: Re: Is it wrong to use the same word multiple times within a few sentences? I have been told before that when describing things in writing I should use different words, and not to repeat myself

@Deb2945533

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The opposite danger of course is to use several different words to describe the same object, often out of fear that using the same word will be boring or crude. H. W. Fowler, in an ironic mood, called this "elegant variation" The Wikipedia article includes this illustration.

"In The King's English (1906), Fowler gives as an example this passage from The Times:
The Emperor received yesterday and to-day General Baron von Beck ... It may therefore be assumed with some confidence that the terms of a feasible solution are maturing themselves in His Majesty's mind and may form the basis of further negotiations with Hungarian party leaders when the Monarch goes again to Budapest.
Fowler objected to the passage because The Emperor, His Majesty, and the Monarch all refer to the same person: "The effect," he pointed out in A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (first edition, p. 131, col. 2), "is to set readers wondering what the significance of the change is, only to conclude disappointedly that it has none."

Repetition is acceptable, and sometimes necessary, in legal or technical documents, or for dramatic effect, as noted by others. When in doubt, I recommend crossing the sentence out and trying again a few days later.

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