Word: dictional
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...American” in the current department name, but the language. This may appear insignificant, but there are larger principles at stake here. Without precision, language loses its meaning. In his famous essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell commented that a lack of carefully chosen diction and imagery marked the fundamental problem with modern writing. By finding a name that more accurately represents its function, Harvard’s English department places itself at the forefront of the battle against careless usage. In addition, as E.B. White noted in The Elements of Style, “Vigorous writing...
...characteristics that define Hartwig’s writing would hardly be considered noteworthy. But it would be an injustice to allow Hartwig to fade into the woodwork as just another “classically beautiful” poet. Within her seemingly standard framework, Hartwig’s precise diction and conceptual views of the world shatter the “classically beautiful” mold, leaving behind poems that startle and unnerve even as they evoke gorgeous images.In “A Mistake,” Hartwig draws upon such broad themes as unrequited dreams while describing a painter?...
...term seems to achieve such an effect from a combination of two characteristics: first, by indicating that the well-being of the domineering “land” takes precedence over that of its people, and second, by the choice of Germanic word-collision over more harmonious Latinate diction such as “domestic.” And the effect does not seem to have diminished in the six years since Noonan’s column. For the listener able to ignore the term’s ubiquity, “Homeland Security” retains its sinister...
...diction, the accents, the body language, the facial expressions, even the way the characters walk—it all reflects every detail of some stereotype or another, some character who is a caricature of him- or herself. At the drop of a hat Sun is a slouchy, mouthing-off teenager named Jerome, and one second later she is meek, investment-banker-turned-educator Ms. Tam, trying vainly to convince Jerome to come to a 41-minute class less than 20 minutes late...
...we’re trying to teach our readers to understand our ideas,” said Marlon D. Kuzmick, the editor of this year’s “Exposé.” In order to make writing more accessible, Pinker suggested using concrete, plodding diction. “Something to improve upon in my own writing is definitely the clarity— don’t assume that the reader is on the same terms,” said Joshua E. Martin ’11, who attended the talk. Pinker was introduced by Interim Director...