connotation:
the ‘connotation’ of a word is the feeling or judgment that goes with it. The connotation of a word can usually be classified as ‘positive,’‘negative,’ or ‘neutral.’ Words may have the same meaning but different connotations. For example ‘thin,’‘ slim,’ and ‘skinny’ all have more or less the same meaning but quite different connotations. In general, speakers of a language agree about the connotation of a word just as they generally agree about a word’s meaning. It is quite possible, however, for people who agree about the meaning of a word to disagree about its connotation. Often these differences are based on differences of personal experience.
positive connotation:
if a word has a positive connotation it is associated with a good (positive) feeling
negative connotation:
if a word has a negative connotation it is associated with a bad (negative) feeling
neutral connotation:
a word with a neutral connotation is not associated with any feeling
• vocabulary activity for ‘Jonathan Lebed’
1. instructions
• Below is a list of twenty-five words, in alphabetical order, taken from the story “Jonathan Lebed”
• Following the list is a box with three columns marked ‘Positive,’‘Negative,’ and ‘Neutral’
• Place each of the words in one of the columns according to whether it has a positive, negative or neutral connotation for you.
2. the word list
chat • contact • drug • employment • explode • extravagant • financial • fine
hire • insist • invest • investigate • manipulation • online • prediction • profit
railroad • secretary • skill • stock • suburb • supervise • suspicious • wrestling
3. the box
positive
neutral
negative