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 (harshsounding):
• …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
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Pedantic
Euphemistic
Pretentious
Sensuous
Exact
Cultured
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Literal
Colloquial
Artificial
Detached
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Poetic
Moralistic
Slang
Idiomatic
Esoteric
Symbolic
Simple
Complex
Figurative
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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
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Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Simile
Metaphor
Conceit
Imagery
Personification
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Understatement
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Paradox
Oxymoron
Pun
Irony
Antithesis
Apostrophe
Allusion
Symbolism
Synecdoche
Metonymy
Zeugma
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Anaphora
Asyndeton
Cacophony
Chiasmus
Epistrophe
Euphemism
Juxtaposition
Parallelism
Polysyndeton
Repetition
Rhetorical
question