专四写作措辞与语句DictionandsentenceDictionChoice of wordsDictionI Choosing wordsII. Words to AvoidIII. Overcoming ChinglishProper words in proper places make a true definition of style. Jonathan Swift ?Use the right word, not the second cousin.The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightening and the lightning bug. Mark Twain :语不惊人死不休Du FuWords should be only the clothes, carefully custom-made to fit the thought. Jules Renard ?We should endeavor to use words that correspond as closely as possible with what we feel, see, think, imagine, experience and reason.GoetheI Choosing wordsChoosing the appropriate and exact wordsA. Levels of wordsB. Meanings of wordsC. General and specific wordsI Choosing wordsA. Levels of wordsa. from a stylistic point of view: formal/learned, common and colloquial (slang words, dialectal words and certain words that are often used by uneducated speakers)b. standard and nonstandard (or substandard words)B. Meanings of wordsa. denotation/literal meaning本义the direct, explicit meaning or reference of a word or a term (Webster’s New Word Dictionary)b. connotation/associative meaning转义Idea or notion suggested by or associated with a word, phrase, etc. in addition to its explicit meaning, or denotationI Choosing wordsCompare:Tom is ambitious/ tough-minded/ foresighted/ firm/ self-respecting/ persistent.Tom is pushy/ ruthless/ calculating/stubborn/egotistical/ nagging.country, nation, state, landask, question, interrogatetime, age, epochlarge, bigthrifty, frugal, stingymodest, humbleslender, slim, emaciatedThese words can be called synonyms but may be different in stylistic level, in the degree ofemphasis, in emotional coloring, in tone and in collocation.Mind:Very often an English word has no exact Chinese equivalent and it has to be translated in different ways in different contexts.Choices1. A few listeners were uninterested/ disinterested and dozed off.2. Though she has grown up, her behavior is oftenchildlike/childish.3. Her clothes, though made of cheap/inexpensive material, are quite elegant.4. Is that old/elderly woman/lady sitting by the window your mother?5. I am sorry to refuse/decline your kind invitation.6. This homely/ugly old man is a well-known composer.7. This servile man was especially humble /modest when he was talking with his superiors.8. My father became stout/fat as he grew older.9. I can never forget the little/small town where I spent my happy childhood.10. The modernization programme has won the support of the whole nation/country.C. General and specific wordsProfessionals-----scientists, doctors, teachers lawyers, journalistsscientists-----physicists, chemistschemists---biochemists ?Compare:Fido is the most lovable creature I know.Fido is the first animal I ever liked.Fido is one of our three dog s.Fido is the fastest hound I have ever seen.We have three hounds: a dachshund(德国种小猎狗) named Willy, a gray hound named Mick, and a basset(短腿猎犬) named Fido.由一般（general）趋于特定（specific）Specific words are much more concrete and colorful than the general ones; they seem to make the reader see, hear, smell, touch or feel what the writer wished to describe. They help tomake writing clear, exact, vivid and striking, for they are more informative and expressive than general words. General words convey a kind of emotion (love), condition (misery), thought (democracy), theory (evolution), science (biology) or a group of things (creature, plant, organism).Too many specific words may result in difficulty in grasping the main idea while too many general words may cause the writing to be dull and difficult.由一般（general）趋于特定（specific）Abstract and general words are indispensable, and the accomplished writer can take advantage of both, can move back and forth between the language of ideas and the language of hard realities.由一般（general）趋于特定（specific）1. a. She loves flowers.b. She loves roses and chrysanthemums.2. a. A few houses were destroyed yesterday.b. Five houses were burnt down yesterday.3. a. If a person is reading his love letter, you must not lean over his shoulder to read it.b. If a person is reading his love letter, you must not lean over his shoulder to share it.4. a. It grew dark before seven o’clock. The wind was strong and the rain was heavy.b. It grew dark before seven o’clock. Wind and rain whipped the house.5. a. An elderly man had collapsed while crossing the street, and an ambulance took him to a hospital. ? b. An elderly man had collapsed while crossing the street, and an ambulance rushed him to a hospital.6. a. Trees surround the water near our summer place.b. Old elms surround the lake near our summer cabin.See if you can create clearer pictures from these sentencesA car was parked in the street.Some children stood anxiously at the counter.Our friends have a place at the shore.The table was cluttered with his things.A man was standing at the corner.She bore a great burden.A shiny red Mercury convertible was parked against the curb near a hydrant.Four little urchins in ragged blue jeans stood with their smudgy faces pressed against the candy counter.The Rothblums have a two-bedroom bungalow a block from the ocean in Brandt Beach, New Jersey. ?Jeff’s notebook, books, and baseball glove cluttered the diningroom table.A tall, lanky farmer in faded overalls and a battered straw hat was leaning against the mailbox on the corner