Reason : showing vocabulary power

Question

Dear Friends,

Newspapers are read by almost all sections of the society. It includes even children. Then why show the VOCABULARY POWER in newspaper, when the same new tough word can be replaced by its simpler synonym

Eg.

Vocabulary power : "TamilNadu received COPIOUS showers ...."
Simpler terms : "TamilNadu received plentiful/abundant showers...."

Although the former sounds well, the latter can be understood by all types of people. Isn't it?

Praveen.

Pieanne · Accepted Answer

I have no answer for you, sorry...

Maybe EVEN the children should be exposed to more elaborate words?

Bvpraveen · Answer

Pieanne, you aren't giving up!!!!

Pieanne · Answer

Never, as long as I feel/ I have something to say/I'm up to it!

Guest · Answer

Primarily newspapers are read by adults. If children read them(other than the comics)its usually for an educational purpose(such as current events).Children are taught to take the word "out of context", meaning looking at the surrounding words to figure it out. Even if they are unclear on the meaning of a word they can usually figure it out, otherwise older people are always willing to explain a word (its just natural if someone asks you the meaning of a word to instinctively answer them).The reason newspapers have large vocabulary is also the result of the people who write them. They are written almost exclusively by people with college degrees in English, therefore, they are so familiar with large amounts of words that they wouldn't think twice about using them in their articles.

mike

LanguageLover · Answer

I agree with Mike on what he said. I wanna just add this that some words are used by journalists, rather than their synonyms, when it comes to the headlines. Examples are: ban instead of forbid, prohibit: CHINA BAN US IMPORTS ; chargeWhich one implies a stronger message and raises your feelings, sympathy towards the cictims more? I am not sure if I've chosen the proper pair of words to explain this. However, my point is that when a word is used too often in a language, it looses some of its meaning( associative meaning, I think, the core sence of the word is the same, but the society assigns a different value to it). So, there is atendency to use the less frequent synonym of the word to have a good impression on on the listener or reader. For me, murder is a better choice than kill, if I want to have a deeper effect on your feelings!
I hope that I haven't done it too complicated for you to understand!
Cheers,

Bvpraveen · Answer

Dear LL and Mike,

Your explanation seems plausible.

Thanks for your participation.
Praveen.

Reason : showing vocabulary power

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