Transcript Diction

Diction
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Diction is the choice and use of words. The
English language has a very large vocabulary:
as many as 400,000 words are collected in
the Oxford English Dictionary. Of course no
one knows or need to use so many words.
Only a small part of them are used by
ordinary people for ordinary purposes. A
student learning to write should learn to sue
the words that are most useful and most
often used to express himself.
I Levels of Words
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The words that are often used may
be divided, from a stylistic point of
view , into three types: formal,
common, and collopuial.
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Formal words may also be called learned words,
or literary words, or “big” words. They mainly
appear in formal writing, such as scholarly or
theoretical works, political and legal documents,
and formal lectures and addresses. Many such
words contain three or more than 3 syllables; most
of them are of Greek or Latin origin. They are
seldom used in daily conversation, except for
special purposes. Here is a paragraph from a
scholarly paper book page 10. Long sentences
and formal words are appropriate here because
the paper, which discuses a rather complex
question, needs them to be theoretically clear and
exact.
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Most of the words in the paragraph,
however, are those that people use every
day, and appear in all kinds of writing.
Because of this, they are called common
words. In this paragraph, except one or two
words that are very colloquial, like kid, and
one or two that are a little formal, like formal,
like transactions and dubious(可疑的), all
the words are commonly used words. The
sentences are much shorter and simpler
than those in the preceding paragraph, as it
describes the thoughts of a child.
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There are words which are mainly used in
informal or familiar conversation. They
seldom appear in formal writing, and in
literary words their main use is to record
people’s thoughts and dialogues. They are
usually short words of one or two syllables
and most of them are of Saxon origin (i.e.,
not borrowed from Greek, Latin, or French).
We may call them colloquial words, such as
guts(meaning courage),guy(man), and
hassle(bother).
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These are all words of standard English and
used by all educated speakers of the
language. There are words which are used
only by special groups of people for special
effect. Among these are slang words,
dialectal words and certain words that are
often used by uneducated speakers.
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Slang words: highly informal; vivid and
interesting ,but if used inappropriately, they
make the writer or speaker sound offensive
or funny:
On hearing that his father had kicked the
bucket, we wrote him a letter to express our
sympathies.(sound not sympathetic)
The big banquet held in honour of the
distinguished guests was really neat.(tone)
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Dialect: omits certain sounds and
pronounces-ing like –in and care like keer.
ain’t for isn’t, I’s for I’m, and nohow for
anyhow. A little shaver means a little boy.
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Such nonstandard words and
expressions are often seen in stories
describing poorly educated people.
Foreign students of English need to
understand them, but should not try to
use them in speech or writing.
II The Meaning of Words
1.Denotative and Connotative
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A word’s denotation is what it literally means,
as defined by the dictionary; its connotation is
the feeling or idea suggested by it. Country
nation state land
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For instance, country, nation , state and land
have more or less the same denotation and
may all be translated into guojia in Chinese,
but their connotations are quite different.
Country refers to an area of land and its
population and government, nation
emphasizes the people of a country, state
refers to the government or political
organization of a country , and land is less
precise but more literary and emotive than
country.(written language)
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An island country; neighbouring( countries )
In area China is the third largest (country )in
the world.
Chinese people is a peace-loving (nation);
the awakening (nations) of Africa
The modernization programme has won the
support of the whole (nation).
(State) organs;( state)-owned enterprises
China is my native (land ).
2. Different Meanings for Synonyms
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These four words may be said to be
synonyms. English is particularly rich in
synonyms as a result of incorporation words
from other languages over the centuries. But
we must remember that it is difficult to find
two words that are exactly the same in
meaning and use. They may be different in
stylistic level, in the degree of emphasis, in
emotional coloring, in tone, and in collocation.
For example,
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1) ask question interrogate ; time age
epoch ; rise mount ascend
In each of group the first word is from
Anglo-Saxon and the second and third
from French or Latin. The first one is
clearly more informal or colloquial than
the other two.(stylistic)
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2) Big & Large are both commonly used
words, but large is slightly more formal and
may be used to describe things that are
unusually big, so it is more emphatic than big.
Huge, which is more literary than these two
words, means extremely large, and is more
emphatic than large.
A big / large city; a big / large house
Wuhan is a very large city in Central China.
The team has got a huge man over two
metres tall.
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3) Small and little are often interchangeable,
but there is some difference in emotional
coloring between them. Small is objective,
while little may imply a feeling of fondness:
They lived in a small town.
I can never forget the little town where I
spent my happy childhood.
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4) Modest and humble both indicate a lack of
pride, but modesty is a virtue and
humbleness is not. Humble often connotes
undue self-depreciation. So they are different
in tone: one is laudatory and the other is
derogatory.
