Lecture 2

Diction

用词

contents

Types of words General and specific words Synonyms Figures of speech

Types of Words

Common words Formal and technic words Nonstandard words

Common words: most useful, the core of the English

vocabulary sun, walk, clothes, lion, kid, shrug by ordinary people for ordinary purposes 3500 --- 5500 words ( CET- 4 -- Post

Graduate) clumsy, weird, skyscraper, fake, manifest,

Types of WordsTypes of Words

Types of WordsTypes of Words

Formal and technical words: Professional words Very useful in various fields By professional people for special purposes Political, legal, scientific, technical, business

and literary words E.g. oration (speech), erudite ( learned ),

fragment ( piece ), apparition ( ghost )

Types of WordsTypes of Words Nonstandard words: colloquial words Not-well-educated people or special group of p

eople Slang, jargon, dialectal, obsolete words Avoid using them unless in special situations E.g. goofy( 傻 ), hot( 热辣 ), redneck( 乡巴佬 ), d

ump( 将对方甩了 ), get high( 爽了一把 ) He is really a chicken. Look at that foxy lady! Man, that girl was hot! You are really fucked up!

Okay Cobber... Grab the esky, somethen to munch on, and sit back and have a burl at "Speaking Aussie"... Lets stop playen silly-buggers and have a ridgy didge attempt. ...

( 来源：英语麦当劳－英语杂志 English CN. com)

(Translation – Okay my friend, get yourself a cold drink, some

thing to eat, and sit back and have a try at  "Speaking Australian"...  Lets stop messing around, and have a genuine attempt.)

Australian English

Sample Analysis Read the following paragraphs and offer your

opinion to each one: What kind of article is it in terms of its

choice of words? Give examples to illustrate your opinion. Do you think the content and the use of

words are in agreement?

Types of WordsTypes of Words There is nothing new in the recognition, withi

n a given language, of a distinction between common usage and uses of the language for more restricted purposes and often enough, perhaps characteristically, more elevated purposes. The monolithic nature of English is not questioned when literary essayists like Emerson contrast poetry and common speech. The latter is recognized in America to be the proper subject for the investigation of linguists who, however, now show some incipient inclination to investigate poetry, too, and other noncasual utterances in a given language.

--- C. F. Voegelin

1. What kind of article is it in terms of its choice of words?2. Give examples to illustrate your opinion.3. Do you think the content and the use of words are in agreement?

This is a paragraph from a scholarly paper which contains some of the features of formal English: there are only three sentences in this paragraph; all of them are long and involved. And there are in it quite a few formal or “big” words, such as recognition, characteristically, elevated, monolithic, incipient, inclination, noncasual, utterances. Long sentences and formal words are appropriate here because the paper, which discusses a rather complex question, needs them to be theoretically clear and exact.

When I was a kid, and reading every science fiction book in the local library, I used to wonder exactly how the future would happen. By that I don’t mean what the future would be like --- science fiction already told me that --- but rather how we’d actually get there. Science fiction books seemed to agree, for example, that in the future there would be no money --- all transactions would be made via identity cards and centralized computers. But that seemed dubious to me: how, I wondered, are you going to get everybody to give up money in the first place?

--- Michael Rogers

Types of WordsTypes of 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 transactions and dubious, 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.

You have your tension. Sometimes you come close to having an accident, that upsets you. You just escape maybe by a hair or so. Sometimes maybe you get a disgruntled passenger on there, and starts a big argument. Traffic. You have someone who cuts you off or stops in front of the bus. There’s a lot of tension behind that. You got to watch all the time. You’re watchin’ the drivers, you’re watchin’ other cars. Most of the time you have to drive for the other drivers, to avoid hitting them. So you take the tension home with you.

--- Studs Terkel

Types of WordsTypes of Words

This is a part of a talk given by a Chicago driver. He uses very colloquial words and expressions like there’s, you’re, by a hair or so, on there, cuts you off, and you got to. But most of the words he uses are common words.

Conclusion

Standard English:

Common words

Formal words

Colloquial words

There are three levels of words, with the formal or learned at the top, the colloquial at the bottom, and the common in the middle. Common words are good for all kinds of writing; formal words are as a rule seldom used in informal writing, while colloquial words are seldom used in formal writing, unless for some special purpose or effect.

Read the following sentences carefully and try to translate them into Chinese.

On hearing that his father had kicked the bucket, we wrote him a letter to express our sympathies.

闻讯他的父亲翘辫子了，我们写了封信表达我们的同情。

The big banquet held in honor of the distinguished guests was really neat.

为了这些尊贵的客人举行的盛大宴会真还可以。

Types of WordsTypes of Words

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.

Slang words are highly informal; they may be vivid and interesting, but they may, when used inappropriately, make the writer or speaker sound offensive or funny.

