Hit the nail on the head
Alan Warner
Have you ever watched a clumsy man hammering a nail into a box? He hits it first to one side, then to another, perhaps knocking it over completely, so that in the end he only gets half of it into the wood. A skillful carpenter, on the other hand, will drive the nail with a few firm, deft blows, hitting it each time squarely on the head. So with language; the good craftsman will choo words that drive home his point firmly and exactly. A word that is more or less right, a loo phra, an ambiguous expression, a vague adjective, will not satisfy a writer who aims at clean English. He will try always to get the word that is completely right for his purpo.
The French have an apt phra for this. They speak of “le mot juste,” (the exact word) the word that is just right. Stories are told of scrupulous writers, like Flaubert, who spent days trying to get one or two ntences exactly right. Words are many and various; they are subtle and delicate in their different shades of meaning, and it is not easy to find the ones th
at express precily what we want to say. It is not only a matter of having a good command of language and a fairly wide vocabulary; it is also necessary to think hard and to obrve accurately. Choosing words is part of the process of realization, of defining our thoughts and feelings for ourlves, as well as for tho who hear or read our words. Someone once remarked: “How can I know what I think till I e what I say?” this sounds stupid, but there is a great deal of truth in it.
It is hard work choosing the right words, but we shall be rewarded by the satisfaction that finding them brings. The exact u of language gives us mastery over the material we are dealing with. Perhaps you have been asked “What sort of a man is so-and-so?” You begin: “Oh, I think he’s quite a nice chap but he’s rather…” and then you hesitate trying to find a word or phra to express what it is about him that you don’t like, that constitutes his limitation. When you find the right phra you feel that your conception of the man is clearer and sharper.
In certain primitive tribes it was thought dangerous to reveal your name to a stranger. It
might give him power over you. Even in modern civilized society you find yourlf at a slight social disadvantage if someone knows your name but you don’t know his. Command of words is ultimately command over life and experience.
赵炅 Some English words have a common root but are ud in very different ns. Consider human and humane视觉残留窗花的由来, for example. Their origin is the same and their meanings are related, but their usage is distinct. A human action is not the same thing as a humane action. We cannot speak of a Declaration of Humane Rights. --- There is a weapon called a humane killer, but it is not a human killer.
举止言谈
We don’t have to look far afield to find evidence of bad carpentry in language. A student, replying to an invitation to dinner, finished his letter: “I shall be delighted to come and I am looking forward to the day with anxiety.” Anxiety carries with it suggestions of worry and fear. What the writer meant was possibly eagerness. Anxiety has some kinship with eagerness but it will not do as a substitute in this context.
The leader of a political party in Uganda wrote a letter to the Press which contained thi
s ntence:
Let us all fight this lfishness, opportunism, cowardice and ignorance now rife in Uganda and put in their place truth, manliness, consistency and singularity of mind.
This stirring appeal is spoilt by a malapropism in the last phra, the word singularity. What the writer meant, I think, was singleness of mind, holding steadfastly to the purpo in mind, without being drawn aside by less worthy objects. Singularity means oddity or peculiarity, something that singles a man out from other men.
Without being a malapropism, a word may still fail to be the right word for the writer’s purpo, the “mot juste”. A journalist, writing a leader about Christmas, introduced a quotation from Dickens by saying:
随笔800字高中All that was ever thought or written about Christmas is imprisoned in this ntence….
Imprisonment罗曼罗兰名言 suggests force, coercion, as if the meaning were held against its will. It would be better to write contained or summed up. Epitomized might do, though it is rather
a clumsy-sounding word. Searching a little farther for the “mot juste” we might hit on the word distilled. This has more force than contained or summed up怎么评课. Distillation suggests esnce and we might further improve the ntence by adding this word at the beginning:
The esnce of all that was ever thought or written about Christmas is distilled in this ntence.
描写牧童的古诗
English has a wide vocabulary and it is a very flexible language. There are many different ways of making a statement. But words that are very similar in meaning have fine shades of difference, and a student needs to be alive to the differences. By using his dictionary, and above all by reading, a student can increa his nsitivity to the shades of difference and improve his ability to express his own meanings exactly.
