The Right Word, Not the Biggest or Most Obscure Word

This book review from this week's NYTimes does a good job explaining the pitfalls of choosing words to impress rather than to inform.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/books/review/double-down-by-mark-halperin-and-john-heilemann.html?ref=books&_r=0

Read20 Questions for "Guilt in Great Expectations"

Read20:
Box 1: What is the topic sentence of the first paragraph about?
What theme does the topic sentence of the last paragraph
introduce?
Box 2: How does Dickens use the word “penitential”? Is this a
straightforward or ironic use of the word? Explain.
Box 3: Summarize each of the topic sentences. What trend or
pattern do you notice about how the topic sentences change
from the beginning to the end?
Box 4: What is the “main idea” in the article and in which
paragraph does it appear? Describe another paragraph and
explain why it does not contain the main idea.