Types of WordsTypes of Words

I’ll attend to that myself in th’ mornin’. I’ll take keer o’ ’im. He ain’t from this country nohow. I’ll go down there in th’ mornin’ and see ’im. Lettin’ you leave your books and gallivant all over th’ hills. What kind of a school is it nohow! Didn’t do that, my son, when I’s a little shaver in school.

--- Jesse Stuart

Types of WordsTypes of Words

A farmer said some angry words about the school teacher who had taken his pupils out on a field trip:

Conclusion

The farmer’s dialect is known in his pronunciation: he omits certain sounds and pronounces –ing like –in and care like keer. He uses ain’t for isn’t, I’s for I’m, and onhow for anyhow. These words, which may be used by uneducated speakers, are not of standard vocabulary. A little shaver is a slang expression meaning a little boy.

As foreign students of English, we need to understand these nonstandard words and expressions, but should not try to use them in speech or writing.

General and Specific Words Put the following words in a proper order: scientists, chemists, professionals, biochemists

Compare the following words: a good man: kind, honest, just, generous, sympathetic, warm-hearted, selfless, brave, honorable laugh: smile, grin( 露齿而笑 ), beam （眉开眼笑） , giggle （吃吃的笑） , titter （窃笑） , snigger （偷偷地笑） , chuckle （咯咯的笑） , guffaw （狂笑） , chortle （得意的笑）

Conclusion

Although both general and specific words are useful, a student learning to write should make an effort to master and use specific words wherever possible.

Specific words help to make writing clear, exact, vivid, and striking, for they are more informative and expressive than general words.

Using specific words should go along with providing details, and then there will be effective and impressive writing. Study the following example:

General: Students do many interesting things after classes.

Specific: Every morning and afternoon the sports fields are alive with energetic students. Football and basketball matches, volleyball, and badminton, track-training and gymnastics are all in full swing. Even the alleyways under the trees and around the flower beds provide enough space for enthusiasts to practice. Through the windows comes the pitter-patter of ping-pong ball, the sound of songs and music, or laughter and discussion.

Exercise Please correct the inappropriate use of words in the

following sentences: 1. The conclusion that the scholar has come to is that kids should not have to suffer for the sins of their fathers. 2. Mrs. Brown was indignant with her son, because he hadn’t done his homework. 3. Would you mind opening the gate? The air in this room is too close. 4. A strange man came in. “ May I borrow your telephone?” he asked. 5. While reading the tragedy, the girl cried over its pages. 6. I don’t know who is smiling in the next room.

Synonyms

The Meaning of Words Denotation & Connotation 外延 / 所指与内涵 / 喻义 Denotative meaning: literal meaning 字面义 Connotative meaning: an idea or meaning suggested

by or associated with a word 引申义 The set of associative implications constituting the ge

neral sense of a word in addition to its literal sense. 隐含，引申义

country, nation, state, land

Java is an island ________. China is a peace-loving _______. The awakening _______ of Africa bring great deve

lopment to the Third World. Wuhan University is one of the _____ universities i

n China. He often tells his foreign friends proudly that China

is his native _____. The modernization programme has won the suppo

rt of the whole _______.

country

nation

nations

state

land

nation

国家： country, nation, state, land

Country: an area of land and its population and government 国家

Nation: the people of a country 民族 State: the government or political organiza-

tion of a country 国家政府 Land: less precise but more literary and

emotive than country 祖国

English is particularly rich in synonyms as a result of incorporating words from other languages over the centuries. But we should 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.

Synonyms

Generally speaking, words of Anglo-Saxon origin are more informal than those of Latin or French origin.

ask question interrogate time age epoch rise mount ascend

Synonyms

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.

Synonyms: small, little

Modest and humble both indicate a lack of pride, but modesty is a virtue and humble-ness is not. Humble often connotes undue self-depreciation. So they are different in tone: one is laudatory ( 赞美 )and the other is derogatory( 贬损 ).

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

Clearly Gompers was overawed( 震慑 ) by Wilson. His face took on a servile( 卑屈的 ) look; his voice was humble.

Synonyms: modest , humble

To discriminate between synonyms is important to a student learning to write.

There is 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.

Synonyms

很多父母没有能力送孩子上大学。 Many parents can’t afford to send their childr

en to college. 我昨天去机场送一位朋友。 I sent a friend to the airport yesterday. I went to the airport to see my friend off yest

erday.

Synonyms 送 == send ？

×

How to understand the meaning of an English word?

Find out how it is defined in English in a dictionar with English explanations. An English-English dictionary may be suitable for an advanced learner.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary 牛津高阶英汉双解词典

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 朗文现代英语词典

Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary 柯林斯英语语言词典

Webster’s New World Dictionary 韦伯新世界词典

Figures of SpeechFigures of Speech

Words used in their original meanings are used literally, while words used in extended meanings for the purpose of making comparisons or calling up pictures in the reader’s or listener’s mind are used figuratively.

a colorful garden VS a colorful life There are various ways of using words figuratively.

