把看到的、聽到的弄大
這是核心畫面最直接的一支：東西不動，改變的是它進到感官裡的大小。句子裡通常會出現工具——鏡片、顯微鏡、螢幕、喇叭。
verb · B2
To make something look bigger or sound louder than it really is, usually by using a lens, a microscope, a screen, or a sound system.
放大
核心畫面
Hold a lens over a leaf. The leaf does not change at all, but in the circle of glass it fills your whole view. Magnify can be thought of as that move: something is made to take up more room than it did. Sometimes the extra room is in your eye or ear, through glass or speakers. Sometimes it is in the telling, when a report or a worry makes a small thing . Sometimes the thing really does grow, when one more cause piles onto a bad situation. And in older English, the room given is respect — to magnify someone is to speak of them as large.
拿一片放大鏡蓋在葉子上。葉子一點也沒變，可是在那個圓圈裡，它塞滿了你整個視野。magnify 可以想成就是這個動作：…更多收起
拿一片放大鏡蓋在葉子上。葉子一點也沒變，可是在那個圓圈裡，它塞滿了你整個視野。magnify 可以想成就是這個動作：讓某個東西佔掉比原本更多的空間。有時候多出來的空間在你的眼睛和耳朵裡，靠鏡片或喇叭。有時候在「說法」裡，一份報告或一個擔心，就能讓小事顯得很大。有時候是東西真的變大了，又一個原因壓上來，麻煩就長大。而在比較老的英文裡，多給的是敬意——把某個人 magnify，就是把他講得很大。From the word’s history
The source entry traces magnify through Middle English magnifien and Middle French magnifier to Latin magnificare, from magnificus — the family of magnus, 'great'. The word has therefore carried 'make great' from the start, which is why one verb can cover a lens, an overstatement, a worsening problem and an act of praise.
來源資料把 magnify 追到中古英文 magnifien、中古法文 magnifier，再到拉丁文 magnificare，源頭是 magnificus，屬於 magnus（大）這一家。也就是說，「把它弄大」從一開始就寫在這個字裡。這正好解釋了為什麼同一個動詞可以同時管鏡片、誇大、惡化和頌讚。
Wiktionary etymology supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1055178366:22694)
Three branches
把「分量」弄大
這一支把鏡片從眼睛前面移走，改放到「事情的分量」上。同樣是佔掉更多空間，只是這次佔的是注意力和嚴重性。分成兩格看最清楚：一格是只有說法變大，一格是事情真的變大。
verb · B2
To talk, write, or think about something in a way that makes it seem more important, more serious, or bigger than it really is.
誇大
把人講得很大：頌讚
同一個「弄大」的動作，對象換成一個人。差別在態度：這裡不是把小的說成大的，而是承認對方本來就大，然後用話把那個大說出來。這是這個字在英文裡很早期的用法。
verb · C2
To praise someone or something very highly, especially God; to speak of them as great.
頌讚；稱頌