ABSTRACT
The difference between abstract and concrete may have an important effect on prose style. Abstract ideas arise from the faculty of generalization and are both a product and a theme for reason; but the human mind, after thousands of years of civilization, still does not take very kindly to abstract thought. When we use abstract language without wishing to deceive, we generally have to use some concrete examples in order to make our meaning clear. It can have no parallel subdivision, for until something concrete comes into it is not figurative. At the same time, abstract nouns and ideas are often more ambiguous, because their meanings precisely because of the difficulty we all have in conceiving abstractions are liable to be different for different people. There are two different kinds of concrete language. One is straight description and the other is the very different function of being metaphorical.
