Read the following excerpt from a student essay. How can the writer best improve his or her word choice?
When I said that I wanted to take a cooking class, I didn't know what I was getting into. I love cooking, but I'm very shy and hate being in the spotlight. The first time the teacher asked me to do a culinary technique, my hands were sweating profusely. As I held the heavy utility knife in my sweaty hand, it fell to the floor. The class had just started, and I had already made a terrible first impression! My face was red, but I got the knife, put it in the sink, took a clean one, and cut the slab of raw bluefin tuna into paper-thin pieces. Everyone in the class—even the instructor—gave me a round of applause.

 - by adding technical terms
 - by using more precise verbs
 - by using words with more appropriate connotations
The writer could best improve his or her word choice by using more precise verbs.
For example, the writer could replace the underlined words with verbs such as announced, realize, adore, abhor, demonstrate, gripped, clanged, retrieved, deposited, selected, and sliced.
When I said that I wanted to take a cooking class, I didn't know what I was getting into. I love cooking, but I'm very shy and hate being in the spotlight. The first time the teacher asked me to do a culinary technique, my hands were sweating profusely. As I held the heavy utility knife in my sweaty hand, it fell to the floor. The class had just started, and I had already made a terrible first impression! My face was red, but I got the knife, put it in the sink, took a clean one, and cut the slab of raw bluefin tuna into paper-thin pieces. Everyone in the class—even the instructor—gave me a round of applause.