✅  Slow is the best word to use when something isn’t going particularly fast (a slow pace). It can describe all kinds of things, and can be used in most circumstances.

✅  Deliberate suggests that something is going slowly because every action or movement is being considered carefully and thoroughly (a deliberate decision).

✅  Something is done in a deliberate way usually because it takes time to be careful or because you want to draw attention to the action (a deliberate motion).

✅  It’s best to use slow to describe the rate something is moving, and deliberate to describe an action done with care, purpose, or thoughtfulness (a deliberate attack; a deliberate effort).

Choose your words carefully with these deliberate synonyms.

✅  Hinder and hamper both mean to limit the progress of something or to try to stop it (hinder the investigation; progress was hampered).

✅  Hinder and hamper also both suggest the same result: slowing down progress. To hinder something is often to delay it (hinder children’s development); to hamper is to make progress difficult (hampered by the weather).

✅  These two words are very similar, but they can have different implications. Hinder might suggest that progress has stopped completely while the delay is dealt with, while hamper may suggest that the action is still going on, just slower or less efficiently (We were hampered by the loss of the map).

Try using hamper in a paragraph about a road trip with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅  Task is the best word to use to refer to a piece of work that you have to do, whether it's a household chore, homework, or part of your job (These are my daily tasks). Task often implies that the work is annoying or unpleasant (pointless tasks).

✅  Assignment is the best word to use when someone in authority, like a teacher or employer, has given you something to do (homework assignment; a special assignment from management). Assignments are almost always tasks, but not vice versa, since tasks aren’t always assigned by someone else.

✅  You can also be ‘on assignment’ or ‘on task,’ but these two phrases aren’t synonymous. ‘On assignment’ is often used to describe someone who is in the process of doing a specific task for their job, especially one that requires traveling, while ‘on task’ is used to describe a person who's focused and concentrating on the task they're doing.

Your next task is to take a look at these synonyms for assignment.