In class: today is the last opportunity to turn in your argumentative essays, along with your graphic organizers. Everyone had out of class time to work on these. After 3:00 today, they are worth 50 points each.
As many folks have finished up, they will continue on with an exercise on denotation and connotation. (class handout / copy below) This is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday.
Definition of Connotation vs. Denotation
Words can have several meanings. The literal meanings, the denotation, are direct, realistic, and often found in the dictionary. What the word suggests or implies, the connotation, is symbolic, culturally constructed, and often influences the interpretation of poetry or literature. For example, the denotations of the word snake might be "reptile," "scaly," or "without legs." Connotations of the word, however, might include "treachery," "evil," or "betrayal." Writers of nonfiction assume that the denotation of words will inform the meaning for readers. On the other hand, poets or fiction writers may instill meaning beyond the literal by using words with culturally rich connotations.
Denotation vs. Connotation
A word's connotation is all the association we
have with it. For example: "snake
in the grass," the biblical serpent, the danger of poisonous snakes, our own
fear of snakes, or a malevolent (evil, bad) person might be called "a real
snake"
Connotation
can depend on the person who hears the word and relates his or her own
associations.
• A plumber might immediately think of a plumbing tool
called a snake.
• A biologist might think of the rare Indigo Snake he felt
lucky to see the past weekend.
Some words, though, have shades of meaning that are commonly
recognized.
• While
"serpent" is literally a snake, the word "serpent" is
usually associated with evil.
• In today's society,
"politician" has somewhat negative associations, while
"statesman" sounds more positive.
For these conditions,
first think of a word with a positive connotation, and then think of a word
with a negative connotation.
condition
|
positive word
|
negative word
|
1.
Not as tall as most
|
||
2.
Careful with money
|
||
3.
Wanting to know
|
4.
Describe the difference between these words:
house; home.
For each pair of words, list the one that is
positive in the “Positive Connotation” category and the one that is negative in
the “Negative Connotation” category.
Positive
Negative
5. gaze; stare
6. brainwash; persuade
7. delayed; tardy
8. lazily; leisurely
9. demand; request
10. gathering; mob
11. observe; spy
12. youthful; immature
13. irresponsible; carefree
14. unique; strange
15.. inexpensive; cheap
16. competitive; cutthroat
For each of the following denoted words, give a positive and
negative connotation
positive
negative
17. look steadily
18. influence one way
or another
19. not on time
20. without haste
21. ask of someone
22. a large group
23. to watch
24. a young age
25. not having a care
26. not commonly found
27. fairly priced
28. wanting to succeed
No comments:
Post a Comment