We'veallheardtheoldsaying，“Sticksandstonescanbreakmybones，butwordscanneverhurtme.”Don'tyoubelieveit？Wordsarepowerful，andtheycanhurt—alot.Infact，ifyou'renotcareful，youcanevenhurtyourself，byusingthewrongwordinyourwriting.

Recentlyafriendsentmeacopyofane-mailshereceivedfromthecustomerservicedepartmentofhercreditcardcompany，aftershecontactedthemwithaquestionaboutheraccount.Shewashappywiththeirpositiveresponse.ButasIreadthee-mail，onelinejumpedoutatme：“Inlieuofgoodcustomerservice...”

Didtheyreallymeantheywereofferingherafewextrarewardpointsinsteadofgoodcustomerservice？Idoubtit.Morelikely，whatthecustomerservicedepartmentmeanttosaywas，“Becausegoodcustomerserviceisimportanttous...”followedbythedetailsofwhattheyweredoingtomakesuresheremainedahappycustomer.

Sowhydidn'tthewritersaythat？Icanonlyguessthatperhapsthewriterlikedthephrase“inlieuof”，thoughtitsoundedmoreinterestingthansaying“because”，andsousedit—withoutbotheringtocheckthetruemeaning.

Haveyoueverdonethat？Trytoimpressotherswithabigword，onlytofindoutyou'veusedthewordincorrectly？It'sjusttheoppositeeffect，isn'tit？Youmayimpresspeopleallright，butit'snottheimpressionyouweregoingfor.

Whenyouwrite，remembertochooseyourwordscarefully.Peoplemaystilldisagreewithwhatyousay，buttheywon'tbeabletodismissyoubecauseyoumadecarelessmistakesinhowyousaidit.

1.What'sthewriter'spurposeingivingthesaying?

A．Toamusethereader. B．Topersuadethereader.

C．Tosupportaconclusion. D．Toleadtothetopic.

2.Whatdoesthephrase“inlieuof”mostprobablymean?

A．Becauseof B．Inhonourof C．Insteadof D．Infavourof

3.Accordingtothewriter，thecustomerservicedepartment______.

A．didn'tprefertousefamiliarwordstoattractcustomers

B．didn'texpresswhattheyreallymeant

C．didn'tneedtooffertheircustomersextrarewardpoints

D．succeededinimpressingtheircustomers