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Bilgewater: Lexis
Task C - Description vs evaluation
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Evaluative words
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Positive
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pretty, good,
nice, nice,
delightful, lovely
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Negative
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bleak, brutal,
ridiculous
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Descriptive/evaluative words
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Positive
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soft, polite,
comfortable, human,
home, old,
cold
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Negative
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raining, wooden,
neglected, carping,
snappish, harsh,
watchful, unfriendly,
coolly, brooding,
dizzy, formidable,
cold, black,
damp, old
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You probably won't have arrived at exactly the same list as us. Deciding
whether a word is straightforwardly evaluative or a mixture of description
and evaluation is not always easy, and context can sometimes make a difference.
And you, or we (!) may have missed the odd word. However, even if your
lists are not exactly the same, we would be surprised if the overall patterns
were not.
First of all, there is a large amount of evaluative lexis. Larger than
one would expect, given the scene described. And when we take repetitions
into account (for example 'cold' occurs five times, 'old' twice and 'nice'
three times), the amount is even greater. Most of these evaluative words
(but not all - cf. 'delightful', which the Principal uses) clearly express
the candidate's view of what she encounters.
The other interesting thing about the above table is that there is a
mixture of negative and positive words. On a first reading, it may appear
that the candidate has a very negative attitude towards Cambridge and
her interviews, but actually there are more positive words than might
be expected at first sight. This is one of the factors which begins to
make us think that she may well accept the offer of a place in spite of
her negative impressions. Another factor in relation to this is where
the positive and negative terms come in the passage. There is a marked
tendency for the positive terms to be associated with the final interview
- the interview with the principal - and so most of them come towards
the end of the passage, suggesting that the candidate's attitude may be
changing as the interview day wears on.
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