Page 5 Emotional Language
Completion requirements
Emotional Language
Emotional Language
The Power of Words
Bias by Word Choice is a significant element of persuasion. Emotional language can affect a reader’s judgment.
Denotation refers to the literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
Examples:
The emotional experiences that you associate with certain words may cause you to regard them as positive or negative. Such emotional meanings are called connotations.
Denotation refers to the literal or dictionary meaning of a word.
Examples:
- In a dictionary, "stingy" denotes "unwillingness to share", or "insufficient in amount".
- The denotative meaning
of "grandmother" is "the mother of a person's mother or father".
The emotional experiences that you associate with certain words may cause you to regard them as positive or negative. Such emotional meanings are called connotations.
"Stingy" might conjure images of an old miser such as Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
"Grandmother" might remind someone of a plump, kindly woman who makes oatmeal cookies.
These cultural connotations are widely held because of common beliefs and values spread through literature, media, or institutions such as family and school.
| Word | Denotation | Connotation |
| Mom | a woman who has given birth |
nurturing, compassionate, loving, supporting |
| Freedom | exemption; deliverance from something negative such as jail or bondage; the power to order one's actions or to choose between alternative actions | individuality, authority, nationalism, permission |
| Home | dwelling place | a place of comfort and privacy |
| Politician | one who participates (or wants to) in the government |
an insincere, wicked person |
Positive Connotation | Neutral Connotation | Negative Connotation |
interested | questioning | nosy |
employ | use | exploit |
thrifty | saving | stingy |
steadfast | tenacious | stubborn |
sated | filled | crammed |
courageous | confident | conceited |
unique | different | peculiar |
meticulous | selective | picky |
vintage | old | decrepit |
elated | happy | manic |
The word choices in a persuasive piece influence the audience’s opinion.
When writing a persuasive essay, use a polite and business-like tone.
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Read "Death in the Square" by Calgary mayor, Naheed Nenshi, on page 48 of the Language Arts 9 Anthology. Examine the article for persuasive word choices and bias of information. After you have read this essay, go to the interactive website here to compare this essay with other possible interpretations of the events in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Identify as many types of bias as possible from both sets of positions. |
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Self-Assessment Click here to practice identifying bias. |