They are called figures of speech.

Figures of Speech Types of rhetorical devices: lexical level 词汇层面 Simile 明喻 Metaphor 暗喻 Personification 拟人 Metonymy 借代，换喻 Synecdoche 提喻 Euphemism 委婉语 Irony 反语 Overstatement & Understatement 夸张与低调陈述 Transferred Epithet 修饰迁移 Oxymoron 矛盾修辞法 Allusion 用典 Pun 双关 Parody 仿拟 Syllepsis 一笔双叙 Zeugma 轭式搭配

Simile 明喻 A figure of speech in which one thing is li

kened to another, in such a way as to clarify and enhance an image. It is an explicit comparison recognizable by the use of the word like or as.

In simile, there are two parts involved, one is tenor( 主体 ), the other is vehicle( 喻体 ). ( primary term & secondary term)

Figures of Speech

O my love’s like a red, red rose.

Simile 明喻

A beauty is both charming and thorny like a rose.

如花似玉

He bellowed like a bull seeking combat.

Simile 明喻

Through the secondary term, reader or listener can feel, smell, touch, view and hear, at least imagine.

Through comparison, the similarity between these two becomes more vivid and striking.

Simile 明喻

Metaphor 隐喻 A figure of speech containing an implied

comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used of one thing is applied to another.

The comparison in metaphor is usually implicit whereas in simile it is explicit.

Life is a box of chocolate, you never … 主体喻体同现 The sunshine of life is made up of very lit

tle beams. 主体隐含在喻体内 (happiness, sunshine) Some books are to be tasted, others to b

e swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested…

主体现，喻体隐含在动词内 (books ， food)

Metaphor: find out the tenor and vehicle

Personification 拟人 A figure of speech in which a thing, quality, or idea is re

presented as a person.

Youth is hot and bold, 年轻就是热情与莽撞， Age is weak and cold, 年老就是虚弱与冷漠， Youth is wild, and age is tame. 年轻是不羁，年老是顺从。 --- William Shakespeare

Simile and metaphor are motionless comparison between two different objects.

Personification is putting one thing into another that is a person. That’s to say, the one is introjected ( 融入 ) into human who speaks or behaves on behalf of the one directly.

Personification

Metonymy 借代，换喻

A figure of speech that consists in using the name of one thing for that of something else with which it is associated.

Thus the crown can stand for a king, and the White House for the American government, the bottle for wine or alcohol.

When metonymy is well used, brevity and vividness may be achieved.

Sword and cross in hand, the European conquerors fell upon the Americas.

When the war was over, he laid down the sword and took up the pen.

His purse would not allow him that luxury.

Metonymy

Synecdoche 提喻

A figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing, or the reverse of any of these.

部分代整体，个别代类别，具体代抽象，反之亦然。 bread for food, the army for a soldier, copper f

or a penny Germany beat Argentina 2 to 1 in this exciting f

ootball match.

Synecdoche

Let’s drink a cup or two. He could hardly earn his everyday bread. The pen is mightier than the sword. They were short of hands. For metonymy, the two objects do not

belong to the same category, whereas, for synecdoche, the same.

Euphemism 委婉语 It is the substitution of a mild or vague

expression for a harsh or unpleasant one. to die: to pass away, to leave us; one’s heart

has stopped beating old people: senior citizens dustman: sanitation worker invasion, raid: military action free love: trial marriage answer nature’s call: go to W.C.: defecate /

urinate prostitute: call girl

When we came back we found him in an armchair, peacefully gone to sleep – but for ever. ( 安静地 –但是永远地睡着了 )

The student can do better work with help. The student is stupid. He depends on others to finish his exam. He copies other’s answers in exam.

Euphemism

Irony 反语 A method of humorous or subtly sarcastic e

xpression in which the intended meaning of the words used is the direct opposite of their usual sense.

一种富有幽默感或精妙的挖苦人的表达方法，其所用的词语意欲表达的意义正与这些词语的通常意义相反。

What a noble illustration of the tender laws of his favored country! – they let the paupers go to sleep. ( Charles Dickens )

This diligent student seldom reads more than an hour per month.

She is as slender in the middle as a cow in the waist.

Irony

Situation Irony 情景反语 For instance, the nuns who never take a bath wit

hout wearing a bathrobe all the time, when asked why, since no man can see them, they reply, “ Oh, but you forget the good God.” Apparently they conceive the Deity as a peeping Tom, whose omnipotence enables Him to see through bathroom walls, but who is foiled by bathrobes. This view strikes me as curious.

