The Impact of Words
Contents
1. 246 THE IMPACT OF WORDS wise The suffix wise means in a manner direction or position Never attach wise indiscriminately to create new words Instead choose words that already exist when in doubt consult a dictionary to see if the wise word you have in mind is acceptable World Wide Web Written out the three words start with a capital W Its abbreviation only in URLs is www When you use only the word Web start it with a capital W would of Would of is nonstandard for would have your youre Your is a possessive You re is the contraction of you are You re kind to volunteer your time at the senior center CHAPTER 20 The Impact of Words PUEN What is American English Evolving over centuries into a rich language American English is the variation of English spoken in the United States It demonstrates that many cultures have created the US melting pot society Food names for example reflect that Africans brought the words okra gumbo and goober peanut Spanish and Latin American peoples contributed tortilla taco burrito and enchilada Greek speakers gave us pita Cantonese speakers chow and Japanese speakers sushi 20b What are levels of formality in language Levels of formality in DICTION and SENTENCE VARIETY can be divided into three levels highly informal an e mail or a letter to a friend highly formal the language of ceremony written and often spoken and medium or semi fo2. American English Such published nonstandard departures from edited American English are not appropriate in academic writing 20d What is figurative language Figurative language uses words for more than their literal meanings Such words arent merely decorative or pretentious 20h Figurative language greatly enhances meaning It makes comparisons and connections that draw on one idea or image to explain another Box 20 1 explains the different types of figurative language and describes one type you should avoid the mixed metaphor BOX 20 1 SUMMARY THE IMPACT OF WORDS Types of figurative language continued Metaphor Comparing otherwise dissimilar things A metaphor doesn t use the word like or as to make a comparison Rush hour traffic in the city bled out through major arteries to the suburbs Personification Assigning a human trait to something not human See below about not using mixed metaphors The book begged to be read Overstatement also called hyperbole Exaggerating deliberately for emphasis If this paper is late the professor will kill me Simile Comparing dissimilar things A simile uses the word like or as Langston Hughes observes that a deferred dream dries up like a raisin in the sun Understatement Emphasizing by using deliberate restraint It feels warm when the temperature reaches 105 degrees Mixed metaphor Combining two or more inconsistent
3. in mean ing toa word a thesaurus demonstrates connotation in operation As you use a thesaurus remain very alert to the subtle shades of meaning that cre ate distinctions among words For instance using notorious to describe a person famous for praiseworthy achievements in public life is wrong Although notorious means well known and publicly discussed which is true of famous people the connotation of the word is unfavorably known or talked about George Washington is famous not notorious Al Capone by contrast is notorious lt gt ALERT Most word processing programs include a thesaurus But be cautious in using it Unless you know the exact meaning of an offered syn onym as well as its part of speech you may choose a wrong word or introduce a grammatical error into your writing For example one word processing 249 250 THE IMPACT OF WORDS program s thesaurus offers these synonyms for deep in the sense of low down inside low below beneath and subterranean None of these words could replace deep in a sentence such as The crater is too deep not too low too below too beneath or too subterranean to be filled with sand or rocks EXERCISE 20 2 Working individually or with a group look at each list of words and divide the words among three headings Positive good conno tations Negative bad connotations and Neutral no connotations If you think th
4. This is sarcastic if you mean the opposite He had trouble understanding many of my questions Never use colloquial language readers sense you re being overly casual and conversational NO Christina flunked chemistry Christina failed chemistry m Never use euphemisms also called doublespeak readers realize you re hiding the truth more in 20k NO Our company will downsize to meet efficiency standards 39 Our company has to cut jobs to maintain our profits NO We consider our hostages as foreign guests being guarded by hosts U3 We consider our hostages as enemies to be guarded closely Em Never use NONSTANDARD ENGLISH more in 20c m Never use MIXED METAPHORS more in 20d m Never use SEXIST LANGUAGE Or STEREOTYPES more in 20g and 5g m Never use regional language or dialect m Never use CLICH S more in 20 m Never use unnecessary JARGON more in 20 m Never use BUREAUCRATIC LANGUAGE more in 201 254 What is bureaucratic language 20i What are clich s A clich is a worn out expression that has lost its capacity to communicate effectively because of overuse Many clich s are SIMILES or METAPHORS once clever but now flat For example these are clich s dead as a doornail gen tle as a lamb and straight as an arrow If yowve heard certain expressions repeatedly so has your reader Instead of a clich use descriptive language that isn t worn out If you can t t
