adjectives, adverbs, and verbs can be grouped under these Of course this classification is relative. For example, "fly," in relation to "insect" is specific, since "insect" represents the class of which a fly is a specific variety. But "insect" is itself specific in relation to "animal," since the insects may be classified as animals. EXERCISES 1. Classify the words that are distinctly generic, and distinctly specific in any extract or paragraph in this volume. Concrete and Abstract Words. The second classification is also dependent upon the idea behind the word. We can form an idea of a thing, such as a camera, or a dog, or a biscuit that is, something which can be touched, or tasted, or felt, or seen, or smelt. Or we can form an idea of an abstraction a quality, a state of being, or an action; for example, goodness, motion, truth, whiteness conceptions of things which we know are true, but which do not exist except in our minds. A good man is concrete, but goodness is an abstraction; a white horse is concrete, but whiteness is an abstraction; a certain true book is concrete, but truth is an abstraction. The words which name concrete things, then, are to be called concrete words; those which name abstractions, abstract words. EXERCISES 1. Select the words that may be called abstract, or concrete, in any passage in this book. THE QUALITIES OF A WORD The choice of words, as we shall see later, is made easier by an understanding of the difference between generic and specific, between abstract and concrete words, and these distinctions will be particularly useful in Description. But an even greater aid comes from a clear comprehension of the two qualities which most words possess, the two ways in which, so to speak, the word embraces the idea behind it. Denotation and Connotation. - Every word denotes something, and nearly every word also connotes something. That is, it names (denotes) a definite thing, quality, action, etc.; and it implies in addition, or suggests (connotes), certain associations which belong with the idea behind it. To "bawl" denotes to weep violently; but it connotes, that is, it implies, a very undignified form of weeping. "Naughty" denotes disobedient; but it is associated with childish disobedience, and connotes childishness. When Portia spoke of the candle that threw its beams so far across a naughty world, naughty" had different connotations, and thus, though its denotation was the same in Shakespeare's day as in ours, the full meaning was quite different. 66 Some words, it is true, have very slight, almost imperceptible connotative powers. The prepositions and conjunctions often have none, although "notwithstanding " certainly connotes pompous dignity, in addition to its denotation. It would be the right word in a legal document; it is the wrong one in, " I lent him a nickel to go to the moving picture show, notwithstanding his freckled face." Its associations are too dignified for such company. Again, some adjectives, adverbs, and nouns have far more connotation than others: home, country, flag, exquisitely, honorable, are all words whose sets of associations of one kind or another are very vivid. Notice the effect of the word 'home," for example, in the epitaph upon Robert Louis Stevenson's grave: Home is the sailor, home from sea, 66 On the contrary, such words as building, water, table, good, to act, have only faint connotations. They carry few or no suggestions with them. Now there is nothing which makes the use of the right word more certain than a knowledge of the exact denotation of each word in your vocabulary, and a "sense " for its connotation. The dictionary is your first aid when it comes to exact denotation. To use aggravate when you mean irritate, preservation when you mean conservation, pestilence when you mean disease, is to blur thought, and confuse expression. A pocket dictionary, which every one should possess, will quickly set you right, and eventually make it possible for you to fit the right words to your ideas, no matter how fast they come. Definition a Means of Studying Denotation. One of the best ways of acquiring accuracy in getting the right denotation of your words is practice in definition. Once define a word, and its meaning cannot slip away from you. The dictionary, to be sure, will do the work for you, but nothing breeds self-confidence like a little experimenting on your own account. In order to define a word, you must first tell to what class or genus it belongs; then give the exact differences, or differentia, as they are called in logic, which separate it from the other words of that genus. For example, man is an animal (genus) that uses tools (differentia). A church is a building (genus) used for purposes of Christian worship (differentia). Skating is motion (genus) over the ice by means of runners attached to the feet (differentia). Your definition must not be too broad, for then it may fit other words as well. "An oak is a deciduous tree growing in the temperate zone," is too broad a definition. It would fit the chestnut or the elm. Your definition must not be too narrow, for then it may not include the whole of the idea which your word represents. "Shooting is the discharge of a missile with intent to hurt or kill," is too narrow; it does not include the meaning of the word in such a phrase as "shooting at a target." Furthermore, your definition must never repeat the word to be defined, otherwise you become as futile as old Polonius, who described madness as being nothing else but mad. And finally, there are many words which cannot be logically defined, because it is impossible to assign them to any genus. Religion, truth, the human race such general terms as these are indefinable, as you will see if you experiment. EXERCISES 1. Define, where possible, the following words by genus and Reading an Aid in Mastering Connotation. - So much for denotation. Reading in good literature, hearing good conversation, are your means for getting the proper "sense" for connotations. You must get to know the friends with which each word associates; you must get acquainted with its surroundings. For that, you need an introduction to these friends and associations, and hosts of good writers and good talkers, who know, are at your service, if you will consent. If you want to speak well, and write well, read well, and listen well that is more than half the battle, especially in the choice of words. EXERCISES I. In the following passage, discuss orally the denotations and the connotations of the italicized words : I raised my eyes in the direction in which he pointed. Halfway up the mountain over whose foot we were wending jutted forth a black, frightful crag, which at an immense altitude overhung the road and seemed to threaten destruction. It resembled one of those ledges of the rocky mountains in the picture of the deluge, up to which the terrified fugitives have scrambled from the eager pursuit of the savage and tremendous billow, down on which they are gazing with horror, whilst above them rise still higher and giddier heights to which they seem unable to climb. - GEORGE BORROW's The Bible in Spain. Parallel them, II. Draw up a list of words rich in connotation. where possible, with words of less or different connotation, having approximately the same denotation. III. Substitute for the words italicized in the following passage others having more appropriate connotations or more correct denotations: As the bickering light of my little fire of wood died away to weak flashes, loneliness began to hedge me in and the darkness of the large forest oppressed me. I could just make out the hazy big stalk of the tree which mounted at my back. In front, I could see nothing but moving shadows which became |