Words in a person's word stock are like paints on a palette. It helps to have just the right shade when you need it.
Adjectives are the sugar of literature and adverbs the salt.
For Mandarin scripts, there's software now where you can just insert the Chinese script, and it comes out all in pinyin.
Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screwdriver, a rule, a glue-pot, nails and screws.--The function of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.
Words are not thoughts, just like bricks are not homes. But houses are made with bricks. If you have less bricks, you will make a small house. The more words you have, the clearer your thoughts, and the more clearly you can convey them.
The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.
Think of words as instruments characterized by their use, and then think of the use of a hammer, the use of a chisel, the use of a square, of a glue pot, and of the glue.
Spell check exists for a reason.
Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
