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12
Dictionaries». Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America, No. 10, 1988.
(A) 1. What is your general attitude toward the use of dictionaries?
— «I try not to use a dictionary a lot because that is a way to test myself and see if I can manage without
using it.»
2. Do you like using dictionaries?
— «I hate using a dictionary because it takes me out of concentration and I hate searching for the words.»
3. Do you feel that dictionaries help you?
— «Yes. The dictionary helps me most of the time, because I use it only when I really need it.»
4. When do you usually feel that you need the assistance of a dictionary?
— «Impossible I prefer using the context of the sentence itself to define an unknown word in that sentence.
However, when this does not work the assistance of a dictionary is O.K.»
5. Do you have any special difficulties while using a dictionary?
— «Sometimes the definitions of one word are too subtly different.»
— «The only difficulty I have while using a dictionary is when there is more than one meaning to the word
and I can't pick the best one.»
6. Which type of dictionary do you prefer? Why?
— «I prefer thinking in English while studying English, so I use an English — English dictionary.»
—
«I prefer the English — Russian dictionary because it's the easiest. But I use the English — English
because it's the best way to learn.»
(B) How would you respond to each of the above questions?
SECTION V
CONNOTATION
Many words have both a PRIMARY and a SECONDARY meaning. The PRIMARY meaning of a word is
its denotation — i.e., what the word explicitly signifies. The SECONDARY meaning of a word is its
CONNOTATION. This is the ADDITIONAL 'meaning that a word takes on from the types of contexts in
which it is most frequently found. Some word have POSITIVE CONNOTATIONS, some have NEGATIVE
CONNOTATIONS, and some are NEUTRAL (i.e., they simply denote a concept without coloring it positively
or negatively).
Often a writer implies his attitude or point of view by choosing words that have positive or negative
connotations when there are neutral equivalents that he might have chosen instead. Conversely, he might
express his unwillingness to take sides on an issue by using neutral terms wherever possible.
Consider the effect of the words having positive or negative connotations (in contrast to their neutral
equivalents) in the following pairs of statements.
1. He purports to be happy in his work. (negative, implying a false claim) He claims to be happy in his work.
(neutral)
2. He built himself a house, (neutral)
He built himself a home. (positive, implying a place of warmth, comfort and affection)
3. He entered the studio, (neutral)
He invaded the studio, (negative, implying an unwelcome intrusion)
4. He was youthful in appearance, (positive) He was juvenile in appearance, (negative, implying imma-
turity )
5. He decided to leave his job. (neutral) He decided to abandon his job. (negative, implying desertion)
6. She dedicated herself to feeding her family, (neutral) She dedicated herself to nourishing her family,
(positive, implying that the feeder maintains life)
7. He was a profound thinker. (positive, implying extreme penetration into the subjects of his thought) He
was a deep thinker, (neutral)
Sometimes the same word has somehow acquired various connotations. The reader must then pay close
attention to the context in which it appears if he wants to infer an implied attitude. Consider the way in which
the change of context changes the connotation of the underlined words in the sentences below.
8. Hercules was a mythical figure, (neutral).
The story he gave the press was entirely mythical.