-- Bertrand Russell

Irony

Overstatement ： hyperbole A figure of speech which gently exaggerates t

he truth. 言过其实 Understatement ： statement that expresse

s an idea, etc. too weakly. 轻描淡写

Overstatement & Understatement 夸张与低调陈述

Hamlet: I love Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.

-- Shakespeare: Hamlet The flakes were falling thick and hard now,

pouring past the window a waterfall of mystery.

-- Jonathan Nicholas: First Snow

Overstatement & Understatement

The face wasn’t a bad one: it had what they called charm.

Her pronunciation is very / quite / pretty / fairly / rather good.

Publication – is the Auction

Of the Mind of Man You should have been here earlier.

Overstatement & Understatement

Transferred Epithet 修饰迁移

An epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase that serves to characterize somebody or something. A transferred epithet is one that is shifted from the noun it logically modifies to a word associated with that noun.

When one says that he has had a busy day, one is using such a figure of speech, for it is the person, not the day, that is busy.

She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights.

The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor.

The American society saw a gnawing poverty during the years of the Great Depression.

在大萧条的岁月中，美国经历了虫咬般痛苦的刻骨铭心的贫困。

Transferred Epithet

Oxymoron 矛盾修辞法 In oxymoron apparently contradictory

terms are combined to produce a special effect.

When the news of the failure came, all his friends said that it was a victorious defeat.

She read the long-awaited letter with a tearful smile.

Allusion 用典 an indirect reference; casual mention 诗文中引用的古代故事和有来历出处的词语。

No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am: ever more absolutely bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. --- Charlotte Bronte

Origin: Section 23, Chapter 2, Genesis And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones an

d flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts. Greeks gifts: 希腊人的礼物 源于 Trojan horse, Greek Myths 特洛伊木马

It was another one of those catch-22 situations, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.

Catch-22, 第二十二条军规： a paradox in a law, regulation or practice that makes one a victim of its provisions no matter what one does.

Allusion

Pun 双关 Play on words, an amusing use of a word

or phrase that has two meanings, or words with the same sound but different meanings.

Seven days without water makes one weak. “ 空对着，山中高士晶莹雪；终不忘，世外

仙姝寂寞林。” -- The Story of Stone

What kind of money do girls like the most? -- 女孩子最喜欢什么样的钱？

Matrimony. -- 姻缘。 Girls try to change their social position via m

arriage, such as marrying a tycoon. We must all hang together, or we shall all

hang separately. (Benjamin Franklin) 我们必须紧密地团结在一起，否则我们将被

一个个地绞死。

Pun

Parody 仿拟 Literary or musical composition imitating the

characteristic style of some other work or of a writer or composer, but treating a serious subject in a nonsensical manner, as in ridicule.

文字上或音乐上摹仿别的作者或作曲家的作品而写出的东西，以嘲弄的荒谬的方式来处理严肃的主题。

Because of the possibility of human error and total reliance on communications between pilots and controller, the system will “fail-dangerous” rather than “ fail-safe”.

fail-safe:自动防止故障或自动安全系统 fail-dangerous: 自动造成危险 （ parody ）

It’s said Jane has fallen in love with Jack. Yes, but she says she had hesitated for a long time bef

ore she finally walked into love. Temporarily used in certain context.

Parody

Syllepsis 一笔双叙 A grammatical construction in which a single word

is used to modify or govern syntactically two or more words in the same sentence.

He lost his temper and his hat. She was serving soup with a ladle and a scowl. 她阴沉着脸用勺子分汤。 She opened the door and her heart to the homeles

s child. 她向这个无家可归的孩子敞开了大门也敞开了心扉。

Zeugma 轭式搭配 A figure of speech in which a single word, usually

a verb or adjective, is syntactically related to two or more words, with only one of which is seems logically connected.

She was dressed in a maid’s cap, a pinafore, and a bright smile.

她戴一顶少女的帽子，系一条围裙，带着灿烂的微笑。

When commemorating the great soul, the friends of his went to the graveyard with weeping eyes and hearts.

他的朋友们怀念着他伟大的灵魂，眼里流着泪，心中悲泣着前往他的墓地。

Exercise Name the figure of speech used in each of the following sentence

s:

Her rich relatives rained birthday presents on her only son. Wrong ideas may harm a man just like diseases. Some words may be defaced by careless usage. The leaves are trembling in the cold wind. The storm was so angry that it wanted to destroy everything in its

way. Many people bowed before Force, but eventually Force would surr

ender to Reason. Selfless people are like cows, which eat straw but produce milk. “What do you think of the roast duck?” “ Not bad.” His friends praised his daughter’s performances to the skies. His writing is clear and clean. His unfriendly tongue surprised her. There is fertile soil for popular music in China today.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions:

1. Is the style of the passage formal or informal? Give examples.2. What rhetorical devices are used? Give examples.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

By Martin Luther King