We live in a web of words. They are everywhere. Without them we cannot communicate fully even our basic meanings, let alone the finer distinctions in our thinking. Words are at the heart of our first clumsy attempts to communicate in an unfamiliar language. To be ‘lost for words’ is to be lost indeed!

Words are not things, and yet they are. They are both more, and less, than what they seem. We combine and recombine them to achieve a multiplicity of effects: to describe, to persuade, to deceive, to curse, to love, to grieve, to light up our imagination, to bring aesthetic pleasure, etc. They are the stuff of magic. They give us power over things, and people. They afford infinite pleasure when we play games with them. As our experiences of life multiply, so the associations of the words with those experiences become more complex – so that meanings become personal as well as public. The words we use and the way we use them are subtly interwoven with our personalities.

In this chapter we shall focus on the rich storehouse of words to develop activities for communication and for dramatic effect.