Four%20Elements%20of%20Style:%20Diction%20Syntax%20Tone%20Point%20of%20View

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Four Elements of StyleDictionSyntaxTonePoint
of View

• Mrs. Stacey Reaves
• Wilson Hall
• Sumter, SC
• sreaves_at_ftc-i.net

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Diction Word Choice

• The difference between the right word and almost
  the right word is like the difference between
  lightning and the lightning bug. Mark Twain

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Diction Word Choice

• A study of diction is the analysis of how a
  writer uses language for a distinct purpose and
  effect, including WORD CHOICE and FIGURES OF
  SPEECH.

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Ways to Characterize Diction

• Formal
• (academic or literary writing)
• Germ
• Relatives
• Position
• Child
• Superior
• Communicate

• Informal
• (personal writing)
• Bug
• Folks
• Job
• Kid
• Boss
• Get across

Ex. He is two fries short of a Happy Meal.
(slanghighly informal) Hes crazy.
(informal) Hes schizophrenic or insane.
(formal)
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Examples

• The respite from study was devoted to a sojourn
  at the ancestral mansion. (formal and artificial)
• I spent my vacation at the house of my
  grandparents. (informal and natural)
• I endeavored to peruse the volume. (formal and
  artificial)
• I tried to read the book. (informal and natural)

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Take it another step

• Colloquialconversational language
• Dialect-is there dialect?
• Slanghighly informal and not appropriate for
  most writing
• Jargonthe special language of a profession or
  group (lawyer or teacher talk, medical
  terminology, technical words) that is usually
  formal

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Ways to Characterize Diction

• General
• Look
• Walk
• Sit
• Cry
• Throw
• Dog
• Boy

• Specific
• Gaze, stare, peer, ogle
• Stride, slink, trot, shuffle
• Slump, squat. Lounge
• Weep, sob, bawl
• Hurl, pitch, toss, flip
• Black Labrador retriever
• Tall lanky boy

Ex. The dishes fell to the floor with a loud
noise (crashed or clattered). He walked
along slowly (ambled, sauntered). He
looked at her in an angry way (glowered, glared).
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Ways to Characterize Diction

• Monosyllabic (Anglo-Saxon-think of the Germans
  who brought us the English language-kill and
  grunt story-curse words)-one syllable
• Polysyllabic (Latinate/Greek-think of Renaissance
  and beautiful words and adjectives)-many
  syllables
• The more polysyllabic words, the more difficult
  the text

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Ways to Characterize Diction

• Denotative
• (Referential-dictionary)
• Public servant
• Financier
• Law Officer
• Legislative consultant
• Investigator
• Soldier of fortune

• Connotative
• (Emotive-emotional)
• Bureaucrat
• Speculator
• Cop
• Lobbyist
• Spy
• Hired kill

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Ways to Characterize Diction

• Euphonious (Pleasant Sounding)
• Through the drizzling rain on the steamy street
  breaks the morning sun
• Liquid infection
• Tinkle
• Butterfly

• Cacophonous
• (Harsh Sounding)
• their loud songs bang and grate nerves of the
  wretched listeners
• Pus
• Pee
• Maggot

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Ways to Characterize Diction

• Abstract
• Not material
• Representing a thought
• Pleasant tasting

• Concrete
• Real, actual
• Specific, not general
• Sour tasting

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Diction Review

• Are the words monosyllabic or polysyllabic?
• Is the diction formal or informal? Which one?
  Colloquial (conversational)? Slang (highly
  informal)? Jargon (the special language of a
  certain group or profession)?
• Is the language concrete or abstract?
• Is there a change in the level of diction in the
  passage?

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Figures of Speech

• Does the passage use unusual images or patterns
  of imagery?
• Does the author create analogies, like similes or
  metaphors?
• Does the author use personification?
• Is there deliberate hyperbole or understatement
  in the passage?
• Does the author employ paradox or oxymoron to add
  complexity?
• What part do rhythm and sound devices, such as
  alliteration or onomatopoeia, play in the
  passage?
• What purpose do the figures of speech serve, and
  what effect do they have on the passage?

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Activity Use a Diction Style Chart to analyze
The Rattler and one of your papers.
General Words Specific Words Formal Words Informal Words Euphonic Words Cacophonic Words Figura tive Lang. Other Notes


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Syntax Sentence Structure

• Examine sentence patterns and variety for an
  effect.
• Function What is the function of the sentence?
• Declarative (statement)
• Interrogative (question)
• Imperative (command)
• Exclamatory (exclamation)

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Simple Compound Complex Compound-Complex

• Grammatical Which type is the sentence?
• Simple Sentence (one subject, one verb)
• The singer bowed her head to her adoring
  audience.
• Compound Sentence (two independent clauses joined
  by a conjunction or a semicolon)
• The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang
  no encores.
• Go and speak.

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Simple Compound Complex Compound-Complex

• Complex Sentence (one independent, one or more
  subordinate clauses)
• When I heard the concert, I enjoyed it because
  she sang beautifully.
• When I really understand grammar and when I
  actually put it to use, my grades in English will
  improve. (two dependent clauses, one independent
  clause)
• Compound-Complex (two or more independent and one
  or more subordinate clauses)
• The singer bowed while the audience applauded,
  but she sang no encores.
• Where you go I will go, and where you dwell
  I will dwell.

