Editing Skills - Word Choice

© 2005 UsingEnglish.com

Choose the most appropriate word for the introduction of this

composition

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The 1) medium/media of writing, from 2) antique/ancient times to today, has been

used as a powerful means to divulge the writer’s aim, to 3) influence/effect people’s

ideology, to give a 4) moral/morale lesson, and for many other reasons. The power of

the pen, if used skilfully, can arouse revolutionary ideals, love and hatred. It can 5)

rise/raise people to heights and throw them into the limelight or, on the other hand,

throw them into misery and dishonour by stripping them of all their fame.

A good, modern, and recent example could be Storace, the president of The Italian

region of Lazio and member of Alleanza Nazionale, who tried to ban all 6)

historical/historic textbooks written by Marxists from Italian high-schools, as he

thought that the ideas in these books could corrupt and influence the younger

generation’s understanding of the 7) contemporary/contemporaneous history of Italy.

Similarly, many of the 8) ancient/old writers had a specific aim and purpose, and show

a strong bias in their works. Thus my task in writing this essay will be, firstly to

understand myself what the aims of two Augustan writers were; Caesar and Livy, in the

De Bello Gallico, for the former; and in the Ab Urbe Condita, for the 9) latter/later.

Secondly, I will try to give an overview of these aims.

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This is taken, with permission and a lot of gratitude, from a composition by a former student.