James Baquet

    Roberto and Keesha meet in the common room of their dorm.

    Roberto: Hi, Keesha. Got a minute?

    Keesha: For you? Always! What can I do for you?

    Roberto: Well, I bought a new dictionary, and a lot of the words have labels on them, but I'm not sure what the labels mean.

    Keesha: Let me see. (She turns to the key to the labels in the front of the book.) Oh, I see. These are usage notes.

    Roberto: What’s usage? Is that like grammar?

    Keesha: Sort of. Grammar is based on rules, telling you how to figure out the proper way to say things.

    Roberto: Yeah?

    Keesha: But usage is “how we use particular words,” sort of on a word-by-word basis.

    Roberto: I think I get it. So, the labels?

    Keesha: Oh, yeah. These tell you something about the nuances or the connotations of the words.

    Roberto: Conno — huh?

    Keesha: Look, just because you know what a word means — its denotation — that doesn’t mean you know how it feels. That’s connotation.

    Roberto: I think I need an example.

    Keesha: No problem. Look at these first two labels, “approving” and “disapproving.” If you use an approving word, it means you think something is good, but a disapproving word is bad.

    Roberto: Like “beautiful” is approving and “ugly” is not, right?

    Keesha: Right, but that’s too easy. Let me flip through and find... ah! Here’s one: is “stuff” approving or disapproving?

    Roberto: Well, neither, right?

    Keesha: Usually. But the entry in the dictionary says “sometimes disapproving.” Can you think of an example?

    Roberto: How about, “Get your stuff off my chair?”

    Keesha: Good! It implies that the other person’s things are unimportant.

    Roberto: Got it.

    Keesha: OK, here’s another one: discriminating.

    Roberto: Oh, that’s a bad word. It means treating someone unfairly.

    Keesha: Yeah, but the dictionary says “sometimes approving.”

    Roberto: How is that possible?

    Keesha: Well, when we say someone has “discriminating taste in wine,” it means he can tell a good wine from a bad wine.

    Roberto: Oh, and that’s a good skill, so saying that shows approval.

    Keesha: That’s right. OK, one more, a toughie: naive.

    Roberto: Ooo, that IS hard. I’ll say ... disapproving?

    Keesha: Sometimes! If you mean “lacking experience,” or maybe “foolish,” then you would use it disapprovingly. But if you mean “innocent” or “simple,” it can be good.

    Roberto: Wow! Those labels can really help me use words correctly!

    Keesha: That’s the idea. Want to look at some others?

    Roberto: Maybe later. Right now I need to use my new dictionary to study.

    Keesha: Good idea! Talk to you later.

    Roberto: Bye!