Diction

1. Diction Lecture 3

2. General and Specific Words • General wordsname classes or groups of things. These words are needed in classification and definition • Specific wordsrefer to examples of a group. Specific and concrete nouns express meaning more vividly than general or abstract ones.

3. General and specific are relative terms, because there are degrees of generality. • e.g. Professional Scientists Chemists • Building House Log cabin • Clothes Swimming suit Bikini • general specific

4. Example: house • mansion: a large house, usu. belonging to a wealthy person • villa: a pleasant country house in its own garden, often used for only part of the year for holidays, esp. in southern Europe: • We’re renting a villa in the south of France for the summer. • Chateau: a castle or large country house in France • bungalow: a house which is all on one level • cabin: 1. a room on a ship usu. used for sleeping • 2. the small enclosed space at the front of an aircraft in which the pilot sits • 3. a smallroughly built usu. wooden house: They lived in a little log cabin. • hut: a smallsimply-made building: They lived in a mud hut/a wooden hut. • shack: a small roughly built house or hut • shanty: a small roughly built usu. wooden or metal house • shed: a lightly built single-floored building, often wooden, used esp. for storing: • a tool shed/cattle shed/garden shed/an airplane shed • barn: a farm building for storing crops and food for animals, or for keeping animals

5. Example: laugh • beam: to smile brightly and happily: • eg. He beamed (a cheerful welcome) as he opened the door. • guffaw: to laugh loudly, and perhaps rudely • chortle: v. n. (to give) a laugh of pleasure and satisfaction • eg. He chortled with delight when I told him my news. • chuckle: to laugh quietly: • eg. I could hear him chuckling to himself as he read his book. • snigger: (derog.), To laugh quietly and secretly in a disrespectful way: • eg.The children sniggered at the old lady’s strange hat. • giggle: to laugh quietly in a silly childish uncontrolled way: • eg.Stop giggling, girls; this is a serious matter. • grin: to make a wide smile

6. Exercise 1 • Arrange the following nouns according to degrees of generality: • 1. German shepherd animal creature dog • 2. flowers tulips plant creature nature • 3. transport vehicle plane Boeing757 man-made device • 4. a cold illness trouble thing • 5. Aunt Sally a relative people acquaintance • 6. novel Pride and Prejudice literature writing • 7. scientists professionals chemists biochemists • (4. What distinction do hot cold, flu and aspic cold have ?)

7. Idioms • An idiomis a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meanings of the words that form it. Usually, problems in idiom are caused by collocation, especially the collocation of prepositions and verbs or adjectives

8. Example: phrasal verb • put up with : inf. to suffer (something annoying or unpleasant) without complaining • eg. I can’t put up with your rudeness any more; leave the room. • That woman has a lot to put up with. (=has many trouble) • turn out: • 1. To stop the operation of (a light) by turning a switch • eg. Turn the light out. • 2. (turn somebody out) to force to leave; send away • eg. Her father turned her out (of the house) when she became pregnant. • 3. to come out or gather (as if) for a meeting, public event, etc. • eg. Enormous crowds turn out for the procession. • 4. (turn out something )informal to produce; make • eg. This factory can turn out 100 cars a day.

9. Example: phrasal verb • 5. (turn out something ) to clear or empty the contents of (a cupboard, drawer, etc.) • eg. The policeman told him to turn out his pockets. • 6. to happen to be, or be found to be, in the end. • eg. It’s turned out nice and sunny again. • The party turned out a success. (=although we thought it might not be) • To our surprise the stranger turned out to be (=we discovered that he was) an old friend of my mother’s. • His statement turned out to be false.

10. Example: phrasal verb • Look forward to : to expect with pleasure • eg. I’m really looking forward to your party. • I look forward to receiving your reply as soon as possible. • Carry on: • 1. to continue, esp. in spite of an interruption or difficulties • eg. We can carry on our discussion after lunch. • 2. Informal to behave in a foolish, excited, or anxious manner • eg. You should have heard her carrying on when we told her the news. • I wish you’d stop carrying on (=complaining) about it. • Come across: • 1. to meet, find, or discover, esp.. By chance • eg. she came across some old letters in the course of her search. • 2. to be effective and well received • eg. Your speech came across very well.

11. Example: n.+prep.+n. • A straw in the wind: a sign of what may happen • eg. These stories of arms build-up along the border are straws in the wind. • The apple of one’s eye: inf. one’s favorite person or thing • like a fish out of water: uncomfortable because one is in a strange place; in a world of one’s own

12. Example: prep.+n. • in kind: • 1. (of payment) using goods or natural products rather than money • 2. with the same treatment • eg. I paid him back in kind for cheating me.=(I cheated him) • on the air: broadcasting • eg. We shall be on the air in five minutes. • at length: • 1. (formal) using many words; in great detail • eg. She spoke at length about the disadvantage of internet. • 2. lit. after a long time; at last • eg. At length he returned. • With flying colors: very successfully; splendidly • eg. He passed his exams with flying colors.

13. Example: v. + n. • Won’t hold water: seem not true, reasonable, or believable • eg. His explanation of where he got the money from just doesn’t hold water. • Slip one’s mind: be out of one’s memory • eg. It slipped my mind. (=I forgot it.) • kill two birds with one stone: to get two good results from one action • eg. Since Wendy lives near my mother, I’ll call in on her as well and kill two birds with one stone. • go to the dogs: to become ruined, esp. to change from a better to a worse moral condition. • eg. “This country’s going to the dogs!” said the old man.

14. Example: fixed structure • as easy as pie: inf. very easy • as big as life: not able to be mistaken; real • eg. I’d thought he was in American, but when I turned round, there he was, as big as life. • as different as night and day • as poor as a church mouse • wear and tear: the damaging effects of ordinary use over a long period • eg. When you calculate the value of the car you must allow for wear and tear. • high and dry: in a helpless situation • eg. They took all the money and left us high and dry. • touch and go: risky; of uncertain result • eg. It was touch-and -go whether the doctor would get there in time. • in black and white: in writing • eg. I want this agreement in black and white.

15. 大学英语六级作文专项练(1)： • Part 5.Writing( 30 minutes ) • （一）1990年1月真题 • Directions:For this part you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition on the topic How to Solve the Problem of Heavy Traffic according to the following OUTLINE. Your composition should be no less than 120 words. Remember that the contents of the OUTLINE should ALL be included in your composition. But you are not supposed to translate the OUTLINE word for word. Write your composition on the Composition Sheet.

16. ( Hand in your composition at the end of this class ! ) • OUTLINE • 问题：城市交通拥挤   解决方案(solution)：1. 建造(lay down) 更多道路     优点：(1) 降低街道拥挤程度(2) 加速车流(flow of traffic)缺点：占地过多2. 开辟(open up)更多公共汽车线路     优点：减少自行车与小汽车     缺点：对部分人可能会造成不方便结论：两者结合

17. Homework:Preview figures of speech 1. Simile 2. Metaphor 3. Personification 4.Metonymy 5.Synecdoche 6. Euphemism 7. Irony 8. Overstatement and understatement 9. Transferred epithet 10. Oxymoron 11. Alliteration