I. Connotation of degree or intensity

to surprise — to astonish — to amaze — to astound;

to satisfy — to please — to content — to gratify — to delight — to exalt;

to shout — to yell — to bellow — to roar;

to like — to admire — to love — to adore — to worship

Some words have 2 and even more connotative components in their SSW

II. Connotation of duration

to stare — to glare — to gaze — to glance — to peep — to peer

to flash (brief) — to blaze (lasting);

to shudder (brief) — to shiver (lasting);

to say (brief) — to speak, to talk (lasting)

All these synonyms have other connotations besides that of duration

III. Emotive connotation

to stare — to glare — to gaze

alone — single — lonely — solitary:

She was alone (simply the absence of company)

She was lonely (stresses the feeling of melancholy & desolation resulting from being alone)

A single tree on the plain ( there is (was) only one tree, not 2 or more)

A lonely tree on the plain (+ creates an emotionally coloured picture)

to tremble — to shiver — to shudder — to shake

↑

associated with the emotion of fear, horror or disgust, etc.

NB: Don’t confuse words with emotive connotations and words with emotive denotative meanings:

to love — to admire — to adore — to worship ← emotion is an accompanying, subsidiary characteristic

angry - furious - enraged; fear - terror - horror ← emotion is expressed by the leading semantic component

IV. Evaluative connotation (conveys the speaker's attitude towards the referent, labelling it as good or bad)

well-known — famous — notorious — celebrated

↑ ↑

negative positive

evaluative evaluative

connotation connotation

Cf.: a notorious murderer, robber, swindler, coward, lady-killer, flirt

BUT a celebrated scholar, artist, singer, man-of-letters

to produce — to create — to manufacture — to fabricate

↑ ↑

inspired & noble to produce in a

process mechanical way

(positive EC) without inspiration

or originality

(negative EC)

to sparkle - to glitter = close synonyms, but:

1) His (her) eyes sparkled with amusement, merriment, good humour, high spirits, happiness, etc. (positive emotions).

2) His (her) eyes glittered with anger, rage, hatred, malice, etc. (negative emotions)

=> when describe the expression of human eyes, they have both emotive and evaluative connotations

V. The causative connotation

to sparkle - to glitter

↑ ↑

with positive with negative ← only in the model "Eyes + Sparkle/Glitter"

emotions emotions

to shiver - to shudder

↑ ↑

with cold, with fear,. ← the cause of the act or process of trembling is

from a chill, horror, etc encoded in the SSW

because of

the frost

to blush - to redden

↑ ↑

from modesty, from anger

shame or or indignation

embarrassment