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English III - 1 -
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DICTION AND VOCABULARY
POINTERS
I. Diction
LEVELS OF USAGE
1. Standard English:
 Formal
Formal English is usually written and is used in scholarly articles, official documents, formal
letters, and any situation calling for scrupulous propriety.
 Informal (General)
Informal or General English is the language, both written and spoken, used by the educated classes
in carrying on in their everyday businesses. It is the level used in most books, magazines,
newspapers, and ordinary business communications.
 Colloquial
Colloquial English is the language of familiar conversation among educated people. It occurs
frequently in informal writing.

Formal Informal Colloquial
comprehend understand catch on
altercation quarrel row
wrathful, irate angry mad
goad, taunt tease needle
predicament problem jam, fix
exorbitant high steep
2. Substandard English
 Dialectical
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English III - 2 -
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Words common to a particular region and not used throughout the country are part of the
dialectical body of words.
 Slang
These words are unconventional. They are vivid ways of expressing an idea which has no
standard equivalent. Those that are widely used have a good chance of being accepted as Standard
English. After all, some words that are considered as Standard now, like mob, banter, sham and
lynch belonged to the slang words before.
 Ex: stooge, lame duck, shot of whisky, a bridge shark.
Most slang words however are too violent to get accepted, and some are just a reflection of some
people’s wish to be different. They quickly lose any precise meaning. These slang words have a
poor chance of getting accepted in Standard English.
 Illiterate (or Vulgate) or Errors in Idiom
Idioms are peculiarities of language. Idioms require that some words be followed by arbitrarily
fixed prepositions.
 take in agree on angry about argue for
 take up agree with angry with argue against
 agree to angry at argue with argue about
Some idioms demand that certain words be followed by infinitives, others by gerunds.

Infinitive Gerunds
able to go capable of going
like to go enjoy going
eager to go cannot help going
hesitate to go privilege of going
Error in use of Idioms is unacceptable in Standard English.
EXACT DICTION
Choose words which say precisely what you mean. It is not enough to make sure that you can be
understood; you ought to make sure that you cannot be misunderstood.
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English III - 3 -
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1. Choose specific words rather than general terms unless there’s a good reason for being general.
General: For dinner we had some really good food.
Specific: For dinner we had steamed lobsters and grilled tilapia.
2. Make your verbs work. Choose specific verbs or verbs that signify the specific action, rather than
colorless or abstract verbs (e.g. occur, took place, prevail, exist).
Colorless verb: He beat a hasty exit.
Specific verb: He rushed from the room.
3. Do not use too explosive verbs or verbs that are too explosive for their context.
Exaggerated: Her angry words pounced out upon him.
Specific verb: She scolded him.

4. Do not use the passive voice when unnecessary because this leads to weak constructions. The passive
voice is appropriate when the doer of the action is irrelevant or unknown.
5. Avoid jargon. People who are fond of jargon use them to dress up words; they hope to sound more
“authoritative”. Certain key words betray the user fo jargon. He has an unhealthy fondness for factor,
case, basis, in terms of, in the nature of, with reference to, elements, objective, personnel.
 Jargon: adverse climatic condition
 Improved: bad weather
Jargon: Plant personnel are required to extinguish all illuminating devices before vacating
the premises.
Improved: Employees are asked to turn out all lights before leaving the plant.
6. Choose words with the exact connotation required by the context. In addition to their denotation or
exact meaning, words have a connotation or a fringe of associations and overtones which make them
appropriate in some situations but not in others.
 Denotation Connotation
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English III - 4 -
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home a place of residence suggests family life, warmth, comfort, affection
house a place of residence emphasizes physical structure
domicile a place of residence has strictly legal overtones

Inappropriate: “House, Sweet House”
 “A hat to fit every skull”
EFFECTIVE DICTION
In addition to being exact, your diction must also be effective; that is, you must make it easy and pleasant for a
reader to grasp what you are saying. Keep your diction natural and sincere, be direct and concise, use fresh,
unhackneyed phrases, and avoid needless technical language.
Pretentious Language
Do not decorate your sentences with pretentious language; doing so would make you seem insincere to
your reader. Do not think that originality is achieved by avoiding ordinary words.