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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5) Some synonyms have different collocations: they
are habitually used with certain words. Large, not
big, for instance, is used to modify nouns like
amount, number and quantity(a large amount of
money, a large number of people, a large quantity of
beer, etc.) Similarly, with nouns denoting personal
qualities, such as courage, confidence, ability, and
wisdom, not big or large, but great, is commonly
used. Another example, insist and persist have the
same denotation, but each of them has their own
collocation: insist on ; persist in
All this shows that to discriminate between
synonyms is important to a student learning to write.
When in difficulty, he should use a good dictionary
with notes on usage or synonyms.
3. Chinese Equivalent of English Words
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There’s one thing about the meaning of
words that Chinese students should be on
guard against: taking the Chinese equivalent
of an English word as its exact meaning, or
understanding the meaning of an English
word from its Chinese equivalent. It is true
that the Chinese equivalents of many English
words express their true meanings, but very
often an English word has no exact Chinese
equivalent and it has to be translated in
different ways in different contexts.
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1) For example, some students think send means
song in Chinese may make sentences like:“He came
to send me the letter”( He brought me the letter); or
“ I sent my friend to the station yesterday”(I went to
the station with my friend to see him off). In fact, to
send means to cause to go or be taken to a place
without going oneself. If you sent something to a
place, you asked someone else to take it there; you
did not go there yourself.
To understand the meaning of an English word one
had better find out how it is defined in English in a
dictionary with English explanations. Chinese
translations are not always reliable, and sometimes
they are misleading.
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2) English words that may be translated into
the same Chinese expression are not
necessarily synonymous. Family and home,
for instance, may both be translated as jia,
but they are not synonyms. Family refers to
the people related to one, while home to the
place where one lives.
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3) Except and besides are sometimes translated in
the same way (chule), but they are opposite in
meaning: except means leaving out or not including,
and besides means in addition to or as well as.
Apart from the cost, it will take a lot of
time.(=besides)
The orphan had no one to take care of him apart
from his uncle.(=except)
He has done good work, apart from a few slight
faults.(=except for)
There can be no knowledge apart from practice.实践
出真知．（＝without）
III General and Specific Words
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Whereas general words name classes and groups
of things (tree, music, toy), specific words point to
a member of a class or group (birch tree, sonata,
marionette). Both types of words are appropriate in
their respective contexts, but on the whole rely upon
specific words, since they express meaning more
vividly and more precisely than general ones. Nouns,
such as "thing," "area," "aspect," "factor," and
"individual" are especially imprecise.
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General: Working at the grocery store offers
an employee many things.
Specific: Working at the grocery store offers
an employee many benefits.
General: The family ate some good food last
night.
Specific: The Smith clan devoured a fivecourse meal, consisting of a shrimp appetizer
in a wine sauce, marinated rolled rib roast,
honey glazed carrots and fried eggplant, a
Waldorf salad, and peaches flambé.
"The difference between the almost-right word and the right
word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the
lightning bug and the lightning." —Mark Twain
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Writing teachers often tell their students to
"show--don't tell." To make your writing
effective, "show" something to readers that
they can imaginatively experience; don't just
"tell" readers an abstract idea. Notice, for
example, the two sentences below, both
conveying the same basic idea. (The second
sentence is from Craig B. Stanford's "Gorilla
Warfare," published in the July/August 1999
issue of The Sciences.)
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Abstract "Telling"
Even a large male gorilla, unaccustomed to
tourists, is frightened by people.
Concrete "Showing"
"A four-hundred-pound male [gorilla],
unaccustomed to tourists, will bolt into the
forest, trailing a stream of diarrhea, at the
mere sight of a person."
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The second sentence is memorable and brings the
experience to life, whereas the first sentence is rather dull,
telling readers that a large gorilla is frightened but not
showing readers a frightened gorilla. The second sentence
gives readers a vivid and specific "picture" of a frightened
gorilla. Notice that the writer of the first sentence cannot
be sure of what readers will imaginatively "see," but the
writer of the second sentence can be assured that all
readers will "see" the same frightened gorilla. Notice as
well that the writer of the second sentence does not even
need to tell readers that the gorilla is frightened; the
specific and concrete description of the gorilla's behavior
"shows" readers how frightened the gorilla is.
This web page offers suggestions to help you use concrete and
specific diction in your writing, the kind of diction that can make
your writing vivid and engaging.
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1) Abstract and Concrete Diction
Abstract Diction
Abstract diction refers to words that do not
appeal imaginatively to the reader's senses.
Abstract words create no "mental picture" or
any other imagined sensations for readers.
Abstract words include . . .
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Love, Hate, Feelings, Emotions, Temptation,
Peace, Seclusion, Alienation, Politics, Rights,
Freedom, Intelligence, Attitudes, Progress,
Guilt, etc.
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Try to create a mental picture of "love." Do
you picture a couple holding hands, a child
hugging a mother, roses and valentines?
These are not "love." Instead, they are
concrete objects you associate with love.
Because it is an abstraction, the word "love"
itself does not imaginatively appeal to the
reader's senses.
