I want you to draw what

you imagined based on what

you heard.
A
Sam’s chicken won First Place in the contest. It
was the heaviest chicken in the Fair.

B
“What’s the matter, are you chicken?” Sam’s
friends asked him when he didn’t join the pole-
climbing contest. They didn’t know that he is
afraid of heights.
 Are you ready to show your illustrations? Show
your drawing to your seatmate.

 Does your drawing of chicken similar to your

second drawing?
When chicken refers to a bird,b irdis the denotative
meaning of it.
Denotation is the literal meaning of a word. It is the
usual dictionary definition of the word.
When chicken refers to the emotion of being afraid or
scared, the emotion is the connotative meaning of
chicken.
Connotation refers to the emotional / contextual /
cultural meaning attached to a word. It also refers to
shades and degrees of
meaning of a word.
Knowing the connotative meaning of a word can lead you to be
more tactful. It also leads you to use a more appropriate word to
narrate what is happening.
Consider this:
That boy is fat.
That boy is healthy.
Which description is preferable?

Think about the connotative meaning of the words in each set:

Set 1 - pretty, cute, lovely, beautiful
Set 2 - small, minute
Set 3 - shower, rain
The words in the set almost have the same meaning.
However, each one is used in different situations.
For example, to describe a flower, would you say a cute
flower or a lovely flower?
When do you think classes might be suspended, when
there is a shower or
when there is a deluge?
Study the following sentences:
Sentence 1: When the group members discuss, they
often disagree about
something.
Sentence 2: When the group members discuss, they
often argue about something.

What do you imagine with Sentence 1? How about

Sentence 2? The sentences
seem to mean the same. However, a closer look will
tell you that there is a
degree or shade of difference in their meaning. The
word argue in sentence 2
shows that the members more than disagree with
each other.
Remember
 Denotation – is the specific, exact and concrete
meaning
of a word. This is the meaning you will find in a
dictionary.
 Connotation- is an idea or quality that a word
makes in
addition to its meaning. It can be positive or negative.
 Connotative Meaning
hen motherly, caring
owl wise, night-person
dove gentle
shark ruthless
snake dangerous, deceptive
Choose the word that best fits the sentence.

Home, house 1. A ____________ is where a family lives happily and

harmoniously.
Hungry, starving 2. Rene spent the whole day playing basketball with his
friends. When he arrived home he was ________ to
death.
Old, antique 3. Her ___________ collection of bottles must be worth a
fortune.
Small, minute 4. It has been found out that particles that are so
_________, we can’t see by our bare eyes, can cause
allergies.
Thrifty, miser 5. Rex spend wisely and saves his allowance. However, if
there is someone in need, Rex helps that person. He is
a __________ person.