Glossary entry for "evaluative language"

Positive or negative language that judges the worth of something. It includes language to express feelings and opinions, to make judgments about aspects of people such as their behaviour, and to assess quality of objects such as literary works. Evaluations can be made explicit (for example, through the use of adjectives as in: ‘she’s a lovely girl’, ‘he’s an awful man’, or ‘how wonderful!’), however, they can be left implicit (for example, ‘he dropped the ball when he was tackled’, or ‘Mary put her arm round the child while she wept’).