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You don't have to ask demonstrative people what they're feeling or thinking--they let you know. They're very open about it. When people's demonstrative displays of emotion become ridiculous or dramatic, you can call those behaviors h______nics.
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"DEMONSTRATIVE"
The more obvious meanings of "demonstrative" are "able to be demonstrated" and "serving to demonstrate." It also has special meanings in grammar and in rhetoric.
Here's the meaning we'll focus on: someone or something demonstrative openly expresses feelings and emotions without holding anything back.
Pronunciation:
dih MON struh tiv
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a demonstrative thing" or "a demonstrative person."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was demonstrative" or "He was demonstrative.")
Other forms:
demonstratively, demonstrativeness
How to use it:
Talk about demonstrative people and personalities, groups or cultures that seem more demonstrative than others, demonstrative animals, demonstrative words and actions and gestures, etc. You might be demonstrative with or in your affection, demonstrative with your emotions in general, demonstrative with your anger/grief/joy, etc., or be demonstrative about or on some topic.
examples:
My two-year-old is so affectionate and so demonstrative in both her joy and her frustrations.
Chloe is not exactly a demonstrative cat, so when she chooses to sit near me, I treasure the moment.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "demonstrative" means when you can explain it without saying "wearing your heart on your sleeve" or "openly revealing your feelings."
try it out:
Think of a topic that makes you feel very joyful, sad, or angry, and fill in the blank: "I tend to get demonstrative about _____." Or, "Although it affects me deeply, I don't get demonstrative about _____."
Example: "I tend to get demonstrative about the novels and poems that affect me."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
Language Techniques:
When language sounds beautiful or memorable, often there’s some particular technique responsible for that effect. Each day this month, I’ll give you a specific stylistic technique or quality, and I’d like you to recreate (as closely as you can) the quote that I’ve botched by removing it. We’ll work our way from the easiest to the hardest techniques. Enjoy!
From yesterday:
Personification is what's going on when writers give human traits or actions to nonhuman things, like when Mark Twain wrote that "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." In Henry IV, Part II, Shakespeare didn't just write "Know the grave is for thee thrice wider than for other men." What human action did he attribute to that grave, making the warning more dire and chilling?
Answer: "Know the grave doth gape for thee thrice wider than for other men." (Shudder!)
Try this one today:
Hyperbole is the use of extravagant exaggeration, like when Carl Sandburg described a slow town by saying he "spent a couple of weeks there one day." Lyndon B. Johnson didn't say, "And should we have great success in wars and in our economy, and still be unequal to this [equal rights] issue, then we will have failed." What memorable hyperbolic statement did he make instead?
review today's word:
1. The opposite of DEMONSTRATIVE is
A. FIERY
B. STOIC
C. TENSE
2. Bystanders had to _____ their increasingly demonstrative argument.
A. look away from
B. struggle to comprehend
C. notify the police about
Answers are below.
a final word:
To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. B
2. A
You don't have to ask demonstrative people what they're feeling or thinking--they let you know. They're very open about it. When people's demonstrative displays of emotion become ridiculous or dramatic, you can call those behaviors h______nics.
"DEMONSTRATIVE" The more obvious meanings of "demonstrative" are "able to be demonstrated" and "serving to demonstrate." It also has special meanings in grammar and in rhetoric. Pronunciation: Part of speech: Other forms:
My two-year-old is so affectionate and so demonstrative in both her joy and her frustrations.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "demonstrative" means when you can explain it without saying "wearing your heart on your sleeve" or "openly revealing your feelings."
Think of a topic that makes you feel very joyful, sad, or angry, and fill in the blank: "I tend to get demonstrative about _____." Or, "Although it affects me deeply, I don't get demonstrative about _____."
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of DEMONSTRATIVE is
To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
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