of Main Street and First Avenue.After her mother died, Sylvia helped raise her younger brothere and cared for her ill father.Compare:1) We experienced difficulty in that situation.2) The cartilage in my ankle ripped painfully as I slammed onto the icy sidewalk. As I lay on my back, cursing myself for jogging in subzero weather, the chill of the morning wind made me shiver. I tried to raise my body but my ankle would not move, and all I could do was fall back on my concrete bed. I felt nothing, but pain, cold and dismay.Provide specific words for the following general words:brightly-colored red, scarletSlowly two miles an hourRun sprint, dash, gallop, race, dart, trot,scurry, scamper, lopeWalk amble saunter trudge drag strolltiptoe clump slouch prance tramptotter trot wade waddle shuffleswag swagger mince stride strutstagger hobble limp plod stumbletoddle loiter lurch sneak padProvide specific words for the following general words: A good man Good foodHouseLaughBeverageSeeSayWalkSkilfulHitWeaponBigSmallBraveProvide specific words for the following general words: AfraidComplainPleasedTrueStubbornFlexibleThinFatNoiseSilenceBeautifulUglyActiveInactive由模糊（vague）趋于明确（definite）1．a. It was a dreadful journey.b. It was a tiring, tedious and dangerous journey.2. a. Although the commander had an awful temper and a terrible voice, he showed wonderful care for his men.b. Although the commander had a fiery temper and a gravely voice, he showed fatherly care for his men.由模糊（vague）趋于明确（definite）Lazy adverbs (懒散副词)Absolutely, awfully, dreadfully, terribly, terrifically, frightfully, horribly, desperately, fiercely, badly, hugely, simply, wildly, jolly, right, pretty, precisely, mighty, marvelously, tremendously, wonderf ully…CompareThe beggar was awfully thin. /The beggar was pitifully thin.My new teacher is absolutely handsome. /My new teacher is strikingly handsome.My supervisor’s tone is very critical. /My supervisor’s tone is sharply critical.It is terribly hot today. / It is burning hot today.We had a wildly cold night. / We had a freezing night.由抽象（abstract）趋于具体（concrete）1. a. Mr Bunney looked at the vegetables before him．b. Mr Bunney gazed dismally at the vegetables before him．2. a. The man was standing under a tree.b. Jim Jones, our village postman, was walking under a large oak-tree.3. a. The cable consists of many wires.b. The cable consists of 100 strands of very fine copper wires.4. a. He had a misfortune while swimming.b. A shell fragment ripped open his right arm while he was swimming.5. a. Tom is a lazy boy.b. Tom usually sleeps late in the morning and does little work after he gets up.由抽象（abstract）趋于具体（concrete）LookShe spotted him immediately among the people in the railway station, because he was wearing his yellow hat.The men in the boated sighted land.They were observed entering the bank at 8:30.Several possible buyers are coming to view the house.He scanned the pages of the book to what it was about.He witnessed the accident himself; he saw it all.She glanced down the list of names.Stop eyeing me like that.She peered through the mist, trying to find the right path.He gaped at her in surprise.D. Using idiomsAn idiom is a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meaning s of the words that form it.Common types of idioms:Phrasal verbs put up with, look forward to, carry onN.+ prep. + n. a straw in the wind, the apple of one’s eye, like a fish out of waterPrep. +n. on the air, at length, at large, in person, with flying colorsV. +n. slip one’s mind, go to the dogs, stew in one’s own juice, teach an ol d dog new tricks, teach one’s grandmother to suck eggsAs…as as big as life, as poor as church mouse, as mute as a fish, light as a feather ?Pairs of words in black and white, sink or swim, high and dry, touch and goSayings Don’t count y our chickens before they are hatched.A stitch in time saves nine. One man’s meat is another man’s poison. Tastes differ. Each dog will have his own day.Idioms in sentencesThe first American presidential dark horse was James Polk.You can’t tell how she feels, she doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve.John could not go to a library, and writing the report was a job of making bricks without straw.?The quickly-called meeting of the President and his cabinet was a straw in the wind.Although it is a small nation, it is a formidable opponent, for it is armed to the teeth.John said he was more interested in the competition itself than in the prize. Obviously it was sour grapes to him.Don’t waste time here, talk turkey please or I’ll go.Profit is generally the apple of discord among capitalist nations.Mum said I’d better leave the kitchen because she did notneed my help and I was like a bull in a china shop there.Although Jack is thought to be the contestant most likely to win the gold medal, David and Harry are among the dark horses.Idioms in sentencesThough Henry Adams found Cambridge a ―social desert‖, it flowed with intellectual milk and honey.?He would not have met his Waterloo if his courage hadn’t failed him.It rained cats and dogs yesterday evening.He was threatened with a beating by a fellow who was an ass in a lion’s skin.He blows hot and cold about making friends, so he has few close friends.I believe t his will prove to be a Pandora’s box in the long run.Ever since he entered this school, he has always been