The Impact of Words
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CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD
Good writing weaves together the general and the
specific, the abstract and the concrete.
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GENERAL vs. SPECIFIC
• General/Abstract
refers to all members
of a class or group:
– Religion
– Christianity
– Protestantism
– Food
– Protein
– Eggs
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• Concrete/Specific
refers to individual
members of the
group:
– First Baptist
Church of
Sandusky, Ohio
– Two fried eggs,
sunny side up
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.
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1. Building
6. Ritual
2. Book
7. Commitment
3. Music
8. Sport
4. Expression
9. Dream
5. Tree
10.Health
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)
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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE EXERCISE
Find a metaphor or simile that captures how you
might feel in the following situations:
1. 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”
2. You’re about to run your first marathon.
3. A textbook costing $86 falls apart after two
weeks’ use.
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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE EXERCISE (Con’t)
Find a metaphor or simile that captures how
you might feel in the following situations:
4. You have to write a 30-page research
paper on a boring topic and it’s due in one
week.
5. You rush to be on time for your doctor’s
appointment and you have to wait 45
minutes to see her.
6. A friend spends six weeks helping you fix
the cracks in your wooden sailboat.
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CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORDS
Avoid sexist references, demeaning labels, or excluding
one gender: use both masculine and feminine pronouns.
AVOID:
USE:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
“…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
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.
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ON THEIR FEET, DANCE MARATHON BY OTTO
BETTMANN
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PLANNING AND SHAPING
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.
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You have only words,
so make them as
precise as you can
Did you write “leans”
or “slumps?” “Holds”
or “clutches?”
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.
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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.
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EDITING
• Reread your paragraph, checking for
correctness of sentence structure,
grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
• Make any necessary changes.
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