Evaluating Style

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Evaluating Style
Feature Menu
What Is Style? Diction Figures of
Speech Sentence Patterns Review Tone Mood Practice
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What Is Style?
Style is a writers distinctive way of using
language. Style can take many forms.
Formal/Informal
Plain/Ornate
Comical/Serious
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Diction
Diction, or word choice, is one of the main
elements of style.
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Figures of Speech
Whether a writer prefers to use figurative or
literal language also affects style.
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Sentence Patterns
Sentence patternsthe ways writers construct
sentencesalso help create style.
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Review
Compare the style of these two excerpts. Which is
more formal?
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Tone
Tone is a writers attitude toward a subject, a
character, or the audience. Writers convey tone
through their choice of words.
tumbled joyfully
OR
rolled around noisily
majestic sweep of dunes
OR
empty waste of sand
Plot, theme, and tone
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Tone
You might find the following words helpful in
describing tone
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Tone
Listen to this passage from Pride and
Prejudice by Jane Austen. What is the writers
tone? What words help create the tone?
She was a woman of mean understanding, little
information, and uncertain temper. When she was
discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The
business of her life was to get her daughters
married its solace was visiting and news. from
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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Mood
Mood is the feeling a story evokes. Writers
create mood through

• figures of speech

• diction

tender blooms in soft light
rolling hills draped by a shroud of fog
stalks etched starkly against an orange sky
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Mood
You might find the following words helpful in
describing mood
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Mood
Quick Check
What is the mood of the passage? What words and
images help create the mood?
I still keep in mind a certain wonderful sunset
which I witnessed. . . . high above the forest
wall a clean-stemmed dead tree waved a single
leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the
unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the
sun. There were graceful curves, reflected
images, woody heights, soft distances and over
the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving
lights drifted steadily, enriching it, every
passing moment, with new marvels of coloring.
from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
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Mood
Quick Check
What is the mood of the passage? What words and
images help create the mood?
I still keep in mind a certain wonderful sunset
which I witnessed. . . . high above the forest
wall a clean-stemmed dead tree waved a single
leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the
unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the
sun. There were graceful curves, reflected
images, woody heights, soft distances and over
the whole scene, far and near, the dissolving
lights drifted steadily, enriching it, every
passing moment, with new marvels of coloring.
from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
Peaceful, awe-inspiring, majestic
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Practice
Choose one of these topics
tests, friends, school lunches. Then, write about
it twice. Write one paragraph in the formal style
you would use in a research paper. Write the
other in the informal style you would use when
talking with friends.
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The End
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Tone
Plot, Theme, and Tone The plot and theme, or
central idea, of a story also may reveal tone.
Plot
Theme
A man rebuilds his life after a terrible accident.
Adversity can be overcome.
Tone
admiring, optimistic