Lectures Series on English Learning 英语学习系列讲座

1. Lectures Series onEnglish Learning英语学习系列讲座 By Zhang Boxiang

2. Lecture 12Three Uses of the Language

3. Lecture Outline • I. What are the three uses? • II. Practical use of language • III.Persuasive use of language • IV.Literary use of language

4. I. What are the three uses? • Language has different uses.Generally, there are three major ones: • Practical use of the language • Persuasiveuse of the language • Literary use of the language

5. II.  Practical use of language • What is practical use of the language? • To pass information and to communicate with people. • Its principle: to make language simple, direct and right to the point. • To use it in daily conversations, in keeping a diary, in writing letters, E-mails, history books, science textbooks, etc.

6. e.g. Asking the way • “Excuse me, Sir. Can you tell me the way to Fleet Street?” • “Yes, Sir. Go straightforward, turn left at the first cross, then turn right at the next, and you’ll find the Fleet Street.” • “Thank you very much.” • “It’s a pleasure, Sir.”

7. Special features • 1. Choosing the right word • You will be surprised at the positive____ of yoga (瑜伽) on your mind and body. • effect • affect • Be careful that you don't_____ in those toxic fumes. • breathe • breath

8. It wasn‘t long before we grew annoyed at the_____ raining of the tropical island. • continuous • continual • Professor Metcalf said that we would discuss this issue____ in next week's class. • further • farther • The _____ reason for our buying a new home is the need for workshop space. • principle • principal

9. Susan is ____ in town for her award-winning chocolate pies. • famous • notorious • Hitler was notorious for his ___ millions of Jews. • Slaughtering • killing • For a moment, Carol felt ____ she were going to faint. • as if • like

10. They will move to their new ____ next week. • house • residence • Judging from his face, he is ____ 40 years old. • about • approximately

11. 2. Use simple words: • Familiarization – familiarity • Utilization – use • Aforementioned – mentioned • Individualized – individual • Heretofore – previous • Whereas - while

12. Avoid application specification consideration investigation assumption • Use • apply • specify • consider • investigate • assume

13. Avoid at this point in time in the absence of in the course of in the neighborhood of in the event of for the purpose of subsequent to • Use • now • without • during • near • if • to • after

14. Avoid expedite facilitate accomplish formulate optimum strategize operationalize • Use • speed up, hasten • make easier, help • try • work out, devise, form • best, greatest, most • plan • start

15. 3. Use strong nouns • Concrete nouns bring up one of the five senses (touch, smell, taste, hearing and vision) in a reader. • e.g. rose, cuckoo,coffee, diamond, spade, lion, snake, stream, waterfall, rainbow, etc. • Abstract nouns do not bring up the senses • e.g. ability, approach, capability, concept, factor, nature, parameter, etc.

16. 4. Use strong verbs • Use dynamic verbs (action verbs ) • e.g. walk, buy, change, run, drink, blow, fall, shoot, jump, beat, etc. • Avoid using verb phrases • Make arrangements for (arrange) • Give suggestions to (suggest) • Take into consideration (consider)

17. review confirm decide peaks agree estimate Provide a review of Offer confirmation of Make a decision Shows a peak Are of the same opinion Obtain estimates of

18. 5. One word for one meaning • The practical use of the language is to narrow down the meaning of the words, to confine the words to one meaning at a time, to choose one single, exact meaning and throw the rest away. • The purest form of practical language is the scientific language like this: SO2 + H2O = H2SO3. • The word sulfurous, if it used in poetry, might have all kinds of connotations: fire, smoke, brimstone, hell, and damnation. But H2SO3 means one thing and one thing only: sulfurous acid.

19. e.g. Shylock’s contract with Antonia in Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare • To lend Antonia three thousand ducats of money for three months without interests. If Antonia could not pay back the money within the three months, Shylock could have the right to cut a pound of flesh in any part of Antonia’s body.

20. 6. Use active voice • Passive voice usually lacks a subject, and hides responsibility. • Active: Jack hit the ball. • Passive: The ball was hit by Jack. • Active: Tom was reading the book. • Passive: The book was being read by Tom.

21. 7. Use positive constructions • He was not often on time. • He usually came late. • She did not think that studying writing was a sensible use of one’s time. • She thought studying writing was a waste of time.

22. 8. Cut, cut, cut • Reducing a sentence to its simplest form • e.g. Injuries may range from minor bruising and cuts to injuries like loss of teeth and, in some cases, death. • Injuries may be minor such as bruises, cuts or lost teeth. In rare cases, death may occur. • Work in extreme heat presents a potential health hazard. • Working when it is very hot can be dangerous to your health.

23. Medical attention should be sought immediately. • Get first aid immediately. • Go to a hospital right away. • Avoid needless words • They try to reach absolute perfection in their experiment. • ("perfection" will do).

24. 9. Power of punctuation • An English professor wrote the words: • "A woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly. • All of the males in the class wrote: • “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” • All the females in the class wrote: • “A woman: without her, man is nothing.”

25. More examples: • Let’s eat, mommy. • Let’s eat mommy. • Quality service and attention to detail. • Quality, service, and attention to detail.

