Diction
“The difference between the right word and almost the right word is like the difference between lightening and the lightening bug.”
1
--Mark Twain
Levels of Formality – the higher ratio of polysyllabic words, the more difficult the content
1.
High or Formal: Dignified, elevated, and often impersonal. Elaborate, or sophisticated vocabulary. In some cases, “high style” can refer to
grammar, or syntax, that has been manipulated for an artistic effect—that is, the grammar calls attention to itself. Polysyllabic.
Words Characterizing Formal Diction: cultured, learned, pretentious, archaic, scholarly, pedantic, ornate, elegant, flowery
EXAMPLE: The respite from study was devoted to a sojourn at the ancestral mansion.
2.
Middle or Neutral: Follows rules of grammar and uses common, unexceptional vocabulary. Think Strunk and White. Grammar and vocabulary
is meant to be transparent, easily understood.
Words Characterizing Neutral Diction: unadorned, plain, detached, simple
EXAMPLE: I spent my vacation at the house of my grandparents.
3.
Low or Informal: Plain language of everyday use, including slang, jargon, vulgarity, and dialect. Monosyllabic.
Words Characterizing Informal Diction: abrupt, terse, laconic, slang, homespun, jargon, colloquial, vulgar
EXAMPLE: I crashed at Grannie’s.
Connotation – the more metaphorical or poetic usage of words (as opposed to denotation – dictionary meaning). Learn to use the following words
to address this aspect of diction:
Denotative descriptors are: literal, exact, journalistic, straightforward
Connotative descriptors are: poetic, metaphoric, picturesque, lyrical, obscure, figurative, sensuous, symbolic, grotesque
Denotative
public servant
law officer
investigator
Connotative
bureaucrat
cop
spy
Abstraction – does the author write about something you can hold in your hands or only hold in your head?
Specificity – how clear is the image?
General
look
cry
throw
Specific
gaze, stare, peer, squint, ogle
weep, sob, sigh, bawl, blubber
hurl, pitch, toss, dump, flip
The “Music” – do the words sound nice? If so, you can talk about the euphony of the passage. If it sounds harsh, talk about that and the
relationship to meaning.
Euphonious
Through the drizzling rain, on the bald street,
breaks the blank day.
Cacophonous
Their lean and flashy songs grate on their scrannel
pipes of wretched straw.
Figures of Speech – personification, metaphor, paradox, alliteration, etc.
NOTE:
Sample Analysis Questions
1.
2.
Why is the diction formal or informal? Colloquial? Slang? Jargon? Archaic?
Do the words have interesting connotations? Is the passage especially denotative? What effect does this
have?
3.
Is the language concrete or abstract? General or specific? What effect does this have?
4.
Do any words seem especially cacophonous (harsh sounding) or euphonious (pleasant sounding)?
5.
Are there any figures of speech?
6.
What is the subject of the piece? Do the words fit the subject well? Explain.
7.
Who is the audience for the piece? Are the words appropriate for the audience? Explain.
8.
What is the author’s purpose in writing the piece? Do the words reinforce the purpose? Explain.
9.
Does the author use archaic words, colloquialism, jargon, profanity, slang, trite expressions, or vulgarity? If
so, what effect do these have in the piece?
10. Is there any change in the level of diction in the passage?
11. What can the reader infer about the speaker or speaker’s attitude from the word choice? (See tone)
 Never substitute
terminology for analysis.
 Always connect the
literary term (and
example) directly to the
effect it creates in the
passage or the effect it
has on the reader.
 No element should be
considered in isolation:
The importance of any
element is how it works
with others to convey the
writer’s purpose.
Diction
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A Five-Step Process for
Using Your Great New Terminology to Devise Intelligent and Specific Topic Sentences
First: DON’T say that the author “uses diction.” You are saying nothing if you say that. Everyone uses “word choice”—your job is to characterize
that word choice AND determine why it was used.
Step One: Levels of Formality
1.
“Do” a close reading on the passage, first identifying any unusual or characteristic words. If there are none, you are probably reading
something with a “middle style.”
2.
If words stand out, you should be able to decide whether the passage leans to the high or low styles. If so, pick a snazzy vocab word to
describe what kind of high or low diction it is.
Step Two: Connotation
1.
Examine how the words appear to be used—do they seem to be used like poetry, with lots of external, thematic meanings attached, or are
they more literal, like a straightforward action story?
2.
Once you decide which way it leans, connotative or denotative, pick some vocab words that characterize the diction more specifically.
Step Three: Miscellaneous
1.
Ask yourself about abstraction and specificity, what figures of speech you see, and the sounds of the language.
