Chapter II Diction

1. Chapter II Diction

2. Principles: appropriate; exact; idiomatic; interesting

3. appropriate • Types of words &types of writing style

4. 1. Types of Words • Common words • Formal and technical words • Nonstandard words

5. 2. writing styles: • formal, common, colloquial

6. Common Words • The core of the English vocabulary • Only a few thousand • Can be used on any occasion • Be used by ordinary people for ordinary purposes

7. Formal and technical words • Be used by people of special professions or fields, on special occasions or for special purposes • Among them are political, legal, scientific, technical, business and literary words

8. Nonstandard Words • Used by people who are not well educated or by people of special groups. • We need to understand them but should avoid using them. • Among them are slang, jargon, dialectal and obsolete words

9. Examples: • cop policeman • cop shop police station • cook-out picnic • hothead bad-tempered • horse (common) steed, charger (formal/literary) nag (nonstandard)

10. Exact • Synonyms • The meaning of a word: • denotative: what it literally means, as defined by the dictionary. • Connotative: the feeling or idea suggested by it.

11. General & specific words • According to the different purposes of writing, the writer should choose different types of words. To summarize or generalize To describe or explain

12. Recommended dictionaries: • Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English • Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English • Oxford Advanced Learner’s English –Chinese Dictionary • A Book of Synonyms

13. idiomatic • Idioms • Idioms are fixed groups of words with a special meaning which is different from the meanings of the words that form it. All the phrasal verbs, set expressions, pairs of words and sayings.

14. interesting • Figures of speech

15. 1. Simile (明喻)

16. Definition:It is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared with 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.

17. Three elements of similesubject (本体)tenorreference (喻体)vehicleindicator (喻词)compared word

18. 你们年轻人好像早晨八、九点钟的太阳。 You, the youth are like the sun at eight or nine in the morning.

19. (1)like 型 • Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. • 生活没有目标犹如航行没有指南针。 Her happiness vanished like the morning dew. • 他的幸福像晨露一样消失了。

20. Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress: those who are without want to get in, and those who are within want to get out. • 婚姻像围城一样：外面的人想进去，里面的人想出来。 • The whole of my life has passed like a razor---- in hot water or a scrape. • 我的整个生涯过的犹如一把剃刀——若非在热水中，就是在刮削中。

21. (2) as 型 • As you sow, so will you reap. • Love goes towards love, as schoolboys from their books; • but love from love, towards school with heavy looks. • -------William Shakespeare

22. 赴情人的约会，像学童抛开书一样快乐； • 和情人分别，像书童板着脸上学一样悲伤。

23. “as….. as” • as firm as a rock • as light as a feather • as close as an oyster • as mute as a fish • as strong as a horse • as cool as a cucumber • as poor as a church mouse

24. (3) as if • His handwriting looks as if a swarm of ants, escaping from an ink bottle, had walked over a sheet of paper without wiping their legs.

25. (4) what • A is to B what X is to Y • What X is to Y, (that) A is to B • Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. • 教育之于心灵犹如雕刻之于大理石 • 妙语与幽默对于文学，恰似盐对于食物一样。

26. What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul. • What salt is to food, that wit and humor are to literature.

27. (5) no more than • A home without love is no more than a body without soul. • We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. • 学生不学习不能获得知识，正如农民不耕种就不能得到收获一样。

28. A student can no more obtain knowledge without studying than a farmer can get harvest without ploughing.

29. (6) and • A word and a stone let go can not be recalled. • Love and cough can not be hid. • Truth and roses have thorns about them. • Kings and bears often worry their keepers.

30. Metaphor （隐喻）

31. 名词型 • All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players. —William Shakespeare • Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. • Happiness is a perfume: you cannot pour it on others without getting a few drops on yourself. • —— Emerson

32. 动词型 • The boy wolfed down the food. • The case snowballed into one of the most famous trials in U.S. history. • Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some few to be chewed and digested. • ——Francis Bacon

33. 形容词型 • She has a photographic memory for detail.

34. “of”型 • The bridge of friendship/ the valley of despair/ a flower of a girl/ a fox of a man/ the snake of traffic • Most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism; we are somewhat reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine of praise.

35. Personification • Slang is language that takes off its coat, spits on its hands and goes to work.

36. Laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him. • ---Benjamin Franklin • 懒惰缓缓而行，贫穷迎头而上。 • A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. • ---Mark twain

37. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers.

38. Metonymy • A figure of speech, in which a thing is called, but not by its name, but by something closely associated with it. It is substituting the name of one thing for that of another with which it is closely associated.(借代)

39. Whenever my husband has a bad day at the office, he hits the bottle. • She was a pretty girl but I was not one to let my heart rule my head. • She has the eye for the fair and beauty. • The pen is mightier than the sword.

40. Kremlin: the Russian government • The pentagon: the building near Washington DC that is the headquarters of the US Department of Defense and the military leaders 五角大楼（指美国国防部） • Hollywood（the film industry in US） • Downing Street (British government) • Foggy Bottom(雾谷 美国务院 ) • Buckingham palace (British Royal )

41. Romeo——（a devoted lover）Solomon——（a wise man）Helen——（a beautiful woman）Judas——（a traitor）Shylock——（a miser）Napoleon——（a conqueror）Beethoven——（a musician）Hitler——（a tyrant）

42. Synecdoche • 提喻: This is a form of metonymy in which a part is stated for the whole or the whole for a part. A part is substituted for the whole or the whole is substituted for a part.

43. A thousand mustaches can live together, but not four breasts. • 千条汉子能共处，两个婆娘难相容。 • He must work hard to earn his daily bread. • He has many mouths to feed in the family. • They were short of hands when business was brisk

44. Those big noses, blue eyes and yellow hair taught us English. (foreigners) • He has a good ear for music. (the ability to appreciate or enjoy) • Have you ever read Jack London? (novels) • The kettle is boiling. (water in the kettle) • She was driving a BMW (a car)

45. Euphemism • （sweet talk/ gilded words/ cosmetic words）: is the use of a less offensive or less direct way of saying something unpleasant.

46. e.g.die--- pass awaydustman ---- garbage collectorhouse wife---household executive domestic manager

47. The reasons for existence of euphemism1)To respect God The Creator (创世纪者) The maker (造物主) The Savior (救世主)2)Avoid using certain embarrassing terms He got venereal disease.He got secret disease. I want to go to the lavatory.I want to get some fresh air.

48. 3) glorifying euphemism (uplifting words) dustman--- sanitary engineer tree-trimmer---tree surgeon housewife ---householder executive ---- domestic manager unemployment----between jobs invasion---military action bombing raids---air action

49. Devises to make euphemism (1) prefixes and suffixes with negative meaning foolish­—— unwiseblind­—— sightless (2) Abbreviations for certain words to achieve euphemism：cancer­—— Ca, big C call girl­—— C-girlbar girl­—— B-girl (3) acronym（以首字母缩略词） drug addict­—— DA drive while intoxicated­——DWI mental deficiency­—— MD

50. Types of euphemism Traditional Euphemism Stylistic Euphemism