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Diction

Lecture 2

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II. Using the Exact Word

The exact word suits to your purpose, your meaning, and your reader’s background, interests, and expectations.

To choose the exact word, you must be clear about the denotation and connotation of a word, the differences between general and specific words, abstract and concrete words, and have a good mastery of English idioms.

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The Meaning of Words

Denotation: is the specific, direct, and explicit meaning of a word. The denotative meaning of a word comes directly from its referent and is mostly gained from a dictionary

Connotation: is the associative or suggestive meaning of a word. The connotative meaning is personal and mostly deduced from one’s experience.

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Two aspects of the meaning of a word:

The meaning of a word

Denotative

Connotative

literal meaning as defined by dictionary

feeling or idea suggested by the word

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Synonyms

Since the connotations of words may vary along a number of dimensions, it is difficult to find two words that are exactly the same in meaning and use (structure). They may be identical, but they will never be equivalent.

Usually, the common dimensions will be from “informal” to “formal”, from “weak” to “strong”, from “emotionless” to “emotional”, from “favorable” to “unfavorable” or form different collocations.

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Synonyms can be different in:

1) connotation（词的本意）2) stylistic level

3) the degree of emphasis

4) emotional coloring

5) tone

6) collocation （搭配）

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ExampleSynonyms: country nation state land

country

nation

state

land

area of land and its population and government

the people of a country

the government or political organization of a country

country (less precise but more literary and emotive)

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The degree of emphasis

Synonyms big large huge

“Large” is more formal than “big”.

“Large” is more emphatic than “big”.

“Huge” is more literary than “big” and “large”.

“Huge” is more emphatic than “large”.

“Big” is more informal than “large” and “huge”.

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Different emotional coloring and tone

synonymssmall

little

objective

feeling of fondness

different in emotional coloring

synonyms

modest

humble

lack of pride

virtue

undue self-depreciation

laudatory(褒义 )

derogatory（贬义）

different in tone

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Different collocation

Large great big ：a large amount/number/quantity of

great courage/confidence/ability/wisdom

big difference/mistake/argument/money

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Example: informal-formal

ask : informalquestion: ask many questionsinterrogate: suggesting that the person is being held by

force and asked questions which they are unwilling to answer.

He asked about his new job. Two men are being questioned by the police in connection

with the robbery. The Japanese officers were interrogated as prisoners of

war.

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Example: informal-formal

time: a period; a period in history age: a particular period in history epoch: long period in history, marked by important events

It will take you a long time to learn French properly. In ancient times, people wore clothes made of fur. He has reached his retirement age. They were living in the Stone Age/Iron Age. The first flight into space marked a new epoch in the history of

mankind. The steam-engine was an epoch-making event.

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Example: informal-formal

rise: go up; get highermount: formal go up; climbascend: formal go to a higher level, climb

Smoke rose from the factory chimneys.

The old lady mounted the stairs with difficulty.

He ascended the stairs.

Victoria ascended the throne. (became queen)

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Example: weak-strong

big : biglarge : unusually bighuge : extremely large emphatic (formal)

Put the books in the big box.Wuhan is a big/large city in Central China.The team has got a huge man over two meters tall.

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Example: emotionless-emotional

small: (emotionless)

little: (implying a feeling of fondness)

They lived in a small town. (describing the area)

I can never forget the little town where I spent my happy childhood. (I like it.)

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Example: favorable-unfavorable

modest: not proud (a virtue, laudatory/favorable)

humble: having a low opinion of oneself (derogatory/ unfavorable)

Modest and hardworking, he made very quick progress at school.

Clearly Gompers was overawed by Wilson. His face took on a servile look; his voice was humble.

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Example: synonyms

proud: showing proper and reasonable respect for oneself; having too high opinion of oneself

arrogant: unpleasantly proud, with an unreasonable strong belief in one’s own importance

haughty: seeming to consider oneself better or more important than others; arrogant

insolent: showing disrespectful rudenessThey are poor but too proud to accept money from the state.The arrogant official did not listen to people’s protest. The haughty look of the young lady made everyone kept a distance

from her.The insolent children rushed into the house without greeting the

guests.