26. III. Persuasive use of language • Every day we come across persuasive language. It is everywhere, pushing us to act in particular ways, to believe or reject ideas, to accept or refuse services, or to buy things.

27. Persuasive language is often used in advertisements, propaganda writings, religious sermons, and political speeches. • If we can identify how persuasive language works, we are better prepared to respond to it.

28. 1. Advertisements • Advertisements are a special type of persuasive language. Their purpose is to sell a product or a service: • by aiming at a particular type of customer, • by using carefully chosen, positive language, • by appealing to some aspects of the consumer’s personality.

29. Ads examples • “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” • “The world smiles with reader’s digest” (Reader’s Digest) • “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” (M&M chocolates)

30. They try to make the consumer believe that their product will make them: • Happier • Healthier • Slimmer • More successful • More intelligent • More comfortable • More beautiful • More fashionable • The envy of all their friends!

31. Special features • Mix facts and opinions, • Focus on the positive and ignore the negative, • Use exaggerated language, full of adjectives and adverbs to paint an appealing picture, • Use vivid images and strong slogans to emphasize a message,

32. Use parallel structures, figures of speech, or play on words to appeal to our emotions. • Use statistics or 'specialist' language to suggest a particular 'lifestyle' or status • Use humour, flattery, or fear to trap our emotions.

33. Look at the ad about spring • When does spring really arrive? The garden says one thing. The calendar says another. And the weatherman... well, let’s not go into that. • The truth is you decide when spring arrives. You can invite spring into your home today. Stop in at a florist and pick up a colorful bunch of fresh cut tulips. • Truth is, January through April is the peak season for tulips. Plentiful, affordable and a genuine breath of springtime. It’s been a tough day. Don’t you deserve it?

34. Call the quit-line on 131 848 • Every cigarette is doing you damage. Lungs are like sponges (海绵) with millions of tiny air sacs (囊) for transferring oxygen. Every breath of cigarette smoke attacks the delicate members which separate them; turning the tiny sacs into larger, tar-rimmed holes. No wonder smokers feel short of breath; their lungs are rotting. Every cigarette is doing you damage. Call the quit-line on 131 848.

35. Golden Coast • Taste just how good life is here in Golden Coast, where every day living is an art form and the beaches and sunsets are out of this world.

36. The temperatures cool down but the excitement and hospitality heat up. Experience the snow-covered landscape of a Michigan winter. When natural beauty, brilliant exhilaration (兴奋) and good times come together, the sensation is Pure Michigan.

37. Let's take a walk out of the world as we know it. And into the world we don't. A new trailhead awaits. Where it leads is Pure Michigan.

38. The nature of trees reminds us that there are bigger things in life than us. A lesson best learned in a 19 million acre land of giants. Welcome to the woods of Pure California Mountains.

39. Religious sermons • A good ad should be like a good sermon: It must not only comfort the afflicted, it also must afflict the comfortable. • Bernice Fitz-Gibbon • So we can find persuasive use of the language in religious speeches, especially in sermons.

40. A good sermon should be like a woman's skirt: short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials. • Living is death; dying is life. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that, citizens; on this side, orphans, on that, children; on this side, captives; on that, freemen; on this side, disguised, unknown; on that, disclosed and proclaimed as the sons of God.

41. I would have every minister of the gospel (福音) address his audience with the zeal of a friend, with the generous energy of a father, and with the exuberant (兴高采烈的) affection of a mother. • Francois Fenelon • Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. • John Wooden

42. Beauty of Heaven • Where is there a country without sin, crime, lawlessness, bloodshed, disease, death, sorrow and heartache? Heaven is a country in which there is the absence of all that is common to any land, for in God's country there are no barriers, no walls or curtains to divide; no race barrier; no soldiers because there are no wars; no policemen because there is no crime or sin; no undertakers because there are no graves;

43. no physicians because germs, fevers, pestilences, diseases are unknown; no thieves because there is no darkness. Who would not yearn for this better and more desirable country in which there are no separations, no broken homes, no drunkards, no prisons, no hospitals, no beggars, no persons who are blind, deaf, dumb or destitute? What a country! Are you not homesick for Heaven?

44. Terror of Hell • The world will probably be converted into a great lake or liquid globe of fire, in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed, which will always be in tempest, in which they shall be tossed to and fro, having no rest day and night, vast waves and billows of fire continually rolling over their heads, of which they shall forever be full of a quick sense within and without; their heads, their eyes, their tongues, their hands, their feet, and their vitals, shall forever be full of a flowing, melting fire, fierce enough to melt the very rocks and elements;

45. and also, they shall eternally be full of the most quick and lively sense to feel the torments; not for one minute, not for one day, not for one age, not for two ages, not for a hundred ages, nor for ten thousand millions of ages, one after another, but forever and ever, without any end at all, and never to be delivered.

46. Political speeches • “Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.”  • --Oscar Ameringer • Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. • George Orwell

47. “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.” • Ernest Benn • “Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”  • Anonymous

48. You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. • Abraham Lincoln • “We here highly resolve (决心) that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” • Abraham Lincoln

49. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. • John F. Kennedy • For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. • John F. Kennedy • Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. • John F. Kennedy

50. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. • Ronald Reagan • Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known. • Ronald Reagan