The ThesaurusA thesaurus is a real life saver for all writers, speakers and editors of the English language. It stands side by side with the dictionary in its importance. It provides the synonyms and antonyms of words, and the larger editions even supply suggestions for alternate words to research. As a writer what I like about a thesaurus is that it supplies me with the information I need – a better word to use that will more effectively get my point across. As an editor I like this reference tool because it helps me to enable the writer in getting his or her point across. In essence, this collection of synonyms and antonyms helps to connect the dots between intent and desired outcome. Like dictionaries, this book also comes in a variety of sizes and forms. The Pocket Book variety usually contains only synonyms and has about 9,200 entries and over 120,000 synonyms. It fits nicely into a school bag, brief case, and won’t take much space on your computer desk. It is a quick and handy reference guide. 
A Modern Style supplies synonyms, antonyms, phrases and quite often verb sets.
Roget’s Thesaurus
is the one that I used in school, and later into post-secondary education I moved on to a numerically indexed version.
The Numerically Indexed versions are arranged so as to provide a greater range of synonyms, antonyms, alternate words and phrases. It will also include enough verb sets that, if read at once, are guaranteed to cure even the worse case of insomnia. All kidding aside, when writing that all important paper, or making that once in a lifetime speech, this text will best represent you. On Line copies are also very handy. If you are good at saving your work before switching back and forth between screens, and have a back up copy of your writing handy, then by all means, this may be the format for you. Many of the online versions
online versions
are paired with dictionaries. This would save time and perhaps loss of work due to screen switching.
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