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

2. 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
To study diction is to analyze how a writer uses words for a distinct purpose and effect.
There are several ways to characterize diction: connotative/denotative, general/specific, formal/informal, abstract/concrete, monosyllabic/polysyllabic, euphonious/cacophonous, pedestrian/pedantic, objective/subjective, hyperbolic/understated, literal/figurative, active/passive.

3. Connotation and Denotation
Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings associated with a word.
Ex. “Hollywood” connotes glitz, glamour, celebrity, stardom.
Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a word. Literal meaning or dictionary definition.
Ex. “Hollywood” denotes an area of Los Angeles, known as the center of the movie industry.
Ask connotation/denotation of snake.
Because connotative diction is emotional – writers use to create mood or to express tone.

4. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Denotative (referential; dictionary):
Public servant
Journalist
Law Officer
Legislative consultant
Investigator
Soldier of fortune
Connotative (emotive; emotional):
Bureaucrat
Newshound
Cop
Lobbyist
Spy
Hired killer

5. 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

6. 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).

7. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Informal (personal writing):
Bug
Folks
Job
Kid
Boss
Get across
Formal (academic or literary writing):
Germ
Relatives
Position/Career
Child
Superior
C0mmunicate

8. 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)
The dog ate my homework (informal).
Informal?

9. Take it another step… Informal: Formal:
Colloquial: conversational language, such as dialect
Y’all, Wanna, gonna, go nuts
Slang: words not part of standard language.
Third degree, kick the bucket, photo bomb, hater
Formal:
Jargon: special language of a profession or group
Educational: anecdotal records, benchmark, cooperative learning
Technical: bandwidth, hot spot, surf

10. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Pedestrian (language of the common man):
Cool
Funny
Tried
Pedantic (language inflated to display importance):
Urbane/suave/cosmopolitan
Humorous/jocular/droll
Endeavored/ventured/strove

11. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Objective (impersonal, unemotional, unbiased):
The room was about the size of a small airplane cabin.
A dog was sleeping in the corner.
Subjective (personal, emotional, biased):
The room was cramped.
The party was so boring that the dog in the corner couldn’t even stay awake.

12. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Active (States action):
The students made progress
Passive (States being; can be vague or conceal information):
Progress was made by the students.

13. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Abstract (Not material; representing an idea or thought):
Beauty
Patriotism
Pleasant-tasting
Concrete (Real, actual; specific; not general):
Girl
Flag
Sour-tasting

14. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Literal (accurate language without embellishment):
Frugal
Figurative (comparative language for a pictorial effect):
Tight as bark on a tree
Simile, metaphor, personification
Paradox, oxymoron
Sound: alliterative, onomatopoeic

15. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Hyperbolic (Overstated; misrepresents as more):
“It rained enough yesterday to float a steel mill.”
Understated (misrepresents as less):
You might say Albert Einstein had a good head for numbers.
Tools of satire.

16. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Monosyllabic (Anglo-Saxon; German): one syllable, guttural, blunt: think, chew, leave, free.
Polysyllabic (Latin/Greek): many syllables, elevated: cogitate, masticate, egress, emancipate.

17. Ways to Characterize Diction (cont.)
Euphonious (pleasant-sounding; vowels; l, m, n, r, y, w, th-, wh-):
…through the drizzling rain on the steamy street breaks the morning sun.
Murmur
Butterfly
Mist
Mellow
Cacophonous (harsh-sounding; consonants; b, d, p, g, k, ch-, sh-):
…their loud songs bang and grate nerves of the wretched listeners.
Bite
Maggot
Shun
Chunk

18. Tropes
Trope: any artful variation from the typical or expected way a word or idea is expressed.
Analogy: extended comparison of two dissimilar things for special effect, such as the heart to a pump.
Antonomasia: use of a descriptive word or phrase to refer to proper noun

19. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Syntax: the way words are arranged within sentences.
Analysis can focus on: Length, number, rhythm, beginnings and endings, voice (active, passive), arrangement, types, structures, and schemes.
Length:
Short sentences: imply straightforward, emphatic, passionate, intense, flippant
Long sentences: imply descriptive; detailed, reflective, abstract, suggestive of greater thought

20. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Type/Function
Declarative (statement): She waited. Nobody came.
Interrogative (question): Why did she wait? Why didn’t anybody come?
Imperative (command): Wait. Go to her.
Exclamatory (exclamation): She waited and nobody came!
Run-ons
Fragments

21. Syntax: Sentence Structure
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.

22. Syntax: Sentence Structure
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.

23. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Arrangement of ideas:
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.

24. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Arrangement of ideas:
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.

25. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Arrangement of ideas:
Balanced/Parallel: the phrases or clauses balance each other in likeness or structure, meaning and/or length; interconnected emotions, feelings, ideas
Together we planned the house, together we built it, and together we watched it go up in smoke.
Natural order: subject comes first followed by the predicate.
Oranges grow in California.

26. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Arrangement of Ideas:
Inverted order (cues reader to pay attention): 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.

27. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Arrangement of Ideas
Juxtaposition: normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Rhetorical Question: a question asked, not to secure an answer, but to move forward the development of an idea.
If Chase is always right, as you have said, why did he fail the exam?

28. Schemes involving balance
Scheme: any artful variation of the typical arrangement of words in a sentence.
Parallelism: same grammatical construction for similar items.
He likes to swim, to read, and to meditate.
Antithesis: When parallelism is used to juxtapose words, phrases or clauses that contrast.
Place your virtues on a pedestal; place your vices under a rock.

29. Schemes involving balance
Antimetabole: similar to antithesis; words repeated in different grammatical forms.
Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.
Chiasmus: used interchangeably with antimetabole.
You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.

30. Schemes involving interruption
Parenthesis: insertion of material that interrupts the flow of a sentence.
The woman (actually my sister) screamed at us to leave.
Appositive: words writer uses to interrupt the sentence; to provide necessary on-the-spot information.
My guest, the national tennis champion, naturally beat me 6-0.

31. Schemes involving interruption
Aphorism: a short saying embodying a general or astute observation.
No pains without gains.
Anecdote: a short account of an event or incident told for a specific purpose.
Digression/Aside: a temporary departure from a topic.

32. Schemes involving omission
Ellipses: any omission of words, the meaning of which is provided by the overall content of the passage.
In a hockey power play, if you pass the puck to the wing, and he to you, then you can close in on the goal (“he to you” omits passes it).
Asyndeton: Leaving out words to accelerate the rhythm
I came, I saw, I conquered.

33. Schemes involving repetition
Anaphora: repetition of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive sentences (similar to parallelism).
Exercise builds stamina in teens; exercise builds stamina in older adults.
Epistrophe: repetition of a group of words a the end of successive clauses.
I thought like an athlete; I trained like an athlete; I ate like an athlete.

34. Schemes involving repetition
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
a strenuous, satisfying sport.
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds in words that do not rhyme.
a kind, reliable, right-minded man.

35. Schemes involving repetition
Anadiplosis: repetition of the last words of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.
Mental preparedness leads to training; training builds muscle tone and coordination; muscle tone and coordination produces excellence.
Climax: repetition of words, phrases, or clauses in order of importance.
Excellent athletes need to be respectful of themselves, their teammates, their schools, and their communities.

36. Syntax: Punctuation
Semicolon (;): gives equal weight to two or more independent clauses in a sentence; reinforces parallel ideas and shows how ideas are equally important.
Colon (:): directs readers’ attention to words that follow; shows that information after the colon is important.
Dash (-): marks a sudden change in thought or tone or sets off a brief summary or interruption.

37. Tone
The manner of expression showing the author’s attitude toward characters, events or situations.
Tone is reflected in the author’s “voice.”

38. Words to Describe Tone Pedantic Poetic Vulgar Euphemistic Moralistic
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

39. 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?

40. 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?

41. 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?

42. Point of View First Person: Second 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.”

43. Point of View Third Person Omniscient: Third Person Limited:
Third person pronouns (he, she)
Access to consciousness of more than one character
Story seen through eyes of outside observer
Third Person Limited:
Access to consciousness of one character
Story seen through eyes of outside observer, protagonist or minor character who dominates

44. 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

45. List of Rhetorical Terms
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Simile
Metaphor
Conceit
Imagery
Personification
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Understatement
Paradox
Oxymoron
Pun
Irony
Antithesis
Apostrophe
Allusion
Symbolism
Synecdoche
Metonymy
Zeugma
Anaphora
Asyndeton
Cacophony
Chiasmus
Epistrophe
Euphemism
Juxtaposition
Parallelism
Polysyndeton
Repetition
Rhetorical question