Synonyms for Said: Pick the Word That Fits

A speech bubble at the top of this 2nd grade page holds said, crossed out, and six other words: answered, explained, whispered, shouted, asked and promised. Six numbered sentences below each have a dashed box where a speaking word belongs, and the child writes the one from the bubble that fits best. On the sheet shown the sentences include The bus was leaving, so Lily ..., “Wait for me!” and "I have a secret for you," Max ... into Grandma's ear, and each word in the bubble is used once.

Said is the word every young writer overuses, and replacing it is one of the first vocabulary lessons in writing. Every sentence on the page would still make sense with said in the gap, which is exactly the point: the child swaps a plain word for a more exact one. The sentences carry the clue: a bus leaving means shouting, a secret into Grandma's ear means whispering, a question mark means asking, a promise about every day means promising. The last two rows are the ones to discuss: Emma gives the steps one by one, so she explains, and Leo speaks right after the teacher's question, so he answers.

One sheet, six sentences, six words. Ask children to read the finished sentences aloud in the voice the word suggests, which makes the difference between whispered and shouted impossible to miss. Keep a class list of said words on the wall and add to it through the year. The word fields face at grade 3 does the same thing for go and look.