Word Choice

When you are asked to write about the word choice in a text, you are really being asked about the meaning of words – their denotation and connotations

Denotation The denotation of a word is its literal meaning – what you would find in a dictionary if you looked it up.

Connotations The connotations of a word are what it makes you think or feel.

Example House or Home? Both have very similar denotations Both refer to the place where a person lives but they should make you think of different things.

House Bricks, walls, windows

Home Family, comfort, a sense of belonging

Practise In pairs, come up with three words which show the different connotations of each of these pairs of words: Woman and Lady Job and Career Street and Road

Addressing the Question In close reading tests, you need to answer the question as well as come up with connotations when asked about word choice. Questions usually ask how the writer backs up their view through word choice. Broadly speaking, their view is usually either positive of negative.

Example The following words have roughly the same denotation but different connotations because one is positive and the other is negative: Determined and Stubborn

Determined Motivated, hard-working, focused

Stubborn Obstinate, rebellious, unreasonable

Practise Work in pairs and give examples of the positive and negative connotations of these pairs of similar words: Traditional and Old-fashioned Inquisitive and Nosy Self-confident and Conceited

Example 1 “I'm not sure what to call them, since it is hard to describe these constructions, with their inanely grinning, appallingly-paid staff dressed like circus clowns dispensing lumps of fatty meat and slices of crumpled salad in soggy buns, accompanied by tubs of steaming hot French fries and teeth-rotting drinks, as 'restaurants'. True, they are 'places where food is bought and eaten', but it would be a sad world if these were really considered restaurants.” Show how the writer uses word choice to convey their view of fast food restaurants.

Example 2 Ever since I was a child, museums have fascinated me. I love them. Even the most dusty and drab have a magic for me. I was the despair of my mother when I was a child, for I was always bringing home fossils, bits of interesting rock, and such like, to add to the overburdened windowsill museum which I had. Show how the writer uses word choice to convey their view of museums.

This has been a long time coming. Hunting may have been damned and shooting condemned, but for the anti- blood sports lobby, fishing has long been regarded as something akin to the sliced vegetable its quarry is most traditionally served with – a hot potato. Explain clearly HOW the writer suggests that the anti- blood sports lobby thinks hunting is worse than shooting.