adminHighway to Success, Charles Dube
Levels of meaning — a word can have different meanings to different people and in different situations. Understanding the effects that your words have helps students make better choices when the write. They need to use specific words than general words when they write. One writer gives an example of the word house. The word house is a general noun that could refer to any number of specific dwellings: a brick row house, an apartment house, a prefab, an adobe hut, a mobile home, a farmhouse.
General words tend to weaken your writing because they call up only a vague picture in the reader’s mind. Take, for example, the sentence “I went to the store.” Questions which come to mind are: Is it a video store, a hardware store, a grocery, a deli, or a boutique? Even the verb went could be more specific — did the speaker walk, run, dash, meander or fly? Maybe the speaker rode the bus or drove. The gist of the matter here is the need for specific words in writing to avoid flat pieces of writing.
We have already made it clear that sentences could be improved by changing the subject, verb and object. For example, a simple sentence like, I walked into the room, could be transformed into a quality sentence by changing the subject to Peter, the verb can be changed to staggered, ran and others. The last part could be turned to a specific room which could be an office or classroom. The specific sentence could read: Peter staggered into the headmaster’s office. The sentence is now specific compared to the flat — I walked into the room.
The more specific a description is, the more realistic it will seem. The more realistic it seems, the more impact it has on the reader. Students need to understand that imaginary stories are made real by the specific language used by writers.
Appropriate and specific language makes fiction sound realistic. Graphic descriptions also make writing sound real. Use of vivid words is encouraged in writing.
Vivid words are specific words that appeal to the senses. A well-chosen vivid word can make a dramatic impression on the readers. When readers can see, hear, touch, taste and smell what is being described, writing will come alive. Nowadays for better writing sexist language should be avoided. Non-sexist language is encouraged. Non-sexist language is language that applies to people in general, both male and female. When referring to humanity as a whole, non-sexist expressions are more appropriate.
You might use the non-sexist terms humanity, human beings and people instead of the gender-specific term mankind.
Following are some widely used non-sexist terms that you can use to replace the older gender-specific ones: businessman > executive, businessperson, chairman > chairperson, fireman > fire-fighter, foreman > supervisor, housewife > homemaker, manmade > synthetic, manpower > workers, human resources, policeman > police officer, salesman – salesperson and watchman > security guard.
Here are some more examples of words often confused. Loose (adjective, pronounced ‘loos’) free, not close together, not firmly fastened). His shoe laces were loose. Lose (verb, pronounced ‘looz’) to suffer loss of. He made a loss in his business due to poor management. Moral (adjective) good; virtuous,( noun) a lesson of conduct. The way he conducted himself showed that he is a moral person. The children understood the moral of the story read by the teacher. Morale (noun) spirit;; mental condition The win boosted the team’s morale.
Personal (adjective) individual; private. She declined to reveal any personal details. Personnel (noun) a group of people employed in the same work or service. The personnel of the company raised concern when they were not paid on time.
Principal (noun) the head of a school; (adjective) main or most important. Mrs Dlamini is the principal of our school. The principal cause of diseases is unclean water.
Principle (noun) a rule of conduct; a fact or general truth. People of no principles keep on changing their stance on issues that matter. She studied principles of accounts. Using correct spelling helps improve students’ writing. There are spelling rules followed which lead to spelling words correctly. Using the following techniques improves spelling. For example, remembering the following rules will help spell the plural forms of nouns.
For most nouns add – s to singular nouns – artist – artists, flower – flowers, muscle – muscles, song – songs. For nouns ending in s, x, z,ch,, or sh, add – es, – dress – dresses, box – boxes, and bush – bushes. For nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel, add – s. monkey – monkeys, essay – essays, journey – journeys. For nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant, change the y to (i) and add – es. Fly – flies, enemy –enemies, lady – ladies, and theory – theories.
But for most proper nouns, add –s. Examples: Brady – Bradys, Johnny – Johnnys. For some nouns ending in f or fe, add – s.
For others change the f or fe to v and add –es. Examples: roof – roofs, chief – chiefs, knife – knives, loaf – loaves. More rules on spelling will be shown in later articles.
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