AP Terminology

English Language and CompositionBurgar- 2008

Analyzing diction

Diction involves anything to do with word choice. Sometimes diction devices overlap with imagery and syntax. It is not the category that is important, but the way you explain HOW the device creates its effect and WHY the writer chose it.

General types of diction

• “formal” used in scholarly or lofty writing

• “informal” used in relaxed but educated conversation

• “colloquial” used in everyday speech

• “slang” containing newly coined words and other terms not accepted in formal usage.

How do you choose your words?

You consider your audience, that is, the person(s) to whom you are speaking.

Examples:

To a friend: “a screw-up”

To a child: “a mistake”

To the police: “an accident”

To an employer: “an oversight”

All of these expressions mean the same thing—that is, they have the same denotation—but you would not likely switch one for the other in any of these three situations: a police officer or employer would that “screw-up” as an insult and view it more negatively, while your friends would take “oversight” as an affectation.

Types of diction

• Specific or concrete diction refers to language that can be perceived or

imagined (pictured)Example: Cherry trees hung with bloom(evokes clear visualization)

• General or abstract diction refers to language that signifies broad classes of

persons, objects, and phenomenaExample: In the real of infinite spaces(difficult to envision with clarity and exactness)

Formal diction

Is elevated and elaborate, follows the rules of syntax exactly; avoids colloquialisms, contractions and slang. This type of diction is characterized by complex words and a lofty tone.

Middle or neutral diction

Maintains correct language and word order but avoids elaborate words and elevated tone.

Low or informal diction

Language of everyday use; it is relaxed conversational. It includes common words, idiomatic expressions, slang and contractions

Euphonious vs. cacophonous

• Euphonious words are pleasant sounding

like the words butterfly or murmur

• Cacophonous words are harsh sounding

like the words pus or cantankerous

Questions to ask

Is the diction simple or complex? Abstract or concrete? Neutral or emotionally charged? Formal or informal? Vulgar or refined? Any jargon? (subject-specific language like the word software for computers) Appropriate or inappropriate in the context? Any words used in unusual combinations?

What effect does this diction have?

The use of particular diction could:• Emphasize• Create immediacy• Evoke empathy• Establish verisimilitude• Lend authority• Stress something (an idea)• Imply similarity or contrast• Enhance mood or tone• Symbolize something• Reveal a characteristic

Note that the verbs in these phrases are more or less interchangeable

Syntax – sentence structure

Examine the sentence length. Are the sentences• Telegraphic (shorter than five words)• Short (five words in length)• Medium (approx. eighteen words in length)• Long and involved; complexDoes the sentence length fit the subject matter? Is

there a variety of sentence length and is it effective? How does the writing sound? Sentence length can obfuscate or clarify content (textbooks?)

Consider sentence patterns

• Declarative (assertive) makes a statement• Imperative gives a command• Interrogative asks a question• Exclamatory make an exclamation

The writing should have some variety, but not lean heavily on, say, exclamatory sentences. Too many of these can annoy the reader or make the writing seem juvenile and unsophisticated

Loose vs. periodic sentences

• Loose sentence- makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending

Example: We reached Utah that morning after a turbulent flight and lack of sleep.

• Periodic sentence –makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached.

• Example: That morning, after a turbulent flight and lack of sleep, we reached Utah.

The effects of syntax• Emphasis• Focus• Change or shift• Establish or imply relationships & connections• Establish tone• Create rhythm• Aid organization• Create suspense, shock, surprise• Create pleasing style• Allow for development of ideas• Create clarity, simplicity or economy• Make level of language more or less high• Imitate speech• Create variety• Create pacing

Style devices

• JuxtapositionA rhetorical device in which normally

unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise or added meaning.

Example: The apparition of those faces in the crowd;/Petals on a wet, black bough.

(Ezra Pound)

• Parallel structure (parallelism) involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased. Often used for emphasis.

Example: He was walking intently, running hypothetical proposals through his mind, and mentally jumping for joy.

• Repetition is a device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used ore than once for the purpose of enhancing rhythm and creating emphasis.

Example: …government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

(Abraham Lincoln)

• Rhetorical question is a device that does not call for an answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement.

• Example: If Mr. Smith is always fair, as you have said, why did he refuse to listen to Mrs. Baldwin’s arguments?

Passive syntax

• Often has the effect of hiding responsibility or cause, suggesting that some event is inevitable. Governments love to use this.

Example: Taxes have been raised 25% in the last three years

(Yes, and WHO did the raising?)

Figurative language

• Alliteration is the practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words with the same sound

Example: The twisting trout twinkled on the line below me.

• Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words.

Example: the words “cry” and “side” have the same vowel sound and so are said to be in assonance.

• Consonance is the repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to produce a harmonious effect.

Example: And each slow dusk a drawing-down on blinds.

The “d” and “s” sounds are in consonance

• Simile – is a comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words “like” or “as.” It is a definitely stated comparison.

Example: The warrior fought like a lion.

• Metaphor – is a comparison without the use of like or as. The writer states that one thing is another. It is usually a comparison between something that is real or concrete and something that is abstract.

Examples: Life is but a dream.

Johnny is a drag.

• Personification – is a kind of metaphor which gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics.

Example: The wind cried in the dark.

The waves danced in the sunlight.

• Onomatopoeia (imitative harmony when used in poetry)- is the use of words in which the sounds seem to resemble the sounds they describe. These words are often used for emphasis.

Example: buzz, pow, hiss, bang, murmur

• Hyperbole- is a deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used either for serious or comic effect.

Example: The shot that was heard ‘round the world.

• Understatement – is the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony which deliberately represents something as much less than it really is. Sometimes, but not always, sarcastic in tone.

Example: I could probably manage to survive on a salary of two million dollars a year.

• Paradox – is a statement that contradicts itself. It may seem almost absurd. Although it may seem to be at odds with ordinary experience, it usually turns out to have a coherent meaning, and reveals a truth which is normally hidden.

Example: The more you know, the more you don’t know. (Socrates)

• Oxymoron – is a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness.

Example: sweet sorrow, make haste slowly

• Pun – is a play on words which are identical or similar in sound but which have sharply diverse meanings. Puns may have serious as well as humorous uses.

Example: When Mercutio is bleeding to death in Romeo and Juliet he says, “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”

• Irony – is the result of a statement saying one thing while meaning the opposite. Its purpose is usually to criticize.

Example: It’s simple to quit smoking. I’ve done it many times.

• Sarcasm – is a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something while he is actually insulting the thing. Its purpose is to injure or hurt.

Example: As I fell down the stairs headfirst, I heard her say, “Look at that coordination.”

• Antithesis – involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings generally for the purpose of contrast.

Example: Sink or swim

• Apostrophe – is a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present, and the inanimate as if alive. These are all addressed directly.

Example: The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

• Allusion – is a reference to a mythological, literary, historical, or Biblical person, place, or thing. Often used to lend authority to writing.

Example: He met his Waterloo.

• Synecdoche – is a form of metaphor. In synecdoche, a part of something is used to signify the whole

Example: all hands on deck.• The whole can also represent a part.Example: Canada played Argentina in the

Olympic hockey finals.• The material from which an object is made

can represent the object itself.Example: The quarterback tossed the pigskin.

• Metonomy – the name of one thing is applied to another thing with which it I closely associated.

Example: The crown said today that taxes will not be raised.

(crown= British monarchy)

(white house= American government)