As a writer, you think about not only what you are going to say but how you are going to say it, even down to the words you choose. Words convey more than just their dictionary definitions, or denotations. They also suggest emotion and help reveal a writer's attitude toward his or her subject, or the tone of a piece of writing.
For example, let's say one character in a story is a young boy who is underweight. The writer might describe the boy as slender or thin or scrawny. The denotation of these words is very similar. But the nuances, or shades of meaning, conveyed by these words are very different
What effect does each of these words--slender, thin, scrawny--have on a reader? How does each word make a reader feel about a character who is described this way in a story?
Slender is a positive word. The boy may be thin, but the reader would assume he is strong and fit.
Thin is a factual or neutral word, neither positive nor negative. A reader will need more information to know how the writer wants the boy's weight to be perceived.
Scrawny is a negative word. The boy is thin and frail, probably small for his age. A reader would feel sorry for him.