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Some abstract diction will probably be
inevitable in your papers, but you need to
give readers something that they can
imaginatively see, hear, feel, smell, or taste. If
you remain on an abstract level, your readers
will most likely lose interest in what you are
saying, if your readers can even figure out
what exactly you are talking about.
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For example . . .
"Ralph and Jane have experienced difficulties in their
lives, and both have developed bad attitudes because
of these difficulties. They have now set goals to
surmount these problems, although the unfortunate
consequences of their experiences are still apparent in
many everyday situations."
What is this writer trying to say? It's hard to tell. The
diction is so abstract that it is likely to mean something
different to each reader. Writing that is overly abstract
and general is also not pleasant to read. I remember
well, too well, a student whose writing would remain on
this level from the beginning to the end of each essay.
Reading her essays became quite a chore. The world
of ideas and abstractions has its place, but readers
need something they can hold on to in essays.
Concrete Diction
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Concrete diction refers to words that stimulate some
kind of sensory response in the reader: as we read the
words, we can imaginatively use our senses to
experience what the words represent.
Concrete words include . . .
Dog, Cat, Computer, Classroom, Tree, Candy Bar, Car,
Chair, Department Store, Radio, Pencil, Hat, Clock,
Rain, Ice Cube, Beer, etc.
Now, try to picture a dog. Because "dog" is a concrete
word, you are able to form a mental picture of it.
Because concrete diction imaginatively appeals to the
senses, it tends to involve readers more than abstract
diction does.
2) General and Specific Diction
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General Diction
What do you imaginatively "see" when you read the
following sentence: "The dog jumped on top of the
car"?
The concrete diction should stimulate some "mental
picture," but what exactly do you "see"? You should
imagine a dog jumping on top of a car, but what kind
of dog? And what kind of car do you imagine? Most
likely, you see your dog jumping on top of your car,
but is this what the writer intended you to "see"?
Probably not. The sentence uses concrete diction,
thus allowing you to create a mental picture, but that
diction is general and not specific.
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Specific Diction
Now, what do you imaginatively "see" what
you read this sentence: "The Saint Bernard
jumped on top of the red corvette"?
The concrete and specific diction in this
sentence ensures that you are "seeing"
exactly what the writer wants you to see. In
general, specific and concrete diction is a
characteristic of strong writing, whereas
general and abstract diction is a
characteristic of weak writing.
3) Be Specific!
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The diction in a paper could be more concrete
and/or more specific. Specific diction will help
ensure that the meaning you intend is exactly the
meaning that readers receive.
Consider the following sentence: "Mary walked into
the restaurant." The diction in this sentence may at
first seem specific, but it is not. Aren't there different
ways to "walk"? And what restaurant did Mary enter?
Because the sentences below use more specific
diction, they answer both of these questions.
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Mary staggered into Denny's.
Mary paraded into Red Lobster.
Mary shuffled into McDonald's.
Mary sashayed into Oogies.
Mary strutted into The Red Door.
Mary limped into Burger King
Mary waddled into Oink's Gourmet Bar-B-Que.
Mary sauntered into Subway.
Mary crept into Monari's 101.
Mary marched into Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Mary tiptoed into Pizza Hut.
Mary strolled into Hardee's.
Mary slinked into Uptown Bar & Grill.
Mary swaggered into Verucchi's Ristorante.
Mary trudged into Wendy's.
Mary pranced into Taco Bell.
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Notice that the more specific diction not only
makes the sentences more vivid, but the
diction conveys meaning not suggested in the
simple "Mary walked into the restaurant."
After all, "Mary staggering into Denny's" is
certainly much different than "Mary parading
into Red Lobster." In the first example, Mary
might have had one too many drinks, and it's
probably about, what, 3:00 a.m.? In the
second example, Mary obviously is feeling
good about herself because she is going to
be spending her money on a nice meal.
4) Use the Right Words, not the Almost-Right
Words!
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Some composition and writing experts argue
that writers should write with verbs and nouns,
avoiding the use of adverbs and adjectives
(those words that "modify," or change, verbs
and nouns). If you use the right verbs and
nouns, there should be no need to modify
them into something else.
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For instance, consider the following sentence:
"Mary walked proudly and confidently down
the hallway." The word "walked" is not quite
the right word here, so the writer is trying to
make it into the right word by adding "proudly
and confidently," but don't we have a word
that means "to walk proudly and confidently"?
How about "Mary strutted down the hallway"?
When the right word is used, the adverbs
become useless. Notice that none of the
sentences in the list above uses adverbs or
adjectives, just specific verbs and specific
nouns.
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Finally, "very" is a word to avoid. When you
use the word "very," you are most likely doing
what is described above: trying to change the
wrong word into the right one. Why not get rid
of "very" and use the right word instead?
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For example, "I was very happy" could
become "I was overjoyed," and "I was very
scared" could become "I was terrified." When
you choose the right word, "very" often
sounds strange in front of it. For example,
you probably would not say, "I was very
overjoyed" or "I was very terrified," right? If
you have chosen the right word, there is no
need to try to turn it into something else with
the word "very."