Step Four: Purpose
1.
Sit back for a moment and ask yourself what purpose of the word choice appears to be fulfilling.
2.
For example, you can always say that it sets a tone—just make sure you have some words ready to describe that tone.
3.
Also consider whether the word choice is having an effect on character, symbol/theme, setting, etc.
Step Five: The topic sentence.
“In [name of work], [Author] writes in a [connotation] [level of formality] style. Her use of [connotation vocab] and [level of formality vocab]
language [achieves this purpose].”
For example: “In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad writes in a highly connotative formal style. His use of abstract, poetic, and ornate language
establishes existential themes of fate and meaninglessness.”
DICTION STUDY: THE RATTLER
WRITING ASSIGMENT: Read the following passage carefully. In a well-developed essay,
discuss the effect the passage has on the reader by analyzing the techniques used by the
writer to achieve that effect. You should consider such elements as diction, syntax, point of
view, and organization.
After sunset…I walked out into the desert…Light was thinning; the scrub’s day savory
odors were sweet on the cooler air. In this, the first pleasant moment for a walk after long blazing
hours, I thought I was the only thing abroad. Abruptly, I stopped short.
The other lay rigid, as suddenly arrested, his body undulant; the head was not drawn back
to strike, but was merely turned a little to watch what I would do. It was a rattlesnake—and I knew
it. I mean that where a six-foot blacksnake thick as my wrist, capable of long-range attack and armed
with powerful fangs, will flee at sight of man, the rattler felt no necessity of getting out of anybody’s
path. He held his ground in calm watchfulness; he was not even rattling yet, much less was he coiled;
he was waiting for me to show my intentions.
My first instinct was to let him go his way and I would go mine, and with this he would
have been well content. I have never killed an animal I was not obliged to kill; the sport in taking life
is a satisfaction I can’t feel. But I reflected that there were children, dogs, horses at the ranch, as well
as men and women lightly shod; my duty, plainly, was to kill the snake. I went back to ranch house,
got a hoe, and returned.
The rattler has not moved; he lay there like a live wire. But he saw the how. Now indeed
his tail twitched, the tocsin sounded; he drew back his head and I raised my weapon. Quicker than I
could strike, he shot into a dense bush and set up his rattling. He shook and shook his fair but
furious signal, quite sportingly warning me that I had made an unprovoked attack, attempted to take
his life, and that if I persisted he would have no choice but to take mine if he could. I listened for a
minute to this little song of death. It was not ugly, though it was ominous. It said that life was dear,
and would be dearly sold. And I reached into the paper-bag bush with my hoe and, hacking about,
soon dragged him out of it with his back broken.
He struck passionately once more at the hoe; but a moment later his neck was broken,
and he was soon dead. Technically, that is; he was still twitching, and when I picked him up by the
tail, some consequent jar, and some mechanical reflex made his jaws gape and snap once more —
proving that a dead snake may still bite. There was blood in his mouth and poison dripping from his
fangs; it was all a nasty sight, pitiful now that it was done.
I did not cut off the rattles for a trophy; I let him drop into the close green guardianship of
the paper-bag bush. Then for a moment I could see him as I might have let him go, sinuous and selfrespecting in departure over the twilit sands.
A sample response on diction might be
set up this way:
The author’s techniques used in
“The Rattler” convey not only a feeling of
sadness and remorse but also a sense of the
man’s acceptance of the snake’s impending
death. A human being has confronted nature,
and in order for him to survive, the snake
must be killed. The diction and figures of
speech, especially the images, similes, and
metaphors, create sympathy in the reader for
the man’s plight and a reluctant, sad
agreement with him for his decision.
The author’s diction, largely
concrete and informal in order to convey the
confrontation, heightens the power and force
behind the snake as it responds to the man.
“Arrested” at first, the snake becomes a “live
wire” as he shakes his “little tocsin” at the
man. Unmoving at first, the snake plays a
waiting fame as adversary meets adversary
across an imaginary line drawn in the desert
sand. Then a feeling of electricity jolts the
reader, heart beating faster from the noise of
the warning that, like battle stations abroad a
ship, calls all to readiness. Yet it must lose;
despite its attempts to hide in the “paper-bag
bush,” the snake knows its life has been
“dearly sold,” but it remains a “sinuous and
self-respecting” in the man’s mind. The hiding
place is an illusion, and a costly one. The
reader admires the valiant behavior of the
snake’s last moments and the dignity which
the man offers. All involved recognize the
strength of both the man and the almosthuman snake, but know that responsibility and
duty to others make the killing necessary.
The figures of speech…