represent activeness and power in China, because the ancient emperors all wore yellow gowns. In English, it may not have so positive connotations: show someone the yellow card（警告某人）, show a yellow streak (down one’s back)（怯懦，卑怯）. In Chinese, yellow can also be used to describe something obscene, but not in English.
In English, words can also be divided into commendatory words, derogatory words and neutral words, among which neutral words account for the majority. Some words are used to express commendation: honesty, sincere, courage; some words are used to express denunciation: deceit, hypocritical, cowardice. And synonyms can often be divided into these three categories. For instance, when used to describe a person, slender, slim, lean are generally commendatory; thin, underweight are generally neutral; while skinny, gaunt, lanky are derogatory. Similarly, portly, stout, plump (often used to describe women), chubby (often used to describe children) are commendatory; overweight, fleshy can be considered as neutral, while fat is derogatory.
There are many synonyms in English vocabulary. In terms of their origins, they are mainly composed of three parts: Anglo-Saxon words, French words and Latin words. The first part is the basic part of English vocabulary, including the names of family members like father, mother, brother, sister; the names of the parts of body like hand, foot, eye, ear, heart, bone, etc.; the names of things in nature like sun, moon, earth, land, field, wood, hill etc.; the words expressing time like day, month, year, etc. It also includes many frequently-used monosyllable verbs, such as be, do, have, live, drink, eat, come, go, leave, see, hear, know, grow, find, stand, sit, speak, say, bring, buy, sell, etc.
French words came into English after the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Norman aristocracy ruled England for more than a century, bringing with them a deep influence on the English language. French words in English comprise many words concerning government, executive and law: government, state, empire, authority, sovereignty, parliament, court, council, tax, oppress, justice, judge, attorney, crime, prison, etc.; words concerning religion: religion, sermon, confession, baptism, communion, etc.; words concerning military affairs: army, navy, enemy, soldier, battle, combat, etc.; words concerning wearing: fashion, gown, robe, veil, lace, embroidery, etc.
Latin words are mainly concerned with medicine, law, theology, science and literature. Many of these words are rather academic: education, tuberculosis, civil, jurist, altar, mass, palm, pope, shrine, relic, science, etc. Many of these Latin words can be further traced back to Greek words: history, chaos, climax, crisis, technology, hepatitis, etc.
Generally speaking, Anglo-Saxon words are most common, most colloquial, and hence more intimate; French words are more solemn and elegant; Latin words are mostly used in written language, and a bit bookish:
Anglo-Saxon French Latin small/little petite diminutive ask question interrogate rise mount ascend time age epoch fire flame conflagration
Exercises
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I. In each sentence, choose the more precise of the two in italics, and explain your reasons:
1. A few listeners were disinterested/uninterested and dozed off. 2. Though she has grown up, her behavior is often childlike/childish.
3. I am quite jealous/envious of your opportunity to study at such a famous university. 4. Her clothes, though made of cheap/inexpensive material, are quite elegant. 5. This homely/ugly old man is a well-known musician. 6. I am sorry to refuse/decline your invitation.
7. He was surprised /stunned to find that his little sister had become a pretty, slim/skinny young woman.
8. My uncle became fat/stout as he grew older.
9. This servile man was especially modest/humble when he was talking with his superiors.
10. I asked every/each boy in the group the same question, and interestingly, everyone/each gave me a different answer.
11. The enemy troops were driven back when they attempted/tried to cross the border. 12. They all felt sympathy/pity for the victims of the disaster and made donations. 13. Empress Dowager Cixi was famous/notorious for her cruelty. 14. Is that old/elderly woman/lady sitting on the bench your mother?
II. Analyze the meaning and emotional implications of the following groups of words：
1． single woman, bachelor girl, old maid, spinster 2． loyalty, adherence, partisanship
3． meek, humble, modest, unpretentious 4． smell, stink, fragrance, odour, reek, aroma 5． cheap, inexpensive, low-priced 6． submissive, obedient, docile, compliant 7． arrogant, proud, haughty, lofty 8． toil, work, drudgery, travail, labour 9． curious, nosy, inquisitive, prying
10. daring, bold, cocky, audacious, foolhardy 11. foe, enemy, opponent
12. friend, chum, buddy, pal, acquaintance, crony
III. General and Specific Words
In English, some words are more general or more specific in meaning than others. For example, animal is a word more general than sheep, tiger, wolf, dog, etc. Words like animal are called superordinates, while words like sheep are called subordinates or hyponyms.
Superordinates and subordinates are relative. Animal is a superordinate when compared with sheep, tiger, etc., but if compared with living, it may become a subordinate. Likewise, sheep is more general than ram, ewe, or lamb.
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Although both general and specific words are useful in writing, a student learning to write should make an effort to master and use specific words wherever possible. Specific words help to make writing clear, exact, vivid and striking, for they are more informative and expressive than general words. Compare:
A good man: kind, honest, just, generous, sympathetic, warm-hearted, selfless,
brave, honorable
Good food: tasty, delicious, nourishing, rich, wholesome, fresh, appetizing,
abundant
House: mansion, villa, chateau, cottage, bungalow, cabin, hut, shack, shanty, shed,
barn
Laugh: smile, grin, beam, giggle, titter, snigger, chuckle, guffaw, chortle
It is easy to see that the specific words on the right are much concrete and colorful than the general ones on the left; they seem to make the reader see, hear, or feel what the writer wishes to describe.
