Unit 3 Finance

Section I
Focus on Connotations and Denotations

The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter. It's the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

—Mark Twain

Careful writers choose words both for what they mean (that is, their dictionary meanings or denotations) and for what they suggest (their emotional associations or connotations). For instance, the adjectives slim, scrawny, and svelte all have related denotative meanings (thin, let's say) but different connotative meanings. And if we're trying to pay someone a compliment, we better get the connotation right.

Here's another example. The following words and phrases all refer to a young person, but their connotations may be quite different depending, in part, on the context in which they appear:youngster, child, kid, little one, small fry, squirt, brat, urchin, juvenile, minor. Some of these words tend to carry favorable connotations (little one), others unfavorable connotations (brat), and still others fairly neutral connotations (child). But referring to an adult as a child can be insulting, while calling a young person a brat lets our readers know at once how we feel about the rotten kid.

The more words you add to your reading vocabulary, the more inclined you will be to try them out in your own writing. That's wonderful. However, to use words effectively, you need to know more than their denotation, or dictionary definitions. You also need to know whether a word carries with it any connotations. Connotations are the associations or implications some words develop over time. For example, the words pruning and slashing both refer to the act of cutting. Their connotations, however, are very different, as you can see from the following brief passage. "My wife asked me why I was slashing her rose bushes. I told her I was just pruning them." By using the word pruning, the husband suggests he is shaping the bushes, whereas the wife's use of the word slashing implies he is destroying them. Yet if you look up the two words in the dictionary and find their definitions—also known as their denotations—you will see that the definitions are not all that different.

What gives pruning and slashing different meanings in the above sentences are the connotations the words carry with them. Pruning is associated with gardening, whereas slashing has a long history of being linked to violent acts (there's a genre of movies, after all, known as "slasher" films). In the following pairs of sentences, you have two words to choose from in parentheses. In the first pair, underline the word that would encourage readers to have a positive response to the person or group under discussion.

Not all words have positive or negative connotations. Words like table, chair, and molecule, for instance, usually carry with them only their denotation. Then, too, some words have strong connotations in one context and no connotations in another. Take, for example, the word pill in the following sentence: "Can you give me some water so that I can take a pill?" Here, the word pill has no positive or negative associations. Yet in the next sentence, the word has a distinctly negative connotation: "My boss is a real pill; every time I sit down, she finds something else for me to do."

When learning new words, pay attention to and record examples of how they are used so that you begin to develop a sense for the appropriate context. Yes, a domicile is a house, but it is a rather formal word for house, more likely to be used in insurance or tax forms than in everyday conversation. So you might see a sentence like the following: "The company's domicile should not affect its tax advantage." But it would be rare for you to see a sentence like this one: "The dog hated to sleep in his domicile; he preferred his owner's bed." The word domicile is at home in the first sentence, out of place in the second.

Working with the five passages below will help make you more aware of the importance of choosing words carefully for what they imply or suggest as well as for what they mean according to the dictionary.

Instructions: Each of the five short passages below (in italics) is fairly objective and colorless. Your job is to write two new versions of each passage: first, using words with positive connotations to show the subject in an attractive light; second, using words with negative connotations to describe the same subject in a less favorable way. The guidelines following each passage should help you focus your revisions.

A. Bill cooked dinner for Katie. He prepared some meat and vegetables and a special dessert.

(1) Describe the meal that Bill prepared, making it sound appetizing by using words with favorable connotations.

(2) Describe the meal again, this time using words with negative connotations to make it sound quite unappealing.

B. The person did not weigh very much. The person had brown hair and a small nose. The person wore informal clothing.

(1) Identify and describe this particularly attractive person.

(2) Identify and describe this particularly unattractive person.

C. Douglas was careful with his money. He kept his money in a safe place. He bought only the necessities of life. He never borrowed or lent money.

(1) Choose words that show how impressed you are by Douglas's sense of thrift.

(2) Choose words that make fun of Douglas or pass scorn on him for being such a tightwad.

D. There were many people at the dance. There was loud music. People were drinking. People were dancing. People were holding each other.

(1) Through your descriptions, show how this dance was an enjoyable experience.

(2) Through your descriptions, show how this dance was an extremely unpleasant experience.

E. After sundown, the park was empty, dark, and quiet.

(1) Describe the park as a peaceful place.

(2) Describe the park as a frightening place.

(Adapted from Reading for Results, edited by Laraine Flemming)