Diction PowerPoint Project
Sam Andres, Trevor Blake,
Michael Gethers, Grant Johnson,
Bradley Ray, Alex Yragui
Mr. Mooney – Period 3
Diction
 Diction is the word choice and general character
of the author’s language.
 Words are chosen based on their
Appearance
Sound
Meaning
Mono vs. Polysyllabic
 one syllable vs. multi syllable
The higher the ration of polysyllabic words, the more
sophisticated and complex the content
• Polysyllabic Diction:
“Wetlands-Challenged-Mutant”
•Monosyllabic Diction:
“I ran to class”
Euphonious vs. Cacophonous
 pleasant sounding vs. harsh sounding
•Euphonious Diction:
The harmonious duet played a
melodious verse.
•Cacophonous Diction:
The honking, bellowing sound of the
saxophone player made me cringe in
disgust.
Literal vs. Figurative
 accurate without embellishment vs. comparison
creating pictorial effect
• Literal Diction:
The man’s bald head had only a few hairs on top of it.
• Figurative Diction:
“The emphasis was helped by the speaker’s hair, which bristled
on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of firs to keep the
wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the
crust of a plum pie.” From Hard Times, by Charles Dickens
Denotative vs. Connotative
 exact meaning vs. suggested, emotional meaning
• Denotative
My relative died many years ago.
• Connotative
My relative passed away many years ago.
Objective vs. Subjective
 impersonal, unemotional vs. personal, emotional
• Objective vs. Subjective:
The football fans liked to win.
• Subjective
The football fans would kill to win every single
game of the season.
Active vs. Passive
 states action vs. states being
 Passive used when author wants to remain vague or to
conceal information.
•Active
Someone stole our friend’s boat last week
•Passive
Our friend’s boat was stolen by someone last week.
Concrete vs. Abstract
 specific, tangible vs. conceptual, philosophical
•
•
Concrete
He bought the most expensive car.
Abstract
Freedom
Hyperbole vs. Understated
 deliberate exaggeration of facts vs. deliberate
misrepresentation of less
•
Hyperbole
I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
• Understated
I was just being nice. (after being complimented for helping)
Pedestrian vs. Pedantic
 layman’s terms vs. boorish, inflated language
attempting to display importance
•
Pedestrian
The rich man bought a nice car
• Pedantic
- The prosperous entrepreneur purchased an upscale sports
automobile.
- “And all the time he was ruthlessly busy, liquidating kulaks,
organizing collectives, building an armament industry,
shifting reluctant millions from farm to factory” (Huxley
177).
Non-Standard
 Lower-level language
•
Non-standard
“Called ‘em off on a snipe hunt…didn’t you e’er think a’that, Mr. Finch?”
(Lee).
Vulgarity
 Language deficient in taste and refinement;
course, base
• Vulgarity
“Great * * * * * * * time to be out for a stroll” (Lincoln
and Preston).
Slang
 Vernacular speech sometimes humorous,
exaggerated, or shortened for effect
•
Slang
“If the White House gets zilched…” (Meltzer).
Colloquial
 Regional, provincial; differs from formal language
in connotation, pronunciation, usage
Accepted in informal
•
Bobby (Police Officer in Britain)
Jargon
 specific to a field or profession
•
Jargon
After math class each day, fractions, functions, graphs, radicals, and
variables swirled and curved in her head like the graph of the sine of x.
Cliché
 Language used so often it has lost its freshness and
clarity
Figurative language without the freshness
•
Cliché
It is hard to believe that there are plenty more fish in the sea when you’re still
single at age eighty-five.
Informal/Standard
 Correct, but conversational
 Often uses contractions
•
Informal
- “Hey Sam, how’s it going, I haven’t talked to you in a long time?”
- “Well, it’s going pretty good, but I’ve got to go! See you later!”
Formal (literate)
 Appropriate for more formal occasions, often more
abstract.
•
Formal
Whilst one is writing a formal composition, personal pronouns
such as “I” ought to not be utilized.
Assonance
 Repetition of similar vowel sound in closely
associated words
•
Assonance
The street looked neat.
Consonance
 Repetition of similar consonant sound in closely
associated words
Half-rhyme
•
Consonance
While she slept, he crept up to the door.
Alliteration
 Repetition of initial consonant sound in closely
associated words
• Alliteration
“…Thomas Gradgrind now presented Thomas Gradgrind to
the little pitchers before him, who were to be filled so full of
facts” (Dickens 2).
Onomatopoeia
 Words whose pronunciation suggests meaning
•
Onomatopoeia
She slapped the computer desk in frustration and it got a
huge crack in it.
Works Cited
Child, Lincoln and Preston, Douglas. Brimstone. New York: Warner Books,
2005.
Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. New York: Dell Publishing Group Inc, 1981.
Huxley, Aldous. Island. New York: Harper and Row Inc, 1962.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: Warner Books, 1960.
Meltzer, Brad. The Zero Game. New York: Warner Books, 2004