Using specific words should go along with providing details, and then there will be effective and impressive writing. Study the following examples:
General: It is often windy and dusty here in spring.
Specific: In spring there is often a very strong northwest wind. It carries so
much fine dust with it that sometimes the sun becomes obscure. There is no escape from the fine dust; it gets into your eyes, your ears, your nostrils, and your hair. It goes through the cracks of closed windows and covers your desks and chairs.
General: Students do many interesting things after classes.
Specific: Every morning and afternoon the sports fields are alive with energetic
students. Football and basketball matches, volleyball, and badminton, track-training and gymnastics are all in full swing. Even the alleyways
under the trees and around the flower beds provide enough space for enthusiasts to practise. Through the windows comes the pitter-patter of ping-pong balls, the sound of songs and music, or laughter and discussion.
General: Not far from the railway there was a cottage with a garden and trees
and flowers around it.
Specific: On the outskirts of a little town upon a rise of land that swept back
from the railway there was a tidy little cottage of white boards,
trimmed vividly with green blinds. To one side of the house there was a garden neatly patterned with plots of growing vegetables, and an arbor for the grapes which ripened late in August. Before the house there were three mighty oaks which sheltered it in their clean and massive shade in summer, and to the other side there was a border of gay
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flowers. The whole place had an air of tidiness, thrift, and modest
comfort.
—Thomas Wolfe
Exercise
The following words are rather general in meaning. Think of words that are more specific.
walk look at cry angry tree animal flower wind rain
IV. Idioms
An idiom is a fixed group of words with a special meaning which is different from the meaning of the words that form it. To “red a book”, for instance, is not a idiom, for the meaning of the phrase is the meaning of the three words put together. To “read between the lines” is different. The four words that form the phrase give no hint as to what it means and none of the words cn be changed to form another understandable phrase.
English is rich in idioms. The following types of idioms are the most common:
1. phrasal verbs: put up with, turn out, look forward to, carry on, come across;
2. n. + prep. + n.: a straw in the wind, the apple of one’s eye, like a fish out of water, in a
world of one’s own;
3. prep. + n.: in kind (以实物), on the air, at length, with flying colors;
4. v. + n.: won’t hold water, slip one’s mind, kill two birds with one stone, go to the dogs 5. as... as: as easy as pie, as big as life, as different as night and day, as poor as a church mouse
6. Pairs of words: wear and tear (磨损, 折磨), high and dry (搁浅, 孤立无援), touch and
go (一触即发), in black and white (白纸黑字). 7. Sayings: One man’ s meat is another man’s poison. (兴趣爱好因人而异). A stitch in time saves nine. (小洞不补, 大洞吃苦). Take it or leave it. (要么接受, 要么放弃, 不容讨价还价).
Idioms help to make one’s language sound natural and idiomatic, so they are frequently used in speech and writing. But in using idioms, foreign learners of English should remember the following two points:
1. Most idioms are informal or colloquial in style and ca be used in conversation, but a few
are slang and should be used with care; 2. Many idioms become clichés and are no longer fresh or interesting, such as armed to the
teeth and as good as gold, and should be used sparingly.
Exercises
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I. Give phrasal verbs that mean the same as the following verbs:
continue endure investigate expect destroy (a building) build
start postpone begin to like II. Explain the following sentences and word groups: 1. All his geese are swans. 2. Let sleeping dogs lie. 3. a wolf in sheep’s clothing 4. a white elephant 5. a white lie 6. blue blood 7. Blue Book 8. blue jackets 9. a blue stocking 10. red tape
V. Figures of Speech
Figures of speech are ways of making our language figurative. When we use words in other than their ordinary or literal senses to lend force to an idea, to heighten effect, or to create suggestive imagery, we are said to be speaking or writing figuratively. For example, it is more vivid and colorful to say that stars “twinkle like diamonds in the sky” than to say that they “shine brightly in the sky”.
Similarly, “Imperialism is a paper tiger” is an expression definitely more suggestive of outward ferocity and inner weakness and, therefore, more forceful than the literal statement “Imperialism appears to be strong but inwardly it is weak,” though the idea is essentially the same.
Like a diamond is a simile, and paper tiger is a metaphor, and with hyperbole, personification, euphemism, and metonymy, make up a score or more of figures of speech most commonly used today. Each figure has its own form and characteristic features, and its own way of achieving effect. Sometimes two or more figures are used together to give greater effect. Among the most common of them are:
1. Simile it is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. To make the comparison, words like as, as…so, and like are used to transfer the quality we associate with one to the other. Sometimes the association is between unfamiliar and familiar things, or between abstract and concrete images:
O my love?s like a red, red rose.
---- Robert Burns
Records fell like ripe apples on a windy day.
---- E. B. White
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