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Loose Periodic Balanced

• Loose-main idea stated at the beginning of the
  sentence followed by additional information. The
  sentence makes complete sense if brought to a
  close before the actual ending,
• We reached Columbia/ that morning/ after a
  turbulent flight.
• He resigned after denouncing his accusers and
  asserting his own innocence time and time again.
• Periodic-main idea withheld until the end of the
  sentence. It makes sense only when the end of
  the sentence is reached,
• That morning after a turbulent flight, we reached
  Columbia.
• After denouncing his accusers and asserting his
  own innocence time and time again, the State
  Department official resigned.
• Balanced/Parallel-the phrases or clauses balance
  each other in likeness or structure, meaning,
  and/or length,
• He maketh me to lie down in green pastures he
  leadeth me beside the still waters.
• To err is human, to forgive is divine.
• Together we planned the house, together we built
  it, and together we watched it go up in smoke.
• He was walking, running, and jumping

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Sentence PatternsNatural, Inverted, Split Order

• Natural Order-the subject comes first followed by
  the predicate.
• Oranges grow in California.
• Inverted Order (Sentence Inversions)-the
  predicate comes before the subject.
• In California grow oranges.
• Split Order- the predicate is divided into two
  parts with the subject coming in the middle.
• In California oranges grow.
• (Syntax)

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Syntax Continued

• Juxtaposition-a poetic and rhetorical device in
  which normally unassociated ideas, words, or
  phrases are placed next to one another, creating
  an effect of surprise
• The apparition of those faces in the crowd
  Petals on a wet, black bough
• Repetition- a device in which words sounds, and
  ideas are used more than once for the purpose of
  enhancing the rhythm and creating emphasis.
• government of the people, by the people, for the
  people
• Rhetorical Question-a question which expects no
  answer used to draw attention to a point and is
  usually stronger than a direct statement.
• If Chase is always right, as you have said, why
  did he fail the writing exam?

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Syntax Review

• Are the sentences simple and direct or complex
  and convoluted?
• Are the sentences Loose/Cumulative (main idea at
  the beginning) or Periodic (main idea withheld
  until end of sentence)?
• Are there rhetorical questions in the passage?
• Is there variety in the sentence patterns?
• Does the author use repetition (words, sounds,
  ideas more than once for effect)?
• Does the author use parallel structure
  (similarity in words or phrases)?
• Does the author use antithesis (contrasting
  images presented with a balanced word or phrase)?
• Does the author use juxtaposition (unrelated
  ideas, words, phrases placed together for
  emphasis or surprise)?

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Tone

• The manner of expression showing the authors
  attitude toward characters, events,or situations.
• Tone is reflected in the authors voice.

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Words to Describe Tone

• Pedantic
• Euphemistic
• Pretentious
• Sensuous
• Exact
• Cultured
• Plain
• Literal
• Colloquial
• Artificial
• Detached

• Poetic
• Moralistic
• Slang
• Idiomatic
• Esoteric
• Symbolic
• Simple
• Complex
• Figurative

• Vulgar
• Scholarly
• Insipid
• Precise
• Learned
• Picturesque
• Trite
• Obscure
• Bombastic
• Grotesque

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Tone passage from Ruth McKennys A Loud Sneer
for Our Feathered Friends

• We refused to get out of the bed when the bugle
  blew in the morning, we fought against scrubbing
  our teeth in public to music, we sneered when the
  flag was ceremoniously lowered at sunset, we
  avoided doing a good deed a day, we complained
  loudly about the foodand we bought some chalk
  and wrote all over the Recreation Cabin, We hate
  Camp Hiwah.
• How does the author establish the negative
  attitude the campers have toward Camp Hiwah?
• Does sentence structure also contribute to tone?

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Tone Passage from James Ramsey Ullmans
Kilimanjaro

• It has been called the House of God. It has been
  called the High One. The Cold One. The White One.
  On close acquaintance by climbers, it has been
  called a variety of names rather less printable.
  But to the world at large it is Kilimanjaro, the
  apex of Africa and one of the great mountains on
  the earth.
• What is the authors attitude toward Kilimanjaro?
• How does the sentence structure help establish
  this tone?

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Tone Review

• What seems to be the speakers attitude in the
  passage?
• Is more than one attitude or point of view
  expressed?
• Does the passage have a noticeable emotional mood
  or atmosphere?
• What effect does tone have on the reader?

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Point of View

• First Person
• Narrator uses first person pronouns (I, my, mine,
  we, our, us, etc.
• Access to the narrators consciousness
• Story is told through the eyes of main character
  (protagonist), minor character, or outside
  observer
• Narrator is reliable when observer is used, but
  may not be reliable when told by a character.
  The narrator may be naïve or biased

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Point of View

• Third Person Omniscient (all knowing)
• Third person pronouns (he, she) mostly
• Access to consciousness of more than one
  character, perhaps all
• Story seen through eyes of an outside observer
• Reliable as implied authors voice

• Third Person Limited Omniscient
• Third person pronouns (he, she) mostly
• Access to consciousness of one character
• Story seen through eyes of an outside observer,
  protagonist, or minor character whose presence
  dominates
• Reliable when observer is used, less reliable
  when character used or when narrator intrudes or
  comments

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Point of View

• Stream of Consciousness
• First or third person
• Unbroken flow of perceptions, thoughts, and
  feelings
• Narrator records in detail what passes through a
  characters mind

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List of Rhetorical Terms

• Paradox
• Oxymoron
• Pun
• Irony
• Antithesis
• Apostrophe
• Allusion
• Symbolism
• Synecdoche
• Metonymy
• Zeugma

• Anaphora
• Asyndeton
• Cacophony
• Chiasmus
• Epistrophe
• Euphemism
• Juxtaposition
• Parallelism
• Polysyndeton
• Repetition
• Rhetorical Question

• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Consonance
• Simile/ Metaphor
• Conceit
• Imagery
• Personification
• Onomatopoeia
• Hyperbole
• Understatement

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Activity Read The Rattler. (p. 103
notebook)Analyze elements such as diction,
syntax, point of view, and tone.