Evaluating Style

1. Evaluating Style Feature Menu • What Is Style? • Diction • Sentence Structure • Figures of Speech • Review • Tone • Mood • Theme • Practice

2. What Is Style? Every piece of writing has a style—a special way of using words. Casual Straightforward Formal [End of Section]

3. Formal Informal Diction Style starts with diction—the words a writer chooses. • Diction may be formal, informal, or somewhere in between.

4. Diction Formal diction is what makes many classic novels sound old-fashioned to modern readers. Occasionally Rob Roy suffered disasters, and incurred great personal danger. On one remarkable occasion he was saved by the coolness of his lieutenant…a fine active fellow, of course, and celebrated as a marksman. from Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott [End of Section]

5. Sentence Structure Sentence structure—the way words are put together—also affects style. [End of Section]

6. Literal: Fog and frost hung heavily around the black old gateway of the house. Figurative: “The fog and frost so hung about the black old gateway of the house, that it seemed as if the Genius of the Weather sat in mournful meditation on the threshold.” from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Figures of Speech Style also depends on whether a writer uses plain, literal language or figures of speech. What is the effect of the underlined figure of speech? [End of Section]

7. Review Quick Check Soon after my mother got this idea about Shirley Temple, she took me to a beauty training school in the Mission district and put me in the hands of a student who could barely hold the scissors without shaking. Instead of getting big fat curls, I emerged with an uneven mass of crinkly black fuzz. My mother dragged me off to the bathroom and tried to wet down my hair. from “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan Describe the style of this passage. How does diction help create the style? [End of Section]

8. Tone Tone is the attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character, or the audience. A writer’s diction helps create tone. • The tone of a piece of writing may be admiring mocking affectionate serious vengeful bitter comic soothing

9. Tone Quick Check Mrs. Gray was thirty, and so sweet and so lovely, you cannot imagine it; and Sadie was ten, and just like her mother, just a darling slender little copy of her, with auburn tails down her back, and short frocks; and the baby was a year old, and plump and dimpled, and fond of me, and never could get enough of hauling on my tail, and hugging me, and laughing out its innocent happiness. . . . