than we can."

7️⃣ "The scientists reasoned that, for a given statement to count as common sense, the majority of people would have to agree that it was, and individuals would also need to be aware that other people viewed it as such."

The source of all these sentences is the "New Scientist" magazine. I have a whole writing course based on articles from this magazine. The patterns above are just a tiny glimpse of what we do in this course. Click to find out more and 💌 @iraluts.

So, how did you do? Do you know all these patterns? More importantly, do you love them?