To leave the reader in no doubt as to what you mean, how do you decide on the right choice or words?
I believe my grammar and punctuation has improved through reading Penguin books on, Grammar, Punctuation and Plain English. Also, I believe I have benefited enormously from reading novels. But my Grammar and Punctuation needs much improvement.
The errors I make when I post are due to tiredness, carelessness, and rushing my response to a question. I am sure we are all guilty of that at times.
Do you question the strict dictionary definition or words as you write, or are you confident the reader will understand your meaning?
There are many words in common use which are used incorrectly.
An example is the word, Prejudice. It means to Pre-Judge, but mention the word Prejudice and there are many who automatically assume that it only has racial connotations.
I would be interested to see your examples of the misuse of words.
My favourite is jealous and envious, but I think I'm fighting a losing battle with that one. I think almost everyone uses 'jealous' when they mean 'envious'. Eventually, the word envious will become obscure with an archaic sound to it. It seems a shame as the words have distinct meanings.
Lol at the climatic escape, Brad! Kind of annoying for you, but a funny story.
This is a great question and I have the perfect example. I have been sending out query letters and in my query letter I mention how the main character has a climactic escape from the fantasy world in which he lives. However, I spelt climactic “climatic” and no one caught this mistake. Not my friends, family, agents that requested more work, not even the professional editor that I hired to make sure the query letter was flawless! The only reason I know it was a mistake is because an agent that rejected the query sent back an email saying, “I think you mean climactic and climatic." Sure enough I looked up the definition and to my surprise I had been using that word wrong this entire time.