the apple of the teacher’s eye.How many times do I have to tell you not to leave you homework till the eleventh hour??Judging from the way he spends money, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.Idioms in sentencesWhen the police began to investigate, five of the man left the country, leaving the sixth holding the bag.Jack seems to be wasting away. He is nothing but a bag of bones.If you break a window, do not pass the buck; admit that you did it.Your life in this town has been an open book,--perhaps too open.Bob’s unexpected visit played the devil with our own plans to travel.To give the devil his due, old Simpkins, miser though he is, has always been generous to Joy.He has then completely under his thumb. They don’t dare t o defy them.When she is around, he is nervous and seems to be all thumbs.Don’t talk about vanity in my brother’s hearing; it is his Achilles heel.Having already heard that Helen is an avid mountain climber, I broke ice by talking about our favorite sport.Mind:Most idioms are informal or colloquial in style and can be used in conversation; but a few are slang and should be used with care. Many idioms have become clichés and are no longer fresh or interesting and should be used sparingly.II. Words to AvoidA. Jargon(1) When I asked my parents if I could use the car, the feedback was negative.(2)Upwardly mobile young lawyers often work 70 hours a week.If you do have to write professional articles for common readers, you cana) use a certain number of technical terms with interpretation or definitionb) refer to the following passage:If we become free of disease, we would make a much better run of it for the last decade or so, but might still terminate on about the same schedule as now. We may be like the genetically different lines of mice…programmed to die after predeterminednumber of days clocked by their genomes. If this is the way it is, some of us will continue to wear out and come unhinged in the sixth decade, and some much later, depending on genetic timetables.Words to AvoidB. Big words / Pretentious wordsGobbledygook –pompous, official-sounding language which use twenty words to express a three-word thought.GobbledygookUndesirable waste material is removed on a semiweekly basis by municipal employees specially assigned to such activity.Personnel are requested to extinguish illumination before departure from these premises.The causal factor of her poverty becomes obvious when one considers the number of offspring she possesses.It is my fervent wish that the creator of the universe will do his utmost to preserve and protect the royal lady who graciously occupies the position of the head of state.ImprovedCity collectors pick up garbage twice a week.Please turn out the lights before leaving.She is poor because she has too many children.God save the queen.Words to AvoidExercise(1) Were it not for the lucrative financial rewards, she should have tendered her resignation.(2) Large-size passenger vehicles utilize excessive quantities of fuel.(3) Years of research have impacted positively on ourunderstanding of cancer.(4) The very thought of flying made her paranoid.Notice how the simple vocabulary in the following examples express the ideas more clearly and precisely than do the ―big words‖Words to AvoidC. Clichéstrite expressionsexpressions that have been used so often that they are no longer effectiveClichésNotice how much more effective the following simple, straightforward expressions are than the clichés.A list of the most common clichésApple of one’s eyeBaker’s dozenFace the musicFew and far betweenGet up on the wrong side of bedHit the nail on the headIn the same boatNip in the budNo love lostOne foot in the graveA list of the most common clichésRadiantly happyRain or shineRaining cats and dogsSnake in the grassTempest in the teapotTwinkling of an eyeSupreme sacrificeThe man in the streetSell like hot cakesOut of the woodsIn the final analysisAll in allAs a matter of factNoticeIt is not necessary to memorize all clichés or eliminate them entirely from your prose. Both tasks would be impossible. The clichés to watch out are the ones that recur in your w ork as all-purpose filler.Words to AvoidD. SlangRefers to a kind of colloquialism, characterized byA> eccentric humorB> forced, fantastic or grotesque meaningsC> noveltyD>attempts to be colorful, fresh and vividSome examples of slang ISome examples of slang IINoticeSome slang words or expressions may, through wide circulation, become acceptable in standard English, such as mob, highbrow, cop. Much slang, however, goes out of fashion very quickly through overuse and may be entirely forgotten in a very short time.In short, it is inappropriate in serious and formal writing because it is too vague and makes the writer sound offensive andfunny.ExamplesOn hearing that his father had kicked the bucket, we wrote him a letter to express our sympathy. ?The big banquet held in honor of the distinguished guests was really neat.III. Overcoming Chinglish中式英语Chinglish (that misshapen, hybrid language that is neither English nor Chinese but that might be described as ― English with Chinese Characteristics‖.--------Joan PinkhamIII. Overcoming ChinglishSome examples of the wrong use of wordsThey stood on top of the hill, attracted by the beauty of the garden city.They had no basis of feeling.他占有欲与生俱来。