5. age You may revise the sentences to accommodate your changes in language For help consult 20f hope to get a job as an administrative assistant in the company At the interview the person who would be my supervisor was pleasant We seemed to get along well The other assistants in the division appeared to be nice My college courses clearly have prepared me for the position think the job would teach me a great deal more The salary is a bit less than had hoped for but the Human Resources representative promised me raises at regular intervals if my work is good Also my trip to work would not take too much time for me If my interviewer calls to offer me the job will accept it 20g What is gender neutral language Gender neutral language also referred to as gender free or nonsexist lan guage relies on terms that don t communicate whether the person is male or female for example in replacing policeman with police officer or doctors wives with doctors spouses Sexist language assigns roles or characteristics to people based on their sex and gender Most women and men today feel that sexist language unfairly discriminates against both sexes It inaccurately assumes that every nurse and homemaker is female and therefore referred to as she and that every physician and stockbroker is male and therefore referred to as he One 251 252 THE IMPACT OF WORDS common instance of sexist l
6. anguage occurs when the pronoun he is used to refer to someone whose sex is unknown or irrelevant Although tradition holds that he is correct in such situations many men and women find it offensive They feel that using only masculine pronouns to represent all humans excludes women and thereby distorts reality Gender neutral language rejects demeaning STEREOTYPES or outdated assumptions such as women are bad drivers and men can t cook In your writing never describe women s looks clothes or age unless you do the same for men or doing so is important Never use a title for one spouse and the first name for the other spouse Phil Miller not Mr Miller and his wife Jeannette travel on separate planes or Jeannette and Phil Miller live in Idaho Box 20 2 gives you guidelines for using gender neutral language BOX 20 2 SUMMARY f How to avoid sexist language Avoid using only the masculine pronoun to refer to males and females together The he or she and his or hers constructions act as SINGULAR PRONOUNS and they therefore call for SINGULAR VERBS Try to avoid using he or she constructions especially more than once in a sentence or in consecutive sentences A better solution is revising to the plural You can also revise to omit the gender specific pronoun NO A doctor has little time to read outside his specialty 39 A doctor has little time to read outside his or her specialty NO A successful stockbro
7. at a word belongs under more than one heading you can assign it more than once but be ready to explain your thinking For help consult a good dictionary and 20e 2 EXAMPLE grand big bulky significant oversized Positive grand significant Negative bulky oversized Neutral big 1 harmony sound racket shriek melody music noise pitch voice 2 talkative articulate chattering eloquent vocal verbose gossipy fluent gabby 3 decorative beautiful modern ornate overelaborate dazzling flashy ele gant sparkling 4 long lingering enduring continued drawn out stretched never ending unbreakable incessant 5 calculating shrewd crafty ingenious keen sensible sly smooth underhanded 20f How can using specific words enhance my writing Specific words identify individual items in a group Buick Honda General words relate to an overall group car Concrete words identify what can be per ceived by the senses by being seen heard tasted felt smelled black padded leather dashboard and convey specific images and details Abstract words denote qualities kindness concepts speed relationships friends acts cooking con ditions bad weather and ideas transportation and are more general Usually specific and concrete words bring life to general and abstract words Therefore whenever you use general and abstract words try to supply enough specific concrete details and examples to illustrat
8. e them Here are sen tences with general words that come to life when revised with specific words GENERAL His car gets good gas mileage SPECIFIC His Slurpo gets about 35 mpg on the highway and 30 mpg in the city What is gender neutral language GENERAL Her car is comfortable and easy to drive SPECIFIC When she drives her new Cushia on a five hour trip she arrives refreshed and does not need a long nap to recover as she did when she drove her ten year old Upushme What separates most good writing from bad is the writer s ability to move back and forth between the general and abstract and the specific and con crete Consider these sentences that effectively use a combination of general and specific words to compare cars GENERAL CONCRETE gt SPECIFIC 4 ABSTRACT My car a midnight black Corvette LS1 convertible has a powerful SPECIFIC GENERAL SPECIFIC GENERAL 5 7 liter V8 engine with ride controls the Tour for regular driving and SPECIFIC CONCRETE J GENERAL the Sport for a close to the road feel In contrast Harvey s automobile CONCRETE r SPECIFIC q ABSTRACT a bright red Dodge Viper SRT 10 convertible has a mighty m SEFC _____ 8 3 liter V10 engine with 6 speed manual transmission EXERCISE 20 3 Revise this paragraph by providing specific and concrete words and phrases to explain and enliven the ideas presented here in gen eral and abstract langu
