One pair of expressions that have the same denotation, but different expressive meanings are “tired” and “exhausted.” Both tired and exhausted can be defined as being in need of rest or drained of resources. While these words share the same definition, I find the word “exhausted” to have a more extreme sense of urgency than the word “tired.” When a person says that he or she “is tired,” it comes across as a natural, common feeling for a person to have. If a person is says that he or she “is exhausted” on the other hand, it implies a much more severe and almost unnatural feeling that a person is experiencing. The word “exhausted” gives the impression as if you are incapable of staying awake (when pertaining to sleep) or that you have used every last bit of recourses that you had and now have absolutely nothing left (in regard to resources). Whereas, tired may just imply that you could use some rest, (when relating to sleep) or that you are wearing thin or running low on resources.

As simple as this blog is the hardest part was deciding on the words to use, but finally I think I have my words. So a pair of expressions that have the same denotation but different expression would be ‘test’ and ‘examination’. These words both mean taking something that is meant to see your skill level in it. But when saying either word one directly thinks of academics but they are on different levels. When saying ‘test’ it could be a weekly thing happening. Or something the teacher decides to surprise one with. Possibly something one even forgets they have. While the word ‘examination’ has a stronger meaning to it rather than the positive or negative you’d expect from these words. So when saying ‘examination’ this directly reminds me of midterms, finals, regents, ap exams, and like SAT’s. Just those seriously things in life that get. to depict how your future turns out. Though now to some the words differ like, ‘test’ might not even be for school and be a drug test, or testing ones battery. it all returns to ones expression and knowledge. But in general used in similar manors.

A pair of expressions that have the same denotation, but different expressive meanings would be the words “cop” and “officer”.  This is because, although they have the same meaning, they are used differently depending on the situation, location, audience, etc. in which the speaker is using the word.  These two words have the same denotation because of the simple fact that they both refer to someone on a police force.  Despite this similarity, and the fact that they can technically be used interchangeably, they do in fact have different senses and expressive meanings.  The word “cop” is used in a more relaxed or informal way.  For example, if someone is talking to a friend they would most likely say, “A cop pulled me over today because I didn’t come to a complete stop.”  Whereas, if the speaker was talking directly to the cop, they would probably say, “Hello officer“, as opposed to, “Hello cop.”  This is due to the fact that the word “officer” is seen as more formal, proper, or respectful.

A pair of words I picked that have the same denotation, but different expressive meanings are “smile” and “smirk”. Smile automatically gives off a positive denotation. For example, if you use smile in a sentence such as, “He gave me a smile yesterday”, to smile is something we generally view as a positive action. Now, if we saw it somewhat differently from a positive action, that smile could have potentially been more than just a regular smile, it could of been a smirk. A smirk is a negative denotation. Smirk automatically gives of this evil, sneaky, villain type of description of a smile. Therefore, based off of how we might perceive it, we could of either said “He smiled at me yesterday.” (a positive action of how we saw the approach) or “He smirked at me yesterday.” (a negative action of how we saw the approach). Nobody would say he smiled at me and assume it was a negative thing without bringing in a negative adjective along with the action, for example, “He gave me an evil smile yesterday” which only then changes the whole perspective of that action and therefore it becomes negative. So instead of doing that, we can easily use the negative denotation of the word “smile” which can technically be “smirk”.

The words grandmother and grandma have the same denotation but different expressive meanings. Both grandmother and grandma mean the same but what makes their expressive meaning different is the way the words are used thus being dependent on the specific situation or expression for the pair of words to be used. For example, grandmother can be used when speaking formally to someone about their grandmother or can also be expressed as one talking to one’s grandmother. Grandmother can also describe one’s feelings about their grandmother many people do not use the word grandmother but the word grandma.  Grandma is a word that shows respect and love for their grandmother. Grandmother seems to be a word that can be used to express respect as well, but the expression is different, someone who has not met or have any specific feelings towards their grandmother can call them grandmother and they’ll never use grandma. As for grandma, the expression is used with more care and feelings towards the word, for example, the way a child expresses grandma is used with more affection compared to grandma. The most common word to call their grandmother is grandma because of the expression behind the word being used. The tone of each of these words changes due to their expressive meanings behind each word.

The pair of words that I chose that have the same denotation but different expressive meaning is “childish” and “childlike.” The words “childish” and “childlike” relate to qualities associated with a child. Using these adjectives, “childlike” is typically used in a more positive way while “childish” is not. Being childish directly correlates to when a grown up show acts of immaturity. When used in sentences, “childish” is  usually used to describe the behavior of someone. Having childish qualities as an adult is seen as an embarrassment or inappropriate. It also reflects behavior that they should outgrow. Childlike, on the other hand, can refer to having innocence. It does not mean that someone is acting like a child or inappropriately. While “childish” refers to the outside qualities of an individual, “childlike” refers to the inner qualities an individual possesses. Sometimes, the word “childlike” can be used when giving a compliment since they posses good qualities a child may have.