This is a brief assignment focused on one of our topics for this week: Word Choice. (Ayn Rand discusses this in our textbook on pages 118-120.)

 

Here is the assignment:

 

In a debate (or, more broadly, in a discussion of someone else’s ideas) one of the most basic things you can say about your opponent’s position is that it is wrong. Imagine you are writing an article about some opposing viewpoint and you want to say, in essence, “my opponent’s position is wrong.” But you have been denouncing his ideas throughout the article and you have already used the word “wrong” six times. Furthermore, the word “wrong” doesn’t quite capture exactly what you want to say, because your opponent is wrong in so many different ways. What you need is a whole bunch of synonyms for “wrong” that capture minor differences in meaning and implication.

 

For example, you could say, “my opponent’s position goes too far.” This is a way of saying your opponent is wrong in a way that has a very specific implication: he is wrong because he extends his argument beyond its range of validity. Or you might say, “my opponent’s position is erroneous.” This has a slightly different implication: he is wrong because he has made some sort of error or mistake in his thinking.

 

The assignment is to come up with as many different synonyms for the word “wrong” as you can think of. Try to capture as many different nuances of meaning and implication as possible. Post them as a list with the following format:

 

“My opponent’s position (is) …”

– wrong

– erroneous

– goes too far

etc.

 

Each synonym does not have to be a single word, you can give a short phrase (like “goes too far”). You can also vary the grammar slightly from “my opponent’s position is X” but don’t go crazy with long convoluted constructions.

 

DUE: Sunday, 11:59 pm local time