Diction
Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between ‘lightning’ and ‘lightning bug’.”(Alred 578) The most important goal in choosing the right word in academic writing is the preciseness implied by Twain’s comment.
Diction is the choice and use of words. It is one thing to use words correctly but quite another thing to use words effectively or appropriately. When we write or speak, we choose from thousands of words that make up the language. In the spoken medium, diction is often imprecise, but we can clarify or emphasize our meaning with the help of facial expressions, bodily gestures, tones of voice, and the like. In the written medium, however, only words are available to supply the specific information. As a result, the words we choose in writing should be as exact, specific and unequivocal as possible. Consulting a thesaurus or a dictionary that discriminates the meanings of synonyms will frequently yield the word that conveys our intended meaning precisely. In the course of writing, we should weigh our words because diction is the essential part of writing.
Formal and Informal Words
Formal and informal English differ in word choice, word usage, and grammatical structures. Informal writing might utilize the words fire, kid, how come, and quote as a noun. A formal writer might prefer dismiss, child, why, and quotation. Informal writing may sound more like conversation while formal writing may be more polished. An informal style may make listeners feel more comfortable when you are speaking, but a formal writing style can make a good impression.
Read the following two letters and find out which one is formal and which is informal.
Letter One
John,
I’m looking for a job, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that you need a workhorse for your shop.
Well, I’m the man of the hour, as I’ve got a lot to offer. I’m pretty hard-working, and I’m really good at being on time. I’m also used to working by myself. Anyway, tell me whether you want to get together for an interview, okay?
Informal Joe
Dear John:
I understand that you are looking for a strong worker to assist you in your shop. I should appreciate consideration because I am diligent, punctual, and accustomed to working with minimal supervision. Please contact me if you are interested in setting up an interview. I thank you for your time. Respectfully,
Professional Joe
Informal: Lots of job loss is just one thing resulting from automation.
Formal: Widespread unemployment is one consequence of automation.
Avoid using phrasal verbs such as get up, put into, find out that are often used in spoken English. Replace these with more formal single verbs such as rise, contribute and discover, for example:
Informal: Researchers looked at the way strain builds up around a geological fault.
Formal: Researchers examined the way strain intensifies around a geological fault.
Avoid the first and second person. Formal writing often tries to be objective, and the pronouns I and you tend to imply subjectivity. In the most formal writing, the pronoun I is replaced by the pronoun we; this is known as the royal we or the editorial we. Formal writing generally avoids the pronoun you when it refers to people in general.
Informal: You should sleep eight hours each night.
Formal: One should sleep eight hours each night.
Always include the relative pronoun. In formal English, you should be sure to include whom or that even when they are not essential to your meaning.
Informal: This is the paper I wrote.
Formal: This is the paper that I wrote.
Avoid vague words. Vague words, such as really, very, just, are less formal and are open to interpretation; they do not express the ideas as well as more precise words would. A few or enough can often be replaced by something more precise.
Informal: It caused a really big reaction.
Formal: It caused a considerable/ dramatic/ an explosive reaction.
Exercise 1
Slang words and phrases are highly colloquial and widely used in informal conversations. Most of them get out of date quickly. They should be avoided in formal writing. Study the meaning of some slang words and then fill in the blanks.
I’m _________ get you!Then he grabbed hold of me and said “_________!”Robber: “Just shut up and ___________ the money!”Sorry, I can’t stay. I __________ go now.— What’s his name? — I __________.Go away! I don’t __________ talk to you!I think you __________ talk to him before it’s too late.This is going to cost you a whole __________ money.
Exercise 2
There are 3 alternate colloquial sentences to each main sentence. Pick out the sentence which is the opposite of the main sentence, or which does NOT have the same meaning as the main sentence. (Note: US = American English)
Exercise 3
Replace the underlined parts in the following sentences with less formal words.
At the counter, we inquired about the arrival time of the aircraft.
He eradicated all the imperfections in his notes.She contemplated his utterance.Paul was terminated from his employment.Personnel are requested to extinguish illumination before departure from these premises.Unfortunately, we are not in a position to offer assistance to you.Our university is in close proximity to an amusement park.Terry is of the opinion that everything will be going on smoothly.
2. General and Specific Words
General words relate to an overall group (vehicle), while specific words identify individual items in a group (car, truck, train, boat, etc.). General and specific are relative terms, since a word may be general compared with one word and specific compared with another. Professionals, for example, is more general than scientists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, journalists, etc., but scientists may be called as a general word when compared with physicists or chemists, which, in turn, is more general than biochemists.
Both general words and specific words are useful, but why are we suggested to use specific words wherever possible? Because specific words are much clearer, more exact, vivid, striking, impressive, informative, expressive, colorful, concrete, detailed and effective.
Look at the following sentences:
General: John is a good student.
Specific: In college, John has been rewarded a scholarship over five years.
General: Your relative is nice to me.
Specific: Your aunt Betty always stops and talks to me when she meets me in the street. General words refer to groups; specific words refer to individuals — but there’s room in
between. The more you rely on general terms, the more your writing is likely to be vague and dull. As your language becomes more specific, though, your meaning becomes clearer and your writing becomes more interesting.
Does this mean that you have to cram your writing with loads of detailed description? No. First, you don’t always need modifiers to identify an individual: Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa are specifics; so are Bob’s Book and the scar on Mary’s chin. Second, not everything needs to be individual: sometimes we need to know that Fred sat in a chair, but we don’t care what the chair looked like. Tips:
Use the most specific word you can find to describe something. For example, use tulips instead of flowers; use Uncle Tom instead of a relative.Use a verb that most vividly describes an action can bring a sentence to life.Whenever possible, show the readers something instead of telling them about it.
Telling: We had fun at the beach.
Revised: Last Sunday night we barbecued hamburgers at Sagamore Beach, played volleyball, and then sat around singing and telling ghost stories.
Use specific and concrete words when giving details; use general or abstract words when making summaries.
General: The government has made big progress in economic policy.
Specific: The Australian Government has made considerable progress in implementing fiscal policy nationwide.
Avoid using unsophisticated adjectives such as good, bad, big, little, etc.
Weak adjectives: It was a productive meeting.
Revised: The meeting resulted in the approval of the health-care benefits package.
Abstract and general words enable us to express ideas. Specific words enable us to define entities. Both types of words are indispensable, and an accomplished writer can take advantage of both — move back and forth between the language of ideas and that of specific and concrete descriptions.
Exercise
Rephrase the underlined words in the following sentences by using more specific, concrete words or expressions in order to make the sentences more interesting.
1. General: He has a big house. Specific: He has a two-storeyed house with four bedrooms, two living-rooms, a dining-room and a kitchen.
2. General: The man ate a big meal.
Specific: ________________________________
3. General: Somebody asked me to deliver these red roses to you. Specific: ________________________________
4. General: My relative gave me two gifts. Specific: _________________________
5. General: The film I saw last week was good. Specific: _____________________________
6. General: In spring, the weather in Beijing can be very bad. Specific: ________________________________
7. General: A car was parked in the street. Specific: ________________________________
8. General: She bore a great burden. Specific: ________________________________
9. General: She uses simplicity in her style of writing. Specific: ________________________________ 10. General: Some children stood anxiously at the counter. Specific: ________________________________
