2.2 The Meaning of Words
Ⅰ Teaching Objectives:
1. Get students to learn the differences between denotation & connotation
2. Get students to learn the differences between general words & specific words
Ⅱ Teaching Difficulties:
To learn the connotative meaning of a word
Ⅲ Teaching Focuses:
To teach students the differences between denotation & connotation
Ⅳ Teaching Contents:
1. Denotation & Connotation
2. General Words & Specific Words
3. Exercise
Ⅴ Teaching Procedures:
Lead-in: Questions:
How can we understand the following two sentences?
Laughter drives winter from the mind.
She is in the winter of her life.
2. Presentation:
Task 1: Denotation & Connotation
Denotation is the specific, direct, and explicit meaning of a word. The denotative
meaning of a word comes directly from its referent and is mostly gained from a
dictionary
Connotation is the associative or suggestive meaning of a word. The connotative
meaning is personal and mostly deduced from one’s experience.
Task 2: Different types of Connotation
Since the connotations of words may vary along a number of dimensions, it is
difficult to find two words that are exactly the same in meaning and use (structure).
They may be identical, but they will never be equivalent.
Usually, the common dimensions will be from “informal” to “formal”, from “weak”
to “strong”, from “emotionless” to “emotional”, from “favorable” to “unfavorable” or
form different collocations.
E.g. Family: a group of people, including parents, children, grandparents, uncles,
aunts, living together
home: the place where one lives (denotation) warmth, safety, comfort, love/coldness,
burden (connotation)
The whole family came to visit us at Christmas.
I left my exercise book at home.
Task 3: General Words & Specific Words
General words name classes or groups of things. These words are needed in
classification and definition.
Specific words refer to examples of a group. Specific and concrete nouns express
meaning more vividly than general or abstract ones.
E.g. The different specific expressions of general word “laugh”:
beam: to smile brightly and happily
guffaw: to laugh loudly, and perhaps rudely
chortle: v.n. (to give) a laugh of pleasure and satisfaction
chuckle: to laugh quietly
snigger: derog. To laugh quietly and secretly in a disrespectful way:
giggle: to laugh quietly in a silly childish uncontrolled way:
grin: to make a wide smile
3. Practice: (example)
Should Private Car Owners Be Taxed for Pollution?
With the development of society, many people can afford a car. As the number of
the cars is rising, we are facing some problems. One big problem is the pollution
caused by the use of cars. In order to solve this problem, government agencies in
some big cities recently suggest that a “pollution tax” should be put on private cars in
order to control the number of cars and reduce pollution in the city. For my part, I
agree to this viewpoint, and my reasons are as follows:
To begin with, cars contribute to the environmental pollution. For example, a lot
of big cities in China are now plagued by serious air pollution. Then it is the
responsibility of these private car owners to pay for the pollution and they should be
taxed. The purpose of collecting environmental pollution tax is to raise the fund,
and then utilize the tax revenue lever to protect our environment. Secondly, it is a
good way to raise people’s environmental awareness by putting a pollution tax on
private cars. If people suffer from the financial loss when making a decision, they
will think more about their decision. Then they will consider more when deciding to
buy a private car. Consequently, the increase rate of the number of the private cars
can be controlled.
In a word, it is a very good and necessary attempt to use the means of taxation to
treat the pollution. Of course, it must be kept in mind that all people, including the
private car owners, should try their best to protect the environment.
4. Homework
Write an essay begun with “Why I Like…”
Reciting: P. 9 2011TEM4 大作文
Preview P.16-21