Diction

1. Diction Diction is the choice of words. • Levels of words • ---formal • ---informal • ---colloquial • (---slang)

2. Example 1 There is nothing new in the recognition, within a given language, of a distinction between common usage and the uses of the language for more restricted purposes and often enough, perhaps characteristically, more elevatedpurposes.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 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

3. Example 2 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 transactionswould 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

4. Contrast pairs of common and formal words that have similar denotations alternative choice converse talk accomplish finish/do inform tell appropriate proper appreciate like fabricate make location place commence begin sufficient enough terminate end

5. Example 3 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

6. Summary: 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. That is: Common words are good for all kinds of formal writings; formal words are as a rule seldom used in informal writing, while colloquial common words are seldom used in formal writing, unless for some special purpose or effect. colloquial

7. The scale below shows the four types of diction within the range of formality. formal common colloquial slang (learned) (popular) Most formal Least formal In most of your writing, words from the middle of this scale will be appropriate. Try to choose words consistently appropriate to your purpose throughout the writing process.

8. 2. The meaning of words (denotation and connotation) • Connotation can be classified into favorable, unfavorable and neutral. • Examples: • My wife asked me why I was slashing the shrubbery. I told her I was merely pruning it. • Although most bathers thought the high surf looked threatening, a few thought it looked challenging. • When our team of scientists traveled across the crater to collect samples, they encountered another team stealing evidence.

9. 3. General and specific words Most generalVegetation Less Grass Bush Tree Fern Weed general Still Elm tree Maple Apple Oak tree Cedar tree less general tree Specific The crabapple tree in my yard

10. Specific words help to make writing clear, exact, vivid, and striking, for they are more informative and expressive than general words. • Examples: • Jack went to the window and looked at the crowd outside. • Jack tiptoed to the window and peeped at the crowd outside.

11. The best policy is to be as specific as the situation permits. Using specific words should go along with providing details, and then there will be effective and impressive writing. Study the following examples. General It is often windy and dusty here in spring. Specific In spring there is often a very strong northwest wind. It carries so much fine dust with it that sometimes the sun become obscure. There is no escape from the fine dust; it gets into your eyes, your ears, your nostrils, and your hair. It goes through the cracks of closed windows and covers your desks and chairs.

12. 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 balls, the sound of songs and music, or laughter and discussion.

13. 4. Three qualities of effective diction ---Appropriateness ---Specificity ----Imagery (Example: The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy sea.)

14. Guidelines about the choice of words • Use common or informal words for general purposes; use formal or nonstandard words only on special occasions or for special purposes. • Use specific and concrete words when giving details; use general or abstract words when making summaries. • Use idiomatic expressions and words in acceptable collocations; avoid combinations that are unidiomatic. • When there are synonyms, choose the word that expresses the meaning most exactly and that suits the content and style.

15. Practice • In each sentence, choose the more precise of the two in italics, and explain your reasons. • A few listeners were disinterested/uninterested and dozed off. • Though she has grown up, her behavior is often childlike/childish. • I am quite jealous/envious of your opportunity to study at such a famous university. • Her clothes, though made of cheap/inexpensive material, are quite elegant.

16. 5) This homely/ugly old man is a well-known musician. 6) I am sorry to refuse/decline your invitation. 7) He was surprised/stunned to find that his little sister had become a pretty, slim/skinny young woman. 8) My uncle became fat/stout as he grew older. 9) This servile man was especially modest/humble when he was talking with his superiors. 10) I asked every/each boy in the group the same question, and interestingly, everyone/each gave me a different answer.

17. 2. The following words are rather general in meaning. Think of words that are more specific. walk look at cry angry tree animal flower wind rain 3. Give phrasal verbs that mean the same as the following verbs: continue endure investigate expect destroy(a building) build start postpone

18. Building of Sentences • Complete sentences and sentence fragments • e.g. He came. • She wrote a letter. • Dr. Smith is a professor. e.g. Have done it. Raining. How to use it?

19. e.g. He came to the classroom very early. She wrote a letter to her parents. A complete sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period. The use of a comma instead of a period, a semicolon, a colon, or a dash in English writing is called comma fault, which Chinese students should be on guard against. The sentences are called run-on sentences. e.g. It was raining hard, they could not work in the fields.

20. 2. Types of sentences (1) Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, and Exclamatory Sentences (2) Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences

21. (3) Loose, Periodic and Balanced Sentences e.g. She decided to study English though she was interested in music. Although she was interested in music, she finally decided to study English.

22. e.g. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Loose sentences are easier, simpler, more natural and direct; periodic sentences are more complex, emphatic, formal, or literary. When a sentence contains two or more parts of the same form and grammatical function, it is one with parallel constructions.

23. e.g. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One’s thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. ---Bertrand Russell When a sentence contains two parallel clauses similar in structure but contrasted in meaning, it is called a balanced sentence. e.g. A. On hearing the news, he was angered, and I was saddened.

24. B. The politician is concerned with successful elections, whereas the statesman is interested in the future of his people. Balanced sentences are impressive because of its contrast, and pleasing to hear because of its rhythm. They are mainly used in formal writing, like expository and argumentative prose, and speeches. (4) Short and Long Sentences

25. 3. Effective Sentences • Unity • e.g. A. The explorer who has just returned from the Antarctic is busy writing reports on his adventures on that ice-covered continent, where he did not see any animals except penguins. • B. Born in Sichuan, he later became a famous writer. • (2) Coherence

26. Rules which may help to prevent incoherence • Do not separate words that are closely related unless it is necessary; • Do not use a pronoun with ambiguous reference; • Do not use a dangling modifier or put a modifier far from the word it modifies; • Do not make unnecessary or confusing shifts in person or number; • Do not make unnecessary changes in the voice, tense or mood of verbs; and • Do not use different forms to express parallel ideas.

27. e.g. A. Everyone is studying English in this school. B. Mrs. Green said to her sister that she had done the right thing. Looking out of the window, only dull gray buildings can be seen. C. The doctor promised on her way to her hospital to come and see me. D. He looks up difficult words in his dictionaries, and it is very helpful. E. The explosion destroyed the building and a number of people were injured. A lot of higher houses were built around hers in the past few years and she gets no more sunlight. F. It is generally believed that one’s action is more important that what one says.

28. Practice • Improve the following sentences, paying attention to unity and coherence. • Shakespeare was one of the greatest dramatists. • He said he would take the exam and pass it, but he was not certain of it. • He read the magazine in the reading room, which contained a lot of latest information about computer science. • It snowed heavily at 8 o’clock. • Such comments neither add nor detract from his fame.

29. (3) Conciseness (Hints) • Use a pronoun instead of repeating a noun.; • Use a word instead of a phrase with the same meaning, and thus use a phrase instead of a clause with the same meaning; • Do not repeat words or phrases, if possible, in a sentence or in one that follows; • Do not use different words or phrases with similar meanings in the same sentence; • Do not repeat the same idea in different sentences except for emphasis

30. Simplify the following sentence. In the month of May people of different professions from all circles in this city will hold meetings to elect representatives, and these representatives will go to Beijing, the capital, in October to attend a national congress of model workers from the whole country.

31. Thank you for your attention!