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 Vocabulary Studies Part I: Lesson 5 Lecture Indirect/Direct Definitions It is very critical to maintain a large and diverse vocabulary library that you fully embrace and understand. This means that you should understand the words that you are reading or listening to, and that you should be able to correctly use the words in your own writing and oral communication. You should realize, if you have not already, that it is crucial to become familiar with the vocabulary of both yesterday and today. Many individuals are starting to forget how to use proper terminology and definitions of words due to the internet or text messaging lingo that makes up a large part of their personal communication. It is easy to forget that bloggers and other internet personalities are not bound by traditional grammar and writing rules. A lot of the words that they use cannot be found in a dictionary. There is a strong line drawn between connotative and denotative definitions. Connotative definitions are made up of the set of associations implied by a word in addition to its literal meaning. Connotative definitions can vary by culture, or even on a personal level. Take the word skinny for example. This word may have a positive connotation for a woman who has struggled with her weight for years. Saying “You look skinny” to this woman could be seen as a compliment. The word could have a negative connotation for a boy in middle school who is trying to bulk up to ward off bullies. Saying “You look skinny” to this boy could be seen as an insult. Connotative definitions are also known as indirect definitions because they are often unclear and subject to individual interpretation. Denotative definitions, on the other hand, are definitions that you can look up in a dictionary. Denotative definitions are also known as direct definitions. They are plain, simple, and uniform. Many of the things that our parents and grandparents had to learn, like using an adding machine or making the correct change in their heads are now done automatically. The Internet has made it a lot more convenient to look up words that we are unfamiliar with, to research word origins, and to explore not only the denotative definitions, but the connotative definitions as well. My mother often tells me of the times she would have to go to the library at her school, pull out a filing catalog to look up names of books, or go the reference shelf and look over encyclopedias and dictionaries to gather the information she needed for her assignments because she did not have a way to access this information once she was at home. In current times we can easily do research via our home computer. This has made things simpler and more convenient for us, but the ease with which our 1 gadgets can correct or choose our words can hinder the growth of our vocabulary library. Why take the time and effort to learn new words and the proper use of certain terms when autocorrect can do the grunt work for us? Yes, this modern technology has made life easier, but the sad thing is that we will not be able to take that dictionary or that cell phone with us to the standardized tests we have to take for college, grad school or professional workplaces. We are going to have to stretch ourselves to figure out what certain words mean when used in certain ways and in what context. We will have to know what words are proper to use in which settings or we might not stand out in the positive way to be selected for the acceptance, the job or even the scholarship. We want to be able to stand out and be noticed for being exceptional in our vocabulary. As John Dewey said “When reality is sought for at large, it is without intellectual import: at most the term carries the connotation of an agreeable emotional state.” We know this is true because many of connotation meanings are devised from our culture or community as a secondary meaning. 2