100 Universal Ideas
Imagination
Individuality
Addiction
Alienation
Infidelity
Innocence
Ambition
Anarchy
Apathy
Atonement
Jealousy
Justice
Beauty
Belonging
Betrayal
Loyalty
Lust
Madness
Materialism
Maturation
Mortality
Obligation
Obsession
Patriotism
Peace
Perseverance
Poverty
Brotherhood
Change
Chaos
Community
Companionship
Conformity
Corruption
Courage
Curiosity
Death
Desire
Destruction
Dishonesty
Dominance
Doubt
Duty
Dystopia
Ego
Empathy
Enlightenment
Failure
Faith
Family
Fantasy
Fear
Fidelity
Freedom
Friendship
Gluttony
Greed
Growth
Happiness
Hate
Heroism
Hope
Humility
Identity
Knowledge
Longing
Power
Predestination
Pride
Progress
Purity
Race
Reality
Rebirth
Redemption
Regret
Renewal
Revenge
Salvation
Savagery
Secrecy
Sexism
Sexuality
Sloth
Solidarity
Solitude
Stability
Struggle
Submission
Success
Suppression
Survival
Temptation
Tradition
Trust
Truth
Vanity
Vengeance
War
Work
I
l
L
Verb for Academic Discourse
Words to Give "Is" a Break
Accentuate
Chooses
Details
Explains
Intends
Accepts
Chronicles
Determines
Expresses
Interprets
AChieves
Claims
Develops
Extends
Interrupts
Adopts
Comments
Deviates
Extrapolates
Inundates
AdVocates
Compares
Differentiates
Fantasizes
Justifies
Affects
Compels
Differs
Focuses
Juxtaposes
AlleViates
Completes
Directs
Forces
Allows
Concerns
Disappoints
Foreshadows
Lampoons
AlIlJdes
Concludes
Discovers
Functions
Lists
Alters
Condescends
Discusses
Analyzes
Conducts
Displays
Generalizes
Maintains
Approaches
Conforms
Disputes
Guides
Makes
Argues
Confronts
Disrupts
Heightens
Manages
Ascertains
Considers
Distorts
Highlights
Manipulates
Asserts
Contends
Downplays
Hints
Minimizes
Assesses
Contests
Dramatizes
Holds
Moralizes
Assumes
Contrasts
Elevates
Honors
Muses
Attacks
Contributes
Elicits
Attempts
Conveys
Empathizes
Identifies
Notes
Attributes
Convinces
Encounters
Illustrates
AVoids
Defends
Enhances
Imagines
Observes
Defines
Enriches
Impels
Opposes
Bases
Defies
Enumerates
Implies
Organizes
Believes'
Demonstrates
Envisions
Incites
Overstates
Denigrates
Evokes
Includes
Outlines
Challenges
Depicts
Excludes
Indicates
Changes
Describes
Expands
Infers
Patronizes
Characterizes
Despises
Experiences
Inspires
Performs
Provides
Permits
Personifies
Regards
Shows
Regrets
Specifies
Traces
Persuades
Qualifies
Rejects
Speculates
Understands
Ponders
Questions
Represents
States
Understates
Results
Strives
Uses
Portrays
Postulates
Rationalizes
Reveals
Suggests
Prepares
Reasons
Ridicules
Summarizes
Vacillates
Presents
Recalls
Supplies
Values
Presumes
Recollects
Satirizes
Supports
Verifies
Produces
Records
Seems
Suppresses
Views
Projects
Recounts
Sees
Symbolizes
Promotes
Reflects
Selects
Sympathizes
Proposes
Refers
Serves
/I
A-v}}lo(l
•
Want
Wishes
•
Words to Describe
TONE
Through Imagery, Diction, and Syntax
angry
poignant
apologetic
hollow
sarcastic
irreverent
seductive
provocative
colloquial
informative
restrained
contentious
fantasy
complacency
fear
triviality
condemning
sentimental
sympathetic
humorous
joyful
objective
bitter
restrained
didactic
flippant
patronizing
.elegiac
pity
•
Innocence
disgust
•
warnmg
extravagance
stoic
condescending
contemptuous
detached
allusive
nostalgic
benevolent
candid
whimsical
insipid.
•
•
ironrc
sardonic
satirical
rebellion
nostalgia
disdain
reverence
objective
HOW TO DESCRIBE
THE SPEAKER
humble
shallow
bold
fatuous
insipid
haughty
•
•
nnpcrious
proud
austere
audacious
confident
•
Insecure
credulous
innocent
..
naive
triumphant
•
•
VIvaCIOUS
insolent
•
SIncere
•
Inane
•
vain
gullible
DICTION
(Choice of words) .
Look for the connotations of words
Describe diction by considering the following:
· Colloquial expressions - nonstandard, often regional,
language use for informal or conversational speech and
writing.
· Jargon - words and expressions characteristic of a
particular trade, profession, or pursuit.
· Dialect - nonstandard subgroup of language with its
own vocabulary and grammatical features.
· Concrete diction - specific words that describe
physical qualities or conditions.
· Abstract diction - language that denotes ideas,
emotions, conditions, or concepts that are intangible.
· Denotation - exact, literal definition of a word
· Connotation - implicit rather than explicit meaning of
a word and consists of suggestions, associations, and
emotional overtones
· Words may be euphonious (pleasant sounding) e.g.,
butterfly, or cacophonous (harsh sounding) e.g., pus.
Words to Describe
;
,
DICTION
i;
!
.. 1
,
;
1
.,
..
•
Jargon
vulgar
scholarly
insipid
•
precise
esoteric
connotative
plain
literal
colloquial
artificial
detached
didactic
shocking
pedantic
euphemistic
pretentious
sensuous
exact
learned
symbolic
simple
figurative
bombastic
abstruse
grotesque
sharp
sentimental
poetic
moralistic
slang
idiomatic
concrete
cultured
picturesque
homespun
provincial
trite
obscure
•
precise
objective
observe