How Often Do You Use the Verb Use?

Use, make use of, put to use.

Use a key, use a credit card, use a language.

This three-letter word haunts public signs.

It hangs out in instruction manuals, and we use our outside voices to curse the idiocy of the people who wrote the manuals.

Worst of all, use appears so often in some books that we want to use a match to incinerate them.

This post presents more than 300 ways to mitigate use abuse.

Straightforward Replacements Often Solve the Problem

Review the following sentences. Is use the best choice for each situation? Other words deliver connotations that might prove better.

Accept
Use Accept someone’s help.

Apply
Use Apply makeup.

Benefit from
Use Benefit from the library.

Demonstrate
Use Demonstrate good manners.

Employ
Use Employ techniques.

Exercise
Use Exercise good judgment.

Follow
Use Follow a recipe.

Hire
Use Hire a personal trainer.

Initiate
Use Initiate a procedure.

Offer
Use Offer as collateral.

Operate
Use Operate tools.

Rely on
Use Rely on a computer.

Wield
Use Wield a gun.

Rather Than Replace Use, Consider Alternative Wording, Including Clichés If Appropriate

Use a credit card
buy on credit, swipe the stripe, make MasterCard moan

Use a key
access, gain entry, open, unlock

Use a language
speak in/write in/communicate in [name of language]

Use a microphone
amplify one’s voice, speak into a microphone, blast the audience’s ears

Use a paintbrush
coat, dab, daub, decorate, paint, smear, splatter, whitewash

Use a pen
draw, endorse, jot down, note, pen, print, scribble, sign, write

Use a phone
buzz, call, dial, get on the blower, phone, ring, telephone

Use a trash bag
bundle/throw into a trash bag, discard, garbage, throw away, trash

Use as a weapon
convert into a weapon, threaten with, weaponize

Use as an excuse
blame something, make excuses, pin on, point the finger at

Use common sense
consider before acting, exercise prudence, practice caution

Use drugs
dope, drop, drug, get high, inject, mainline, shoot up, snort

Use elbow grease
apply oneself, exert oneself, knuckle down, persevere, work hard

Use every trick in the book
boil the ocean, do anything to succeed, go all-out, strive, try hard

Use fertilizer
compost, dress, enrich the soil, feed, fertilize, mulch, top-dress

Use foul language
blaspheme, curse, cuss, swear, utter profanities, turn the air blue

Use good judgment
choose wisely, exercise caution, harness one’s horse sense, succeed

Use magic
bewitch, cast a spell, curse, enchant, hex, possess

Use one’s fist
batter, clout, cold-cock, fist, pound, pummel, punch, strike, wallop

Use one’s hands
operate by hand, perform manually; act out, gesture, pantomime, sign, signal

Use one’s head
contemplate, deliberate, meditate, mull over, reason, think, weigh

Use one’s loaf
figure out by oneself, think smart, work smarter not harder

Use one’s teeth
bite, champ, chew, chomp, gnaw, masticate, munch, nibble

Use over
recondition, recycle, reprocess, reuse, reutilize, salvage

Use poor judgment
botch, err, fail, flop, flub, foul up, make a mess, mess up, spoil

Use soap
bathe, clean, cleanse, lather, launder, scrub, shower, soap, wash

Use [somebody or something]
abuse, exploit, manipulate, stage-manage, take advantage of

Use subterfuge
con, deceive, dupe, evade, fake, hoodwink, lie, mislead, swindle, trick

Use sugar
add sugar, candify, candy, mull, sugar, sweeten

Use the best china
brag, hide the dirty laundry, make a good impression, posture, show off

Use the car
chauffeur, drive, motor, putt-putt, tailgate, weave through traffic

Use torture
assault, beat, brutalize, lay into, punish, torment, torture

Use up
consume, deplete, drain, eat up, empty, exhaust, expend, finish

Replace the Modal Verb Phrase Used to

Used to typically precedes an infinitive:

used to swim

used to walk

used to read

Try swapping the modal with words and phrases such as:

always

formerly

in the old days

in the past

once

once upon a time

previously

when dinosaurs roamed the earth

when he was a kid

when she was younger

whenever I __________

would

Run Careful Search-and-Replace Operations

Determine intended meaning before choosing any of the following alternatives. Many will steer creativity in new directions. Embrace them as opportunities to add subplots or to augment details of narrative.

A and B
accept, activate, actuate, administer, apply, arrange, avail oneself of, begin, benefit from, brandish, bring about, bring into play, bring on, bring to bear, burn through

C
capitalize on, carry out, carry through, cash in on, cause, channel, commence, conduct, consume, control, coordinate

D
demonstrate, depend on, deplete, deploy, develop, devour, disburse, draw on, drive

E and F
eat up, effectuate, employ, empty, energize, engage, engender, establish, execute, exercise, exert, exhaust, expend, exploit, finish, flaunt, flourish, follow, fulfill

H to N
handle, harness, have recourse to, hire, ignite, implement, initiate, instigate, leverage, manage, maneuver, manipulate, mobilize, negotiate

O and P
offer, operate, orchestrate, organize, originate, perform, pioneer, ply, practice, prepare, put forth, put into action, put into effect, put into operation, put into service

R to W
rely on, resort to, run, spark, spearhead, spend, start, steer, take on, trigger, utilize, wield, work, work with

Time to Use Wield Your Red Pencil

Reduce or eliminate use, used, and used to in the following exercise.

Exercise

“Use your imagination,” said Mrs. Peters as she held a beaker against the classroom window. Sunlight filtered through murky liquid and illuminated tiny moving objects. “What could they be?”

A boy near the door used a finger to tap away for a few seconds on his cell phone. “Baby shrimp?”

“No.”

A girl in the back row piped up, “I used to get tadpoles from the pond near our house every spring. They kinda look like that.”

“No, they’re not tadpoles. Use your heads. What have we been discussing in class for the last two days?”

Almost as one, the class chorused, “Aliens.”

Mrs. Peters used an index finger to push her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. The sunlight filtered through her neck and jaw now, illuminating bones and muscles.

Suggested solution

“Look — and imagine,” said Mrs. Peters as she held a beaker against the classroom window. Sunlight filtered through murky liquid and illuminated tiny moving objects. “What could they be?”

A boy near the door tapped for a few seconds on his cell phone. “Baby shrimp?”

“No.”

A girl in the back row piped up, “When I was little, I got tadpoles from the pond near our house every spring. They kinda look like that.”

“No, they’re not tadpoles. Think. What have we been discussing in class for the last two days?”

Almost as one, the class chorused, “Aliens.”

Mrs. Peters pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. The sunlight filtered through her neck and jaw now, illuminating bones and muscles.

Notes:

Use your imagination becomes Look — and imagine, which is appropriate, since Mrs. Peters holds something up for the class to observe.

A boy near the door used a finger to tap away becomes A boy near the door tapped. There’s no need to show him using a finger. Readers will envision that without the extra words.

I used to get tadpoles from the pond is reworded to When I was little, I got tadpoles from the pond. The edited version helps establish that the girl was probably a preschooler when she did this.

Use your heads becomes Think.

Mrs. Peters used an index finger to push her glasses onto the bridge of her nose becomes Mrs. Peters pushed her glasses onto the bridge of her nose. As with the boy on his cell phone, readers will assume she uses a finger. If she had pushed her glasses with a piece of chalk or another object that has some bearing on this scene, including it would be appropriate. Otherwise, the extra words contribute nothing.

Why has the class been discussing aliens? Maybe the students can see an alien growing inside Mrs. Peters. Does she have two tongues, perhaps?