Lexical Repetition
Determining the meaning of a word or phrase in a specific context is of great importance to reading comprehension. At the same time, the reader should also be reminded that one meaning is often expressed in different forms in a text. In other words, the author tends to use the technique of lexical repetition to make his/her writing coherent and colorful. Lexical repetitions fall into three types. Just have a look at the examples from Passage A, Unit 3, Book 5.
1. Simple repetition: the use of the same word to express the same meaning.
Example:
Since the course was too costly for an audience made up of just anyone, the company limited the course to people whose occupations were related to the electrical industry. (Para. 9)
“The course” is repeated in the above sentence referring to the same thing.
2. Complex repetition: the use of the derivatives or different grammatical forms of a word to express the same meaning.
Example:
Sales promotion is not restricted to stimulating demand at the consumer level. It may be used as a stimulus to magnify business people’s support as well. (Para. 4)
The word “stimulus” in the second sentence is actually something that “stimulates”. The use of different forms of a word in neighboring sentences can help avoid dullness of diction.
3. Expanded repetition: the use of synonymous words or phrases or simple paraphrase to express the same meaning.
Example:
One airline, for example, offered its passengers discount cards that could be used to purchase coats at greatly reduced prices from a well-known clothing company. (Para. 1)
The phrase “reduced prices” is synonymous to “discount cards” in the context.
While all the three types of repetition are used to achieve contextual cohesion, complex and expanded forms additionally provide diction variety. The inference of lexical repetition, therefore, is of significance to discourse analysis in our reading activities.