Ordinary Word Strained Circumlocution
spade implement for agricultural excavation
dog faithful canine friends
codfish denizen of the deep
basketball player casaba-heaver
hit the ball smacked the horsehide
Do not also attempt to show your superiority by peppering your constructions with needless foreign words.
Needless Foreign Phrase English Equivalent
entre nous between us
joie de vivre enjoyment of life
faux pas social blunder
sub rosa secret or secretly
Sturm und Drang storm and stress
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English III - 5 -
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Trite Rhetorical Expressions
Guard against using hackneyed and stale expressions in your construction. Avoid clichés, hackneyed
quotations, literary allusions and proverbs.
 Some hackneyed expressions:
slow but sure
speculation was rife
mother nature
easier said than done
Clichéd quotations:
all is not gold that glitters
make hay while the sun shines
Technical Language
When writing something aimed at a general audience, you should avoid technical terms which are not
commonly understood, even though more words are required to say the same thing in English.
Appropriate Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a comparison, either stated or implied, between two things which are unlike except in
one particular. Figures of speech are used to give color and vividness to writing, and they should be fresh,
reasonable, consistent, and suited to the context in which they appear. When mixed, they should also not
be incongruous.
Incongruous mix: This young attorney is rapidly gaining a foothold in the public eye.
Awkward Repetitions
Do not needlessly repeat words or sounds.
Needless repetition: Probably the next problem we will tackle is the problem of rising school tuition.
Improved: The next problem we will tackle is the rising school tuition.
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English III - 6 -
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II. Vocabulary
BUILDING A BETTER VOCABULARY
Everyone—from beginning learners in English to veterans in journalism—knows the frustration of not having
the right word immediately available in that lexicon one carries between one's ears. Sometimes it's a matter of
not being able to recall the right word; sometimes we never knew it. It is also frustrating to read a newspaper or
homework assignment and run across words with meanings that elude us. Language, after all, is power. When
your children get in trouble fighting with the neighbors' children, and your neighbors call your children little
twerps and you call their children nefarious miscreants—well, the battle is over and they didn't stand a chance.
Building a vocabulary that is adequate to the needs of one's reading and self-expression has to be a personal
goal for every writer and speaker.
MAKING IT PERSONAL
Using some durable piece of paper—white construction paper or the insides of the ripped-off covers of old
notebooks—begin to write down words in small but readable script that you discover in your reading that you
can't define. Read journals and newspapers that challenge you in terms of vocabulary. Pursue words actively
and become alert to words that you simply overlooked in the past. Write down the words in one column; then,
later, when you have a dictionary at your disposal, write down a common definition of the word; in a third
column, write a brief sentence using the word, underlined.
Carry this paper or cardboard with you always. In the pauses of your busy day—when you're sitting on the bus,
in the dentist's office, during commercials—take out the paper and review your vocabulary words until you feel
comfortable that you would recognize (and be able to use) these words the next time you see them. The amazing
thing is that you will see the words again—even "nefarious miscreants," and probably sooner than you thought.
In fact, you might well discover that the words you've written down are rather common. What's happening is
not that, all of a sudden, people are using words you never saw before, but that you are now reading and using
words that you had previously ignored.
USING EVERY RESOURCE
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English III - 7 -
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Two trucks loaded with thousands of copies of
Roget's Thesaurus collided as they left a New York
publishing house last Thursday, according to the
Associated Press.
Witnesses were aghast, amazed, astonished,
astounded, bemused, benumbed, bewildered,
confounded, confused, dazed, dazzled,
disconcerted, disoriented, dumbstruck, electrified,
flabbergasted, horrified, immobilized, incredulous,
nonplussed, overwhelmed, paralyzed, perplexed,
scared, shocked, startled, stunned, stupified,
surprised, taken aback, traumatized, upset. . . .
Most bookstores carry books on building a more powerful vocabulary, some of them with zany names such as
Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary. If you've got money to spare or if they're on sale, buy them and
use them; they can't hurt. Books that group words according to what they have in common—more in meaning
than in spelling—are especially useful.
Newspapers often carry brief daily articles that explore the meanings of words and phrases. These articles often
emphasize peculiar words that won't find themselves into your working vocabulary, but they can still be fun.
Often you'll find that learning one new word leads to other new words, little constellations of meaning that keep
your brain cells active and hungry for more. Make reading these articles one of your daily habits, an addiction,
even.
