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The Impact of Words

The Impact of Words. CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD. Good writing weaves together the general and the specific, the abstract and the concrete. General/Abstract refers to all members of a class or group: Religion Christianity Protestantism Food Protein Eggs.

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The Impact of Words

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  1. The Impact of Words

  2. CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD Good writing weaves together the general and the specific, the abstract and the concrete.

  3. General/Abstract refers to all members of a class or group: Religion Christianity Protestantism Food Protein Eggs Concrete/Specific refers to individual members of the group: First Baptist Church of Sandusky, Ohio Two fried eggs, sunny side up GENERAL vs. SPECIFIC

  4. GENERAL vs. SPECIFIC For each of the words below, think of other words that are more general/abstract; then think of words that are more specific/concrete. • Building • Book • Music • Expression • Tree • Ritual • Commitment • Sport • Dream • Health

  5. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE • Most forms of figurative language involve describing one thing in terms of another: • “Going through finals week is like being run over by a truck.” (Simile) • “Mr. Smith is a weasel.” (Metaphor)

  6. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE EXERCISE Find a metaphor or simile that captures how you might feel in the following situations: • You are asked to go on a blind date with your high school French teacher’s brother/sister. Examples: “...as appealing as eating spinach” “…like going to Las Vegas with a scout troop” • You’re about to run your first marathon. • A textbook costing $86 falls apart after two weeks’ use.

  7. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE EXERCISE (Con’t) Find a metaphor or simile that captures how you might feel in the following situations: • You have to write a 30-page research paper on a boring topic and it’s due in one week. • You rush to be on time for your doctor’s appointment and you have to wait 45 minutes to see her. • A friend spends six weeks helping you fix the cracks in your wooden sailboat.

  8. AVOID: A doctor cannot read much outside his specialty. Man is a social animal. Chairman; policeman; businessman; statesman Lady lawyer, Gal Friday, career girl, coed Mankind, the common man, old wife's tale USE: “…his or her…” or revise into the plural: “Doctors cannot…” People are social animals. Chair; chairperson; police officer; businessperson; diplomat; prime minister Lawyer, assistant, professional woman, student Humanity, the average person, superstition CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORDS Avoid sexist references, demeaning labels, or excluding one gender: use both masculine and feminine pronouns.

  9. SPRINGBOARD FOR WRITING • You may be familiar with the dance marathons held during the Great Depression if you have seen the movie They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? • Although we normally associate dance with joy and grace, these marathons were almost desperate parodies of that joy: couples danced nonstop for hours, hoping to outlast all the others in order to win a much-needed cash prize. • In the following photograph Otto Beckmann (1903-1998) captures the dark side of the dance marathon, while at the same time suggesting something of the human drama behind it.

  10. ON THEIR FEET, DANCE MARATHON BY OTTO BETTMANN

  11. Look at the whole picture: Make a list of words describing the dancers, their relationship to each other, the setting. The artist can use color or black and white film, lighting, and space to depict his subject precisely. You have only words, so make them as precise as you can Did you write “leans” or “slumps?” “Holds” or “clutches?” PLANNING AND SHAPING

  12. DRAFTING • Draft a paragraph about the interdependence of the dancers and/or their relationship to the setting. • Try to use as many of the most precise words from your list as you can.

  13. REVISING • VERBS: How many are active? Passive? Retain all of the vivid, active verbs. Replace the “blah” verbs with vivid ones. • NOUNS: How many are concrete and specific, appealing to the five senses? Replace abstract nouns with concrete ones. • ADJECTIVES and ADVERBS: If you have too many of these, perhaps your nouns are “tired” and need propping up with descriptive words. • Rewrite your paragraph using what you have learned from this re-examination of your choice of words.

  14. EDITING • Reread your paragraph, checking for correctness of sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. • Make any necessary changes.

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