Development by Definition and a Combination of Methods

Development by Definition

• When we write something, sometimes, we have to define a word, a term or concept which is unfamiliar to most readers or may have many different explanations to avoid confusion or misunderstanding.

Generally speaking, there are three basic ways to define a word or a

term

• To give a synonym

• To use a sentence (often with an attributive clause)

• To write a paragraph or even an essay

1 To give a synonym

Examples: An erase is a rubber.

To mend means to repair. A fellow is a man or a boy.

2 To use a sentence

• Examples:

• 1)Ink is a color water which we use for writing.

• 2) Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and how it influence behavior.

• 3)A sadist is a person who gets pleasure from hurting others.

3 To write a paragraph

• Look at the example on page 106.

• The analysis:

• In this paragraph, “a liberated woman” is defined in many aspects, such as her work, the controlling of her life, her marriage status, her age and the principles of her action.

Some principles we should observe when we give a definition

• A We should avoid circular definition.• What does “ circular definition’ mean? It

means to define a word or a term in terms of themselves. When we use circular definition, our understanding of the word can not be improved at all.

• Examples:• 1) Biochemistry is the study of biochemistry.• 2) Democracy is the democratic process.

B We should avoid long list of synonyms if the term to be defined

is an abstract one.(Page106)

C We should avoid loaded definitions.

“ Loaded” means having more meaning than you realize at first and intended to make you think in a particular way.(Page106)

Development by a Combination of Methods

• How many methods have we learnt to develop a paragraph?

• we have learnt up to nine methods. They are to develop by time, by process, by space, by examples and generalization, by comparison and contrast, by cause and effect, by classification and by definition.

• Sometimes, only one of them is used in a paragraph, but often two or more are used in the same paragraph.

• Americans use the verb “ to starve” in the literal sense of “to die of hunger” and in an exaggerated sense meaning simply “to be very hungry”. Most British people also use the word this way. In Yorkshire, however, people use the verb “to starve” to mean “to die of cold”. A Yorkshire is a thus very puzzled when someone asking directions to a restaurant says “I am starving”. For several centuries after the Germanic language split into Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English, Dutch and German, the Germanic word which had carried a general meaning “to die” kept that meaning in each of the derived language. In modern German , “ sterben ” still means simply “to die”. In southern England ,however, the meaning of the word became more specific. Perhaps death from hunger was so common that a specific word was needed to talk about it. The meaning of the word also became more specific in the northern part of England, in Yorkshire, a farming area where death from cold may have been more common than death from hunger. Whatever the reasons for the change of meaning, the verb “to starve” has a curious history.

• Questions:• 1 How many methods are used in this

paragraph? What are they?• (3. Development by time ,by

classification, by cause and effect.)• 2 Find out the expressions which

indicates the development by classification, by time and by cause and effect.

• Answers:• 1) By classification: Classification by space is

used in this paragraph. Expressions are: Americans, in Southern England, in the northern part of England, in Yorkshire.

• 2) By time. Expressions are :For several centuries after, in modern German.

• 3) By cause and effect. Expressions are :Perhaps death from hunger was so common that a specific word was needed to talk about it.

• By Sophie of class 1