Play dictionary games with your family in which someone uses the dictionary to find a neat word and writes
down the real definition and everyone else writes down a fake (and funny) definition. See how many people you
can fool with your fake definitions.
 — joke circulated on the Internet
December 2003
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English III - 8 -
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A thesaurus is like a dictionary except that it groups words within constellations of meaning. It is often useful
in discovering just the right word you need to express what you want to say. Make sure you correctly
understand the definition of a word (by using a dictionary) before using it in some important paper or report.
Your bookstore salesperson can provide plenty of examples of an inexpensive thesaurus. The online Merriam
Webster's WWWebster Dictionary has access to both an extensive dictionary and a hyperlinked thesaurus.
Links allow you to go conveniently back and forth between the dictionary and the thesaurus.
If you have a speedy computer processor and a fast hookup to the internet, we recommend the Plumb Design
Visual Thesaurus. Once the program is entirely loaded, type in a word that you would like to see "visualized,"
hit the return key, and a construct of verbal connections will float across the screen. Click on any of the words
within that construct and a new pattern of connections will emerge. Try the Visual Thesaurus with several
different kinds of words—verbs, adverbs, nouns, adjectives—and try adjusting some of the various controls on
the bottom of the window. We do not recommend this web-site for slow machines; in fact, the bigger your
monitor and the faster your computer and connection, the more satisfying this experience will be.
When people use a word that puzzles you, ask what it means! You'll find that most instructors, especially, are
not in the least bothered by such questions—in fact, they're probably pleased that you're paying such close
attention—but if they do seem bothered, write down the word and look it up later, before the context of the
word evaporates.
KNOWING THE ROOTS
At least half of the words in the English language are derived from Greek and Latin roots. Knowing these roots
helps us to grasp the meaning of words before we look them up in the dictionary. It also helps us to see how
words are often arranged in families with similar characteristics.
For instance, we know that sophomores are
students in their second year of college or high
school. What does it mean, though, to be
sophomoric? The "sopho" part of the word comes
from the same Greek root that gives us philosophy,
which we know means "love of knowledge." The
"ic" ending is sometimes added to adjectival words
in English, but the "more" part of the word comes
from the same Greek root that gives us moron.
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English III - 9 -
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Thus sophomores are people who think they know a lot but really don't know much about anything, and a
sophomoric act is typical of a "wise fool," a "smart-ass"!
Let's explore further. Going back to philosophy, we know the "sophy" part is related to knowledge and the
"phil" part is related to love (because we know that Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love and that a
philodendron loves shady spots). What, then, is philanthropy? "Phil" is still love, and "anthropy" comes from
the same Greek root that gives us anthropology, which is the study ("logy," we know, means study of any kind)
of anthropos, humankind. So a philanthropist must be someone who loves humans and does something about
it—like giving money to find a cure for cancer or to build a Writing Center for the local community college.
(And an anthropoid, while we're at it, is an animal who walks like a human being.) Learning the roots of our
language can even be fun!
Some common Greek and Latin roots:
Root (source) Meaning English words
aster, astr (G) star astronomy, astrology
audi (L) to hear audible, auditorium
bene (L) good, well benefit, benevolent
bio (G) life biology, autobiography
dic, dict (L) to speak dictionary, dictator
fer (L) to carry transfer, referral
fix (L) to fasten fix, suffix, affix
geo (G) earth geography, geology
graph (G) to write graphic, photography
jur, just (L) law jury, justice
log, logue (G) word, thought,
speech
monolog(ue), astrology, biology,
neologism
luc (L) light lucid, translucent
manu (L) hand manual, manuscript
meter, metr (G) measure metric, thermometer
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English III - 10 -
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op, oper (L) work operation, operator
path (G) feeling pathetic, sympathy, empathy
ped (G) child pediatrics, pedophile
phil (G) love philosophy, Anglophile
phys (G) body, nature physical, physics
scrib, script (L) to write scribble, manuscript
tele (G) far off telephone,television
ter, terr (L) earth territory, extraterrestrial
vac (L) empty vacant, vacuum, evacuate
verb (L) word verbal, verbose
vid, vis (L) to see video, vision, television
Authority for this chart: The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins:
New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.
