T is the letter of temperament. It holds more words for how somebody is holding themselves — tense, terse, testy, touchy, taciturn, tranquil — than almost any other. This page gathers 143 adjectives that start with T, sorted by the job you need doing rather than by whether the word flatters, because most of them…

S carries more adjectives than any other letter in English, and the reason matters: it holds three productive beginnings at once — s-, sc- and st- — plus every self- compound. This page lists 199 adjectives that start with S, grouped by the job each does, with a plain meaning beside every word. Because the…

Here is a list of adjectives you can actually use: 196 adjectives arranged by what they describe — size, shape, colour, sound, taste, mood, character, quality and more — each with a short meaning. Before that come the everyday adjectives English speakers use constantly, and after it a list of adjectives by grammatical type (this,…

N is a small letter that punches above its weight in criticism: negligent, notorious, noxious, nitpicking. It also holds some of the most precise words in English for things that are only half there — nebulous, nascent, notional. This page lists 100 adjectives that start with N, each with its meaning and a short example,…

E is the most common letter in English, and its adjectives are unusually good at carrying feeling — elated, exasperated, exhausted, envious. This page gathers 122 adjectives that start with E, arranged by the job you need doing rather than by whether the word is a compliment, because most of them can be either depending…

The letter A carries more useful adjectives than almost any other, and that is a problem as much as a gift: when every second describing word you reach for begins with the same sound, your writing starts to hum. This page lists 171 adjectives that start with A, grouped by the job each one actually…

Fixing commas in a paragraph you later delete is wasted work. Edit from the largest unit down to the smallest, and never in the other direction.

Most professional writing is pitched several years above its audience, and the writers doing it believe simplicity would make them look less capable.