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Not Necessarily Synonyms

Do not take the Chinese equivalent of an English word as its exact meaning, or understanding the meaning of an English word from its Chinese equivalent. English words that may be translated into the same Chinese expression are not necessarily synonyms. Because usually an English word has no exact Chinese equivalent and it has to be translated in different ways in different contexts.

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Example:

Family: a group of people, including parents, children, grandparents, uncles, aunts, living together

home: the place where one lives (denotation)

warmth, safety, comfort, love/coldness, burden (connotation)

The whole family came to visit us at Christmas.

I left my exercise book at home.

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Example:

except: leaving out; not including

besides: in addition to; as well as We were tired except/besides John.

strict: exact

rigid: stiff, inflexible, difficult to change We should obey the regulations strictly.

We shouldn’t obey the regulations rigidly.

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3.Exercise: Choose the more suitable word from the two provided for each blank in the following sentences, and give reasons for your choice.

1. She is an ______(eminent, imminent) artist in this city. As a result of overpopulation, a depression seems ________(eminent, imminent) in this ric

h country.Eminent is used to describe a person; an eminent person is famous and distinguished.Imminent (about to happen, likely to happen soon) is used to describe an event, especially a

n unpleasant one.2. There will be_______(farther, further) changes in the itinerary(旅行路线 ). This group of explorers went ________(farther, further) in the desert than that one.Further and farther are both comparative forms of far. As adjective, both are used only befor

e noun. The adjective further means “more or additional” while the adjective farther means “more distant”. As an adverb further can be used interchangeably with farther. In spoken English it is more useful to use further.

3. He tried_______(hard, hardly) but failed to finish his work in time. The interpreter could _______(hard, hardly) catch up with the fluent speaker.Hard may be used as either an adjective or an adverb (used after verb). If you work hard (doi

ng something), you are “using a lot of effort, energy, or attention.” Hardly is an adverb meaning “almost not”.

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4. What the minister has said______(implies, infers) that there will be a change in the economic policy.

From his statement the listeners ______(imply, infer) that there will be a change in the economic policy.

Imply means “to suggest that something is true, without saying this directly”; infer means “to form an opinion that something is probably true because of information that you have.”

5. _______(Its, It’s) Jim who has helped me. I like the cut of the jacket, but I don’t like ______(its, it’s) color.It’s is the short form of it is; its, the possessive form of it.6. He______(lay, laid) on the grass, looking at the sky. He_______(lay, laid) his pen on the desk and began reading.Laid is the past tense of lay (=place), which means “to put something/someone do

wn carefully into a flat position.” Lay is the past tense of lie, which means “to be in a position in which your body is flat on the floor, on a bed, etc.”

7. The director is a very______(practical, practicable) man; he has no fanciful ideas. These plans are good and ______(practical, practicable).Practical and practicable are both adjectives. Practical can be used to describe a p

erson; a practical person is “good at dealing with problems and making decisions based on what is possible and what will really work.” Practicable means “that can be put into practice; workable.”

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8. She is______(proud, arrogant) of the success her group has won. That nobleman often speaks in a (an) ______(proud, arrogant) tone.Proud is a fairly general word used to say that someone is pleased with th

emselves, pleased with what they have achieved, or pleased with something or someone connected with them. Arrogant is a disapproving word meaning that someone thinks they are better than other people.

9. I_____ (hope, wish) she will recover quickly from her illness. I_____ (hope, wish) she were here with us.Hope is used to talk about things that could happen, or could be true; wis

h is used to talk about things that are not true, not possible, or very unlikely.

10. I ______(doubt, suspect) whether this plan will work. I _____(doubt, suspect) that he is not telling the truth.Doubt means “to think that something may not be true or that it is unlikel

y”; suspect means “to think that something is probably true, especially something bad.”

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Homework:

链接5-词汇练习.doc

链接6-PETS5写作词组.doc