LEARNING PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES
Knowing the Greek and Latin roots of several prefixes and suffixes (beginning and endings attached to words)
can also help us determine the meaning of words. Ante, for instance, means before, and if we connect bellum
with belligerant to figure out the connection with war, we'll know that antebellum refers to the period before
war. (In the United States, the antebellum period is our history before the Civil War.)
Prefixes showing quantity
Meaning Prefixes in English Words
half semiannual, hemisphere
one unicycle, monarchy, monorail
two binary, bimonthly, dilemma, dichotomy
hundred century, centimeter, hectoliter
thousand millimeter, kilometer
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English III - 11 -
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Prefixes showing negation
without, no, not asexual, anonymous, illegal, immoral, invalid, irreverent, unskilled
not, absence of,
opposing, against
nonbreakable, antacid, antipathy, contradict
opposite to,
complement to
counterclockwise, counterweight
do the opposite of,
remove, reduce
dehorn, devitalize, devalue
do the opposite of,
deprive of
disestablish, disarm
wrongly, bad misjudge, misdeed
Prefixes showing time
before antecedent, forecast, precede, prologue
after postwar
again rewrite, redundant
Prefixes showing direction or position
above, over supervise, supererogatory
across, over transport, translate
below, under infrasonic, infrastructure, subterranean, hypodermic
in front of proceed, prefix
behind recede
out of erupt, explicit, ecstasy
into injection, immerse, encourage, empower
around circumnavigate, perimeter
with coexist, colloquy, communicate, consequence, correspond, sympathy, synchronize
Authority for this table: The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins:
New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.
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English III - 12 -
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Suffixes, on the other hand, modify the meaning of a word and frequently determine its function within a
sentence. Take the noun nation, for example. With suffixes, the word becomes the adjective national, the
adverb nationally, and the verb nationalize.
See what words you can come up with that use the following suffixes.
 Typical noun suffixes are -ence, -ance, -or, -er, -ment, -list, -ism, -ship, -ency, -sion, -tion, -ness, -
hood, -dom
 Typical verb suffixes are -en, -ify, -ize, -ate
 Typical adjective suffixes are -able, -ible, -al, -tial, -tic, -ly, -ful, -ous, -tive, -less, -ish, -ulent
 The adverb suffix is -ly (although not all words that end in -ly are adverbs—like friendly)
USING YOUR DICTIONARY
The dictionary should be one of the most often used books in your home. (We'll allow room for sacred texts
here.) Place the dictionary somewhere so that you can find it immediately and use it often. If you do your
reading and homework in the kitchen and the dictionary is on a shelf in the den or bedroom, it's too tempting to
say "I'll look it up next time."
The home dictionary should be large enough to contain much more than just spellings. It should contain
extensive definitions, word origins, and notes on usage. Carrying in your purse or backpack a pocket dictionary
with more concise definitions is also a good idea. Get in the habit of turning to it often. A well worn dictionary
is a beautiful thing.
USING THE INTERNET
You can use the internet as an aid to vocabulary development by exploring the abundant opportunities for
reading available on the World Wide Web.
PRETENTIOUSNESS
An extensive vocabulary can be a powerful writing and speaking tool; it can also be misused, made to make
others feel powerless. Never use a five-dollar word where a fifty-cent word will do the job just as well or better.
Do we really need utilize when a three-letter word, use, will nicely suffice. Risible is a lovely word, but is it
worth sending your readers to the dictionary when laughable is at hand? It's a good question. On the other hand,
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College entrance exam and science high school entrance test tips. Conquer UPCAT, ACET, USTET,
DLSUCET, PSHS-NCE, and other entrance tests.
English III - 13 -
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For UPCAT, ACET, DLSUCET and USTET tips, tricks, news and other college entrance exam
information, visit the Academic-Clinic website. Tell your friends and classmates to come find and join
us. The more, the merrier. Good luck!
don't cheat yourself or your readers out of some important nuance of meaning that you've discovered in a word
that's new to you. At some point you have to assume that your readers also have dictionaries. It's sometimes a
tough line to draw—between being a pedantic, pretentious boor (Oh, there are three dandies!) and being a writer
who can take full and efficient advantage of the English language's multifarious (another one!) resources.
The effectiveness of our writing depends to a great extent upon our vocabulary. To improve your vocabulary,
please read extensively, and include the dictionary in your reading list.