Four Elements of Style:Diction, Syntax, Tone, Point of View

Diction: Word Choice

“The difference between the right word and almost right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” – Mark Twain

• 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.

Ways to Characterize Diction

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

Formal (academic or literary writing):• Germ• Relatives• Position• Child• Superior• C0mmunicate

Examples:

• The respite from study was devoted to a sojourn at the ancestral mansion. (formal)

• I spent my vacation at the house of my grandparents. (informal)

• I endeavored to peruse the volume. (formal)

• I tried to read the book. (informal)

Take it another step…

• Colloquial: conversational language, such as dialect.

• Slang: highly informal; not appropriate for most writing.

• Jargon: special language of a profession or group (lawyer or teacher talk, medical terminology, technical words); usually formal.

Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)

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 gent

Examples

• 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).

Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)

• Monosyllabic (Anglo-Saxon; German): one syllable.

• Polysyllabic (Latin/Greek): many syllables.

Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)

Denotative (referential; dictionary):• Public servant• Financier• Law Office• Legislative

consultant• Investigator• Soldier of fortune

Connotative (emotive; emotional):• Bureaucrat• Speculator• Cop• Lobbyist• Spy• Hired killer

Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)

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

Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)

Abstract:• Not material• Representing an

idea or thought• Pleasant-tasting

Concrete:• Real, actual• Specific; not

general• Sour-tasting

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?

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 figures of speech serve, and what effect do they have on the passage?

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)

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.

Simple, Compound, Complex, & Compound-Complex

–Complex sentence (one independent, one or more dependent clauses):

When I heard the concert, I enjoyed it

because she sang beautifully.

–Compound-Complex (two or more independent and one or more dependent):

The singer bowed while the audience

applauded, but she sang no encores.

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.• 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.

Loose Periodic Balanced

• Balanced/Parallel: the phrases or clauses balance each other in likeness or structure, meaning and/or length.

Together we planned the house, together we built it, and together we watched it go

up in smoke.

Sentence Patterns: Natural, Inverted, Split Order

• Natural order: 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 (cont.)• 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.

After a one-week whirlwind Web romance, they had agreed to meet in Rome, to rendezvous (her phrase) at the papal Easter Mass.

• Repetition: a device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than once for the purpose of enhancing the rhythm and creating emphasis.

…week after week, semester after semester, year after year…

Syntax (cont.)

• Rhetorical questions: 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 exam?

Syntax Review• Are the sentences simple and direct or complex and

convoluted?• Are the sentences Loose (main idea at beginning) or

Periodic (main idea at end)?• 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 (c0ntrasting images

presented with a balanced word or phrase)?• Does the author use juxtaposition (unrelated ideas,

words, phrases placed together for emphasis or surprise)?

Tone

• The manner of expression showing the author’s attitude toward characters, events or situations.

• Tone is reflected in the author’s “voice.”

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

Tone“We refused to get out of 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 food… and we bought some chalk and wrote all over the Recreation Cabin, “We hate Camp Hiwah.’” (“A Loud Sneer from Our Feathered Friends” Ruth McKenny)

• How does the author establish the negative attitude the campers have toward Camp Hiwah?

• Does the sentence structure also contribute to the tone?

Tone“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.” (“Kilimanjaro” James Ramsey Ullman)

• What is the author’s attitude toward Kilimanjaro?• How does the sentence structure help establish

this tone?

Tone Review

• What seems to be the speaker’s attitude in the passage?

• Is more than one attitude or point of view expressed?

• Does the passage have noticeable emotional mood or atmosphere?

• What effect does tone have on the reader?

Point of View• First Person:– Narrator uses first person pronouns (I, me,

mine, we, our, us)– Access to narrator’s consciousness– Story is told through the eyes of the main

character, minor character, or outside observer

– Narrator may or may not be reliable; may be naïve or biased

• Second Person:– Narrator tells the story to another character

or audience, using personal pronoun “you.”

Point of View

• Third Person Omniscient:– Third person pronouns (he, she)– Access to consciousness of more than one

character– Story seen through eyes of outside observer

• Third Person Limited:– Third person pronouns (he, she)– Access to consciousness of one character– Story seen through eyes of outside observer,

protagonist or minor character who dominates

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 character’s mind

List of Rhetorical Terms• Alliteration• Assonance• Consonance• Simile• Metaphor• Conceit• Imagery• Personification• Onomatopoeia• Hyperbole• Understateme

nt

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

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

question