Consulting Journal: Resources

Resources: Thesaurus

by David Blakey

When to use a thesaurus. And when to avoid using one.

[Monday 20 October 2003]

A thesaurus is a very useful tool for consultants, whether they are writing reports or preparing presentations. To many people, a thesaurus is a list of synonyms. The thesaurus on a word processor is just that. If you select the word ‘consultant’ and click on Thesaurus, you are likely to see a list of synonyms, such as ‘expert’, ‘specialist’, ‘professional’ and ‘authority’. These are all valid synonyms for ‘consultant’.

Roget's thesaurus

The most famous thesaurus, Roget's Thesaurus, is quite different. It does not list words alphabetically. Instead, there are six classes:

abstract relations;
space;
matter;
intellect, the exercise of the mind;
volition, the exercise of the will; and
emotion, religion and morality.

The first three classes are concerned with the physical universe; the last three with people and society.

Each class is divided into a number of sections and each section into a number of categories. The fifth class, Volition: the exercise of will contains a section on Voluntary action. The section on Voluntary action contains categories such as Management, Director and Advice.

The Advice category contains references for the word ‘consultant’. The appropriate paragraph in the 1998 edition begins

adviser, counsellor, consultant, troubleshooter; professional consultant 696 expert; referee, arbiter, arbitrator 480 estimator; prescriber, commender, advocate, recommender, mover, prompter 612 ...

If you are unused to Roget, this entry can be confusing.

As well as words that are related to advice, there are references to other categories, such as 696 Proficient person, 480 Judgment: conclusion and 612 Motive. Even without these, the extract above is full of ideas and visions. Consultants certainly see themselves as advisers and counsellors and experts, but this view is broadened if consultants also think of themselves as troubleshooters, as referees and as prompters. This extract does not just list synonyms: it inspires creative thinking.

I admit that there are occasions when you do not need creative thinking. When you are writing most consultants' reports, you do not need to use creative language. You are usually expected to report facts in a prosaic style. There are also occasions when creative thinking can be useful. A thesaurus can provide some of the triggers for that creative thinking to occur.

Repetition

There are occasions when using a thesaurus can harm your writing.

I can best explain this with an example. Here is an extract from a report.

The previous study noted that your strategy was appropriate and workable. That investigation reported, however, that you had digressed from your policy for some new product developments. As a result, as the prior examination reported, you had difficulties later in fitting those new products into your marketing mix. For our current assignment, we have observed that this digression from your procedures continues and that the marketing difficulties still occur. Little has changed between the earlier survey and our current research.

If the meaning of this extract is not totally clear to you, it is because the writer has replaced repetitions of the words previous, study and strategy. The original extract was as follows.

The previous study noted that your strategy was appropriate and workable. That study reported, however, that you had digressed from your strategy for some new product developments. As a result, as the previous study reported, you had difficulties later in fitting those new products into your marketing mix. For our current study, we have observed that this digression from your strategy continues and that the marketing difficulties still occur. Little has changed between the previous study and our current study.

It is true that previous appears three times, study six times, and strategy three times. This is not a problem. Each time that the extract refers to the previous study, you know what the writer means. The repetition of words and phrases provides a link back to their original appearance in the extract.

In this example, it would be better for the writer not to consult a thesaurus to introduce variety, when the repetitions add sense and focus to the extract.

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