Diction PowerPoint Project
Mr. Mooney
IDEA English II Acc.
Justin Brown
Isaac Chung
Cameron Cook Bryan McCann
Brandon Scapa Keaton Thomas
Figurative
Diction

Diction is the word
choice, or the general
character of the
language used by the
author.

When describing
diction, never say that
“the author uses a lot of
diction.”
Appearance
 One way we can examine the diction that the
author uses is through the appearance of the
word or phrase.

Some examples of this could be…
 “Mr. Mooney is watching YOU” – it creates
of feeling of tension when it singles “YOU”
out in the phrase.
 “It was him – the man in the dark cape.” –
The appearance in this is how the hyphen
points to the person who did it.
Sound
 Another way that we can examine the
author’s diction, is the use of the sound that
the word makes.

Some examples of sound are…


“There was a loud crack and as we looked up we
saw the foul ball whizzing by us.” – The sound in
this could be “crack” and “whizzing”. These are
onomatopoeias.
“The cuddly cat crawled by on the crimson
carpet.” – The sound in this would be the
alliterations of “cuddly cat crawled” and “crimson
carpet”.
Meaning
 The most common way to examine the
authors diction is through the word or
phrase’s meaning.

An example of the meaning…

“That was before sameness. Today flesh is all
the same, and what you saw was the red ones.”
(The Giver by Lois Lowry pg. 94) - The meaning
of this quote is how now there is no variety in the
people of the society and how before “sameness”
there used to be different skin tones.
Types of Diction






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
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Mono v.s. Poly syllabic
Euphonious v.s. Cacophonous
Literal v.s. Figurative
Denotative v.s. Connotative
Objective v.s. Subjective
Active v.s. Passive
Concrete v.s. Abstract (Specific v.s. General)
Hyperbole (Overstated) v.s. Understated
Pedestrian v.s. Pedantic
Mono vs. Poly syllabic
 Monosyllabic:


One Syllable.
“One fish, two fish, red fish,
blue fish.”
Polysyllabic
 Polysyllabic:
 Multiple syllables
 The higher the ratio of polysyllabic words the more
sophisticated and complex the content.
 “Orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody,
biography, astronomy, geography, and general
cosmography, the sciences of compound proportion,
algebra, land-surveying and leveling, vocal music, and
drawing from music, were all at the ends of his ten
chilled fingers.”
Euphonious vs. Cacophonous
 Euphonious:
Pleasant sounding
 “Miss Josephine Sleary, …
was then inaugurating the
entertainments with her
graceful equestrian
Tyrolean flower-act”

Cacophonous
 Cacophonous:



Harsh sounding
“A space of stunted grass and dry rubbish
being between him and the young rabble…”
“The clashing and banging band … was in full
bray”
Literal vs. Figurative
 Literal:


Accurate without embellishment.
“Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty
teeth, namely twenty four grinders,
four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive.
Sheds coat in the spring; in
marshy countries, sheds hoofs,
too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to
be shod with iron. Age known by
marks in mouth.”
Figurative
 Figurative:


A comparison, creating a
pictorial effect
“I only use the word to
express a monster in a
lecturing castle, with
Heaven knows how many
heads manipulated into one,
taking childhood captive,
and dragging it into gloomy
statistical dens by the hair.
Denotative vs. Connotative
 Denotative:

Exact meaning
 Connotative:

Suggestive emotional meaning
“pondering with his hands in his pockets, and his
cavernous eyes on the fire,…”
“It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would
have been red if the smoke and ashes had
allowed it.”
Objective
 Impersonal,
unemotional

Example: “Authorities have
identified the 41-year-old
man shot and killed by
Santa Ana police after a
20-minute vehicle chase
Tuesday.”-Denisse
Salazar; OC
Register,October 4; from
“Police name man killed in
chase”
Subjective
 Personal,emotional

Example: “I asked her,
on the way, if Mr.
Cudahy-that was the
booze hound’s namehad…”-J.D. Salinger;
The Catcher in the Rye,
page 79
Active
 States action

Example: The boy
threw the ball over to
his teammate who
was sitting under the
tall basket, and upon
receiving it, his
teammate shot the
ball into the nylon
net.
Passive
 States being

Example: The boy
was extremely
upset upon
receiving his test
from last week
which, in a
burning red color,
had a large F at
the top.
Concrete
 Specific, tangible

Example: The
class in the 300
hall had 30
students, 1 flag,
a television, and
an assortment of
5 computersspanning over 3
brands: HP, Dell,
and Mac.
Abstract
 Conceptual,
philosophical

Example: At the
memorial service,
everyone could feel
the overwhelming
power of love,
patriotism, and
honor.
Hyperbole
 Deliberate
exaggeration of facts

Example: The river
went on for one
million miles into the
horizon and seemed
as if its width was no
shorter--it looked like
it went on forever.
Understated
 Deliberate
misrepresentation of
less

Example: After the
boy went to school
on a normal Monday
morning, which was
completely empty
with no one to be
seen, he simply
stated, “Something’s
not right.”
Pedestrian
 Layman’s terms.


You need to connect
the red thingy to the
blue plug and then
the screen will show.
The baseball player
hit the ball really far
and over the fence.
Pedantic
 Boorish or inflated language. It creates a
more intelligent sentence.


The pusillanimous cat
was frightened to peer
over the solid oak
baker’s counter.
You are supposed to
plug the S-Video cable
and the AV cables into
the receivers on the back.
Archaic
 Characterized by older or ancient language.
It suggests another time or era.

Come hither my deer
companion and frolic
into my abode. Art thou
scared?
Non Standard Diction
 Vulgarity
 Slang
 Colloquial
 Jargon
 Cliché
Non Standard - Vulgarity
 Language deficient in taste and refinement;
course; base.

Ex: “…and how my parents were occupied
and all before they had me, and all that David
Copperfield crap, but I don’t feel like going into
it…” - J.D. Salinger The Catcher in the Rye
Non Standard - Slang
 Vernacular speech sometimes humorous,
exaggerated, or shortened for effect.

Ex: “Yo homie, what’s up, ya dig?”
Non Standard - Colloquial
 Regional; provincial

Ex: “Hey are you from uptown?”
Non Standard - Jargon
 Specific to a field or profession.

Examples of computer jargon: Hard Drive,
processor, megabyte, CD, flash drive.

Examples of car jargon: Transmission, engine,
cylinder, horse power.
Non Standard – Cliché
 Language used so often it has lost its
freshness and clarity.

Ex: The man was in a pickle, caught between
true love and the promotion he had been
dreaming of.
Informal/Standard

Correct but Conversational


“Hey dude, how’s the family?”
“I can’t come, I have practice.”
Formal (literate)
Appropriate for more formal occasions; often
more abstract
Example
Do not use contractions.
NO - The man didn’t do the crime
Yes - The man did not do the crime.
Assonance
 Repetition of similar vowel sounds in closely
associated words
Example
“Hear the mellow wedding bells”
“The Bells”, Edgar Allan Poe
Consonance
 Repetition of similar consonant sound in
clearly associated words

Example
 “Pitter patter”
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sound
Example
Coca Cola
Kit Kat
March Madness
Onomatopoeia
Words whose pronunciation suggests meaning
Example
Snap, Crackle, Pop
Flush
Whoosh
Once Again Never Say…
The author uses a lot of
diction.
Works Cited
1. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New
York: Bantam, 1964.
2. Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Dell
Laurel-Leaf, 1993. 94.
3. Allen, Edgar P. "The Bells." Sartain's Union
Magazine Oct. 1849.