9. efore such appliances became available a family was fortunate if the husband could afford to hire a cleaning lady or a maid to help with the housework 3 Once family members were freed from these difficult duties early in the twentieth century women had more time to spend with their children 4 Also now everyone in the household had more time for his favorite pas times and hobbies 5 Even more important with less housework to do women could now leave the home to take jobs as office girls and sometimes even lady doctors and lawyers 20h What other types of language do want to avoid Language that distorts or tries to manipulate a reader needs to be avoided in ACADEMIC WRITING These and other types of language to avoid in an acade mic LEVEL OF FORMALITY are listed with examples in Box 20 3 253 THE IMPACT OF WORDS BOX 20 3 SUMMARY Language to avoid in academic writing Never use slanted language also called loaded language readers feel manipulated by the overly emotional TONE and DICTION NO Our senator is a deceitful crooked thug Our senator lies to the public and demands bribes Never use pretentious language readers realize you re showing off NO As I alighted from my vehicle my clothing became besmirched with filth My coat got muddy as I got out of my car m Never use sarcastic language readers realize you re being nasty NO He was a regular Albert Einstein with my questions
10. hink of a way to rephrase a clich drop the words entirely 20j When is jargon unnecessary Jargon is the specialized vocabulary of a particular group Jargon uses words that people outside that group might not understand Specialized language exists in every field professions academic disciplines business various industries government departments hobbies and so on Reserve jargon for a specialist AUDIENCE As you write keep your audi ence in mind as you decide whether a word is jargon in the context of your material For example a football fan easily understands a sportswriter s use of words such as punt and safety but they are jargon words to people unfa miliar with American style football Avoid using jargon unnecessarily When you must use jargon for a nonspecialist audience be sure to explain any spe cial meanings 20k What are euphemisms Euphemisms attempt to avoid the harsh reality of truth by using more pleas ant tactful words Good manners dictate that euphemisms sometimes be used in social situations For example in US culture passed away is in some situations thought to be gentler than died Such uses of euphemisms are acceptable In other situations however euphemisms drain meaning from truthful writing Unnecessary euphemisms might describe socially unacceptable behavior for example Johnny has a wonderfully vivid imagination instead of Johnny lies They also might try to hide unpleasa
11. images in one sentence or expression Never use a mixed metaphor NO The violence of the hurricane reminded me of a train ride A train ride is not violent stormy or destructive The violence of the hurricane reminded me of a train s crashing into a huge tractor trailer EXERCISE 20 1 Working individually or with a group identify each figure of speech Also revise any mixed metaphors For help consult 20d 1 In the year 2000 we stood with one foot in the twentieth century while we set sail on the sea of a new era in the twenty first 2 If eat one more bite of that chocolate cake lIl explode 3 The daisies nodded their heads in the hot sun 4 Beginning to testify in the courtroom the defendant was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs 5 The actor displayed the entire range of human emotions from A to B 20e How can using exact diction enhance my writing Diction the term for choice of words affects the clarity and impact of any writing you do Your best chance of delivering your intended message to your readers is to choose words that fit exactly with each piece of writing 248 How can using exact diction enhance my writing To choose words correctly that is to have good diction you need to understand the concepts of denotation and connotation in words 20e 1 What is denotation in words The denotation of a word is its exact literal meaning It s the meaning you f
12. ind when you look up the word in a dictionary Readers expect you to use words according to their established meanings for their established functions Using dictionaries A dictionary is your ultimate authority for a word s denotation that is its definition The reference section in most college libraries includes one or more kinds of dictionaries for general use and for specialized areas D ESL NOTE The Dictionary of American English Boston Heinle amp Heinle distributed by Berlitz 2000 is particularly useful for students who speak English as a second or third language 4 20e 2 What is connotation in words Connotation refers to ideas implied by a word Connotations are never com pletely fixed for they can vary in differing contexts Connotations involve associations and emotional overtones that go beyond a word s definition For example home usually evokes more emotion than its denotation a dwelling place or its synonym house Home carries the connotation for some of the pleasures of warmth security and love of family For others however home may carry unpleasant connotations such as abusive experiences or the impersonal atmosphere of an institution to house the elderly Using a thesaurus Sometimes a good college dictionary explains the small differences among synonyms but a thesaurus is devoted entirely to providing synonyms for words In distinguishing among synonyms the other words close
13. ker knows he has to work long hours YES Successful stockbrokers know they have to work long hours NO Everyone hopes that he or she will win the scholarship 33 Everyone hopes to win the scholarship Avoid using man when referring to both men and women NO Man isa social animal 33 People are social animals NO The history of mankind is predominately violent U3 Human history is predominately violent Avoid stereotyping jobs and roles by gender when referring to both men and women NO YES chairman chair chairperson policeman police officer businessman businessperson business executive What other types of language do I want to avoid How to avoid sexist language continued statesman statesperson diplomat teacher she teachers they principal he principals they Avoid expressions that seem to exclude one sex NO YES mankind humanity the common man the average person man sized sandwich huge sandwich old wives tale superstition Avoid using demeaning and patronizing labels NO YES male nurse nurse gal Friday assistant coed student My girl can help My secretary can help or better still Ida Morea can help EXERCISE 20 4 Working individually or with a group revise these sentences by changing sexist language to gender neutral language For help consult 20g 1 Many of man s most important inventions are found not in scientific labora tories but in the home 2 B
14. nt facts for example She is between assignments instead of She s lost her job Avoid unnecessary euphemisms 201 What is bureaucratic language Bureaucratic language uses words that are stuffy and overblown Bureau cratic language or bureaucratese a word created to describe the style is marked by unnecessary complexity This kind of language can take on a for mality that complicates the message and makes readers feel left out 255 256 SPELLING NO In reference to the above captioned you can include a page that additionally contains an Include instruction under the herein stated circumstances The page including the Include instruction is included when you paginate the document but the included text referred to in its Include instruction is not included This message is meaningless but the writer seems to understand the message Anyone who doesn t is clearly unin formed or unable to read intelligently From instructions for compiling a user s manual In response to earlier editions of this handbook we ve been asked to give a YES alternative for this example We regret that we can t understand enough of the NO example to do that If you gentle reader can please contact us at lt troykalq nyc rr com gt CHAPTER 21 Spelling 21a What makes a good speller You might be surprised to hear that good spellers don t know how to spell and hyphenate every word they write What they d
15. o know however is to check if they re not sure of a word s spelling If your inner voice questions a spelling do what good spellers do consult a dictionary lt gt ALERT Word processing software usually includes a spell check pro gram which claims to spot spelling errors because the words typed in don t match the spellings in the software s dictionary Such programs have one major drawback The programs can t detect that you ve spelled a wrong word if what you ve typed is a legitimate spelling of a legitimate word For exam ple if you mean top but type too or if you mean from and type form no spell check program sees a mistake In these and other similar cases only the human eye that is a reader can discover the errors 21b How can proofread for errors in spelling and hyphen use Many spelling errors are the result of illegible handwriting slips of the pen or typographical mistakes Catching these typos requires especially careful proofreading using the techniques in Box 21 1
16. rmal ACADEMIC WRITING INFORMAL Stars Wow They re like made of gas MEDIUM OR SEMIFORMAL Gas clouds slowly transformed into stars FORMAL The condensations of gas spun their slow gravi tational pirouettes slowly transmogrifying gas cloud into star Car Sagan Starfolk A Fable What is figurative language What is edited American English Edited American English also known as STANDARD ENGLISH reflects the standards of the written language expected of a textbook With edited American English you can achieve the medium or semiformal language level required in ACADEMIC WRITING Edited American English isn t a special or fancy dialect for elite groups Rather it s a form of the language used by educated people to standardize communication in the larger world Edited American English conforms to widely established rules of grammar sentence structure punctuation and spelling as covered in this handbook Nonstandard English is legitimately spoken by some groups in our soci ety With its own grammar and usage customs it communicates clearly to other speakers of nonstandard English Yet one thing is certain Speakers of nonstandard English often benefit when they can switch either temporarily or permanently to the medium or semiformal level of language 20b required in academic writing Also advertising language and other writing intended for a large diverse audience might ignore the conventions of edited
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