Style Analysis

1
Style Analysis

• Diction

2
Definition Diction

• All of the following terms are used
  interchangeably and all mean the authors word
  choice
• Diction
• Language
• Figurative Language
• Figures of Speech

3
AP HINT

• Word choice is the most powerful element of style
  for you to understand. If the directions in the
  prompt do not give you any specific techniques
  to analyze, always address diction---you wont be
  wrong.

4
Word Choice

• Many words in our language have strong
  connotations, and authors use them on purpose to
  elicit certain responses from the reader.

5
Denotation

• This means the literal, dictionary definition of
  a word.
• Example Plump and Obese
• Both of these words share the same definition.
  (these are synonyms)

6
Connotation

• The implied or suggested meaning attached to a
  word, the emotional tag that goes along with a
  word.

7
Example Connotation

• The word plump has the connotation of being
  pleasantly fat, almost cutely overweight. Its
  connotation describes women more often than men.
  It is this extra emotional feeling that shows
  how we use the word.

8
Example Connotation

• The word obese, often used by medical personnel,
  has a more technical connotation. It carries a
  less emotional, more scientific emotional tag.
  Both plump and obese have the same literal
  definition, but the connotations are different.

9
Connotation

• Connotation is important because it shows
  differences between synonyms and illustrates ways
  in which we use a word.

10
Example Strong Connotative Diction

• The boy surveyed the class, congratulating
  himself for snatching the highest grade on the
  test.

11
Process

• Once you identify an authors diction, you must
  analyze it. This means that you write commentary
  about it. You must discuss the connotation of
  the word or phrase to do a good job of diction
  analysis.

12
Diction Analysis

• Word
• Surveyed

• Connotation
• Conveys the idea of someone looking around as
  if he were a king gazing down on lesser beings.

13
Your Turn

• Word
• snatching

• Connotation

14
General Idea

• So far, you have covered the general idea behind
  diction analysis. The next step is to practice
  identifying diction samples in an actual passage.
  

15
The Diction Paragraph

• To write a topic sentence for the diction
  paragraph, you would include the word diction and
  give a focus for the paragraph.
• Sample The authors diction heightens the power
  and force behind the snake as it responds to the
  man, first placidly, then aggressively.

16
Style and Situation

• If you are the type of person who likes definite
  answers, style can be a rather baffling concept.
• How do you know whether particular words,
  sentences, or figures of speech are a good
  choice?
• The answer is always the same
• It Depends

17
Style and Situation

• What does it depend on.or Upon what does it
  depend? (which one will you write?)
• The answer is that whether a particular word,
  phrase, sentence, or figure of speech is right
  depends on the particular writing situation, or
  situational appropriateness.

18
Style and Situation

• Consider the situation where you might be
  required to write an analytical paper for a
  history class
• The need to write comes from the inquiry you are
  engaged in.
• You, the historian, are the writer.
• You may think that the audience for your paper is
  only the teacher, but

19
Style and Jargon

• Specialized vocabularies that readers expect to
  encounter in the discourse communitys documents
  an that writers new to the community are expected
  to know and use.
• Jargon is not a bad thing when used correctly
• Dont use big words with no good reason When my
  cat expired, I waxed lachrymose. Simplify!
• Dont try to use jargon if you arent sure what
  the terms mean (dont name a trope or scheme if
  you arent surebetter to describe the passage
  instead.

20
What about You and I?

• Is it okay to use first-person, second-person,
  and contractions?
• The answer depends on the situation.
• For most academic papers, the use of first-person
  is not appropriate.
• In most academic papers it is also not
  appropriate to refer directly to the reader as
  you.

21
What about You and I?

• For most academic papers, the use of first-person
  is not appropriate because the focus in this kind
  of writing is on the subject rather than on the
  person writing about the subject. Also, it is not
  appropriate of writers to refer directly to their
  readers as you.
• However, if the situation calls for the writer to
  offer a personal response, it would be
  inappropriate to NOT write in first person.
• Similarly, if the situation calls for an open
  letter on a controversial issue to congressional
  reps working on legislation to address it, then
  it would be nearly impossible for the writer to
  produce a successful letter that did not refer to
  the representatives directly as you.

22
Why cant I use Contractions?

• You CAN, if it is appropriate for the writing
  situation. In most formal, academic papers, and
  in business-oriented letters and reports, writers
  generally avoid contractions.
• In informal papers and personal letters, writers
  should feel free to use the same kind of words
  they would use if they were speaking their
  audience face to face.
• Use a contraction based on your intention as a
  writer and your relationship to the reader.

23
Style and Passive Voice

• Active Voice
• Doer Action Receiver
• The lab technician filtered the solution.
• Passive Voice
• Receiver Action By Doer
• The solution was filtered by the lab technician.
  
• What are three differences between active and
  passive voice?
• But should you ever use passive voice?
• Avoiding passive voice entirely is hard. In fact,
  it cant be done. (notice the passive voice
  here).

24
Sentences, Words, Figures

• Three broad categories of style help writers to
  analyze the style of a text and to make their own
  stylistic choices. Every choice we make
  potentially affects the meaning of a composition.
  
• Sentences Grammatical type, placement of
  details, variety
• Words Level of elaborateness and formality,
  difficulty, technicality
• Figures Schemes and tropes, figurative language

25
Sentences

• Sentences can be classified in many ways, and
  its helpful to consider the potential effect a
  particular type of sentence might have on a
  reader in a certain situation.
• Simple Sentence
• Has a single independent clause.
• Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union.
• Within its single clause, a simple sentence can
  have a compound subject, and compound verb, or
  both.
• Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to
  save the Union.
• Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union and
  persevered.

26
Sentences

• Compound Sentence
• Has two clauses, each of which could exist as a
  simple sentence if you removed the conjunction
  connecting them.
• Abraham Lincoln struggled to save the Union, and
  Andrew Johnson assisted him.
• Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson struggled to
  save the Union and persevered, but the leaders of
  the Confederacy insisted that the rights of the
  states were more important than the maintenance
  of the Union.
• Complex Sentence
• Has two clauses, one independent and at least one
  subordinate to the main clause.
• When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that
  the rights of the states were more important than
  the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln and
  Andrew Johnson struggled to save the Union and
  persevered.

27
Sentences

• Compound-complex
• Has the defining features of both a compound
  sentence and a complex sentence.
• When the leaders of the Confederacy insisted that
  the rights of the states were more important than
  the maintenance of the Union, Abraham Lincoln
  struggled to save the Union and persevered, and
  Andrew Johnson assisted him.
• Why should you be concerned with whether a
  sentence is simple, compound, complex, or
  compound-complex when you are analyzing someone
  elses writing or planning your own?

28
Sentences

• Function grows out of form.
• When you need to make a succinct point, often a
  short, simple sentence will do so effectively. A
  short, simple sentence can suggest to a reader
  that you are in control, that you want to make a
  strong point.
• Why might you use a compound sentence in your
  writing?
• If you are trying to show how ideas are balanced
  and related in terms of equal importance, a
  compound sentence can convey that to the reader.
• Several compound sentences in a row can tell the
  reader that you are the kind of person who takes
  a balanced view of challenging issues.

29
Sentences

• If you want to show more complicated
  relationships between ideas, then complex and
  compound-complex sentences can communicate the
  intricacies of your thinking.

30
Sentences

• A second method of analyzing sentences looks at
  them in terms of another important structural
  distinction Loose sentences or Periodic
  Sentences.
• Sentences vary along the loose-periodic continuum
  according to how they incorporate extra details
  in relation to basic sentence elements.
• Here is a sentence with just two basic elements
• Abraham Lincoln wept.
• A loose sentence is a basic sentence with details
  added immediately at the end of the basic
  sentence elements.

31
Sentences

• Loose sentence
• Abraham Lincoln wept, fearing that the Union
  would not survive if the southern states seceded.
  
• Abraham Lincoln wept (basic elements), fearing
  that the Union would not survive if the southern
  states seceded (added details).

32
Sentences

• Periodic Sentence A sentence in which additional
  details are placed in one of two positions,
  either before the basic sentence elements or in
  the middle of them.
• Period sentence in which details are placed
  before the basic sentence elements
• Alone in his study, lost in somber thoughts about
  his beloved country, dejected but not broken in
  spirit, Abraham Lincoln wept.

33
Sentences

• Here is a periodic sentence that results from
  placing additional material in the middle fo the
  basic sentence elements
• Abraham Lincoln, alone in his study, lost in
  somber thoughts about his beloved country,
  dejected but not broken in spirit, wept.

34
Sentences

• You can achieve sentence variety by writing
  sentences that move along a loose-periodic
  continuum.
• This sentence tends towards which one? Loose or
  Periodic?
• Abraham Lincoln considered the Union an
  inviolable, almost eternally inspired, concept.
• This one tends towards loose.

35
Sentences

• You can achieve sentence variety by writing
  sentences that move along a loose-periodic
  continuum.
• This sentence tends towards which one? Loose or
  Periodic?
• Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught philosopher, a
  political scientist even before there was such a
  field, considered the Union an inviolable, almost
  eternally inspired, concept.
• This one tends towards periodic. Details are in
  the middle of the basic elements.

36
Sentences

• Writers use loose and periodic sentences to
  effect changes in meaning. Readers use them to
  understand meaning more clearly. Recognizing and
  creating loose and periodic sentences enable the
  reader and the writer to make wise decisions
  about varying sentence structure for emphasis.
• The structure of the sentence also affects the
  pacing of a text. A loose sentence moves quickly,
  and a periodic sentence works with delay.

37
Which is is Loose or Periodic? Read the sentence
from Booker T. Washingtons Up From Slavery.

• In order to defend and protect the women and
  children who were left on the plantation when the
  white males went to war, the slaves would lay
  down their lives.
• Periodic
• Rewrite this sentence in a couple ways, making it
  more loose and more periodic. How do the changes
  affect the tone, purpose, and the ethos of the
  speaker?