Using Appropriate Language

LANGUAGE USE

Cliché—an overused expression that no longer communicates eff ectively.

It is better to come up with new, fresh expressions than used overused ones

Examples Calm before the storm Dead as a doornail Easy as Pie Green-eyed monster Jack of all trades Kill two birds with one stone Law of the land The road to hell is paved with good intentions Slept like a log Hindsight is 20/20

CLICHÉS: AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Off ensive Language—language that could potentially offend readersShould not be in formal academic writing or business writing Avoid all profanity and vulgarity This will help you come across professionally to your audience (build credibility)

Profanity and vulgarity can be appropriate in more creative forms of writing, depending on the audience and purpose.

OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

Profanity and vulgarity can be appropriate in more creative forms of writing, depending on the audience and purpose.

OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE

Standard English—the generally accepted language of people in academic, the business world, and other contexts where correct usage is expected. It is standard because it conforms to established rules of grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling.

People are often judged based on how well their writing conforms to this standard.

STANDARD ENGLISH

The level of formality reflects the writer’s tone, his/her attitude toward his/her subject and audience. The tone may be highly formal, very informal, or somewhat in between.

FORMALITY

Less Formal More Formal

Journaling Email to a family member

Essay for a class

Graduate thesis

Texting

Informal writing—uses words and sentence constructions close to speech (like slang, colloquialisms, religionisms) and vague word choice. Uses first and second person, contractions, sentence fragments, and simple word choice.

It should not be used in academic writing.

FORMALITY

Formal writing— scholarly and sophisticated, uses technical words, complex sentence structures, and often third person. Not reflective of speech.Hint: You’ll want to know the difference between formal and informal writing.

FORMALITY

Sometimes, words mean exactly what we think, and sometimes they carry baggage that can affect the our interpretation of them.Denotation—the dictionary definition of a word (You can remember it because both denotation and dictionary begin with d).

CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION

Connotation—the implied meaning that is associated with a word. It conveys an attitude or emotional overtones (positive or negative) beyond the literal definition . Do the words below have

positive or negative meanings?• Group 1: Thin, slim, lanky,

slender, gaunt, skinny• Group 2: Shrewd, bright, clever,

brilliant, cunning, smart, intelligent, brainy

CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION

Biased Language—This is language that can potentially offend certain groups of people based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, political interest, or race

Often occurs with gender (sexist language)

WHAT IS BIASED LANGUAGE?

Many of the modern masculine terms in use today originated as gender neutral terms in Old English

More awareness of social eff ects of this language use in the 20 t h century

Advocates of non-sexist language, including many feminists, argue that tradit ional language fai ls to refl ect the presence of women in society adequately: Over-use of gender-specific pronouns like "he" Use of "man" to refer to all people Over-use of gender-specific job titles Use of Miss and Mrs. non-parallel usage, such as "man and wife" Stereotypical words such as virile and ladylike

Advocates of non-sexist language say that sexist language: It marginalizes women and create the impression of a male-dominated society It’s patronizing, for example treating women only as marriage material It perpetuates stereotypes about the "correct" way for a man or woman to

behave

SEXIST LANGAUGE

Generic Use—Although MAN in its original sense carried the dual meaning of adult human and adult male, its meaning has come to be so closely identifi ed with adult male that the generic use of MAN and other words with masculine markers should be avoided. Original: mankind Alternatives: humanity, people, human beings

Original: man's achievements Alternative: human achievements

Original: man-made Alternatives: synthetic, manufactured, machine-made

Original: the common man Alternatives: the average person, ordinary people

Original: nine man-hours Alternative: nine staff-hours

BIASED LANGUAGE EXAMPLES

Occupations—Avoid the use of MAN in occupat ional terms when persons hold ing the job could be e i ther male or female.

Original: businessman Alternatives: business executive, business person

Original: fi reman Alternative: fi refi ghter

Original: mailman Alternative: mail carrier

Original: chairman Alternatives: coordinator (of a committee or department), moderator (of a

meeting), presiding offi cer, the head of the committee

Original: policeman and policewoman Alternative: police offi cer

Original: congressman Alternative: congressional representative

BIASED LANGUAGE EXAMPLES (CONT.)

These examples were taken from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/608/05/

Biased language can alienate potential readers. If you alienate your readers, you lose credibility. Without their faith in your words, you have lost your audience and cannot effectively convey your message.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH BIASED LANGUAGE?