NO CLASS NEXT WEEK

REJOICE!
NO CLASS ON COMING
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

ACADEMIC STYLE
WORDS AND SENTENCES

ACADEMIC STYLE
Clarity of words and structure.
Vague words mean fuzzy thoughts.
Careless sentences mean carelessly
conceived thought.

WORD CHOICE
Use specific words with
connotations that suit your meaning.
Translate inflated language.
Avoid unnecessary use of figurative
language.
Avoid clichs.

SPECIFIC WORDS
Ali went out of the room.
Ali rushed out of the room.
Do you want to see the movie?
Do you want to see the thriller?
Sabrina's voice is bad.
Sabrina's voice is sharp and squeaky.

Exercise in specific words.

write two specific words for each one below

Animal
Hungry
Slowly
Move
Said
Book
Sound
Funny

Attractive
unusual

CONNOTATION AND
DENOTATION
Denotation: literal meaning.
Connotation: meanings that come out
of emotions and ideas you associate
with words.
The crowd/mob pounded on the
window of WAPDA office.
The crowd/mob cheered when the
singer appeared.

Write two specific words for each; one with

positive and one with negative connotation.

Noise
Smell
Sang
Look
Walked
Touch
Ate

Car
Cold
Clothing

INFLATED LANGUAGE
Inflated language comprises of words with many
syllables that sound impressive but that do not
communicate as effectively as simple every day
words. Avoid using long words that you think
would impress your reader.
Example: The governor has availed herself of every
opportunity to enlarge her knowledge of recently
published economic theories.
Translation: The governor has studied recent
economic theories.

NOW TRY THIS

The candidate was the victim of
incorrect thinking and made a
misstatement.

HAVE SOME MORE

Students who cannot successfully
function in a mathematical learning
situation must be reprocessed until
they acquire that vital skill.

ANOTHER ONE FOR YOU

Maximize your workload output so that the
neutralization of the effect of the short
work day on Tuesday is accomplished by
the time of the weekends arrival.

JUST THIS LAST ONE

Experience has shown that a suitable
course of conduct is to adhere to ones
own standards of behavior and allow
others the opportunity to operate
according to theirs.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Imaginative use of language more suitable
for literature and open forms.
Examples
The maple wears a greyer scarf, the field
a scarlet gown.
Trouble knocked at the door.
Storm roaming the sky like a dog looking
for a place for sleep.

CLICHES
OVER USED EXPRESSIONS.
Six month old Emily is the apple of her
fathers eye.
In her new dress she looked pretty as a
picture.
The show must go on (!)
After a good sleep I felt as fresh as a
daisy.
It was raining cats and dogs.

SENTENCES
CONCISE SENTENCES
Eliminate redundancy.
Avoid empty expressions.
Revise wordy sentences.
SENTENCE VARIETY
Vary the length of your sentences.
Combine sentences to avoid choppy ones.
Vary the beginning of your sentences.

SENTENCES
SENTENCE LENGTH
Use a mixture of simple, compound,
complex and compound-complex
sentences.
FAULTY SENTENCES
Revise.
Eliminate faulty subordination and
coordination.
Break up rambling sentences.

REDUNDANCY: ELIMINATE
UNNECESSARY WORDS
1. I shouted loudly to warn my brother.
2. The poverty stricken beggar wore
tattered clothes.
3. The external world outside of our bodies
is full of germs.
4. Messages travel instantaneously at the
speed of light.
5. I see in black and white and not color.

EMPTY EXPRESSIONS
Phrases that add no
meaning to the
sentence.
Due to the fact that it
was a legal
holiday, schools
were closed.
Because of the
legal holiday..

Some empty
expressions
On account of
What I want is
It seems as if
Because of the fact
that
The reason that
The thing is that

WORDINESS
Avoid unnecessary
words. Reduce your
sentences to a more
economical package.
In a routine manner/
routinely.
Food that is
plentiful/plentiful food
The war which was
fought between
The war between

ON YOUR OWN
Define is a sentence
Aunt (6)
Dessert (8)
Noon (6)
August 14 (7)

SOME FAULTY SENTENCES

I liked the movie, and I thought the
acting was poor.
Developing your own photographs
can be fun and my friend Bill has his
own dark room.

RAMBLING