{"id":2712,"date":"2016-01-25T11:17:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T19:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:44:23","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:44:23","slug":"sentence-shift-for-esl-students-part-2-shifts-in-connotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/sentence-shift-for-esl-students-part-2-shifts-in-connotation\/","title":{"rendered":"Sentence Shift for ESL Students, Part 2: Shifts in Connotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Understanding English sentence shift<\/em> is helpful on the TOEFL, and absolutely essential on the GRE.\u00a0 In an earlier post, I introduced you to the basics of this important concept.<\/a><\/p>\n

To review, shift<\/em> refers to a change in the meaning or connotation<\/a> between the beginning and end of a sentence. Shift sentences are used when the writer wants to contrast two different ideas or demonstrate a change in situations.<\/p>\n

For shift to be possible in a sentence, the sentence generally needs to have two or more clauses<\/a>. A very simple sentence with just one clause doesn\u2019t have much room for a complete reversal in tone. Shifts are also usually marked by certain signal words<\/em>, words and phrases that indicate a sentence is about to shift from one idea to an opposing idea. Over on the Magoosh GRE blog, Chris Lele lists shift signal words<\/a> that are common in academic English.<\/p>\n

There are two basic ways that a sentence can shift. It can shift in connotation<\/em>. In this case, the shift changes the emotion or idea behind the meaning of the language, even though the dictionary meanings of the words are similar throughout the sentence. Sentence shift can also involve a change in actual word meanings. We\u2019ll focus on shifts in meaning next time; for now this post will go over shift in connotation.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s take a closer look at how connotation works<\/a>. It\u2019s not uncommon for a pair of English words to have almost identical definitions, but have a much different tone. In this way, similar words can inspire very different emotions. For example, “slender” and “scrawny” have almost the same meaning\u2014they refer to someone who is thin. But “slender” has a connotation of beauty, while “scrawny” has a negative connotation. A scrawny person would be thin in an ugly<\/em> way.<\/p>\n

Below is an example of a sentence with where the connotation shifts (using \u201cslender\u201d and \u201cscrawny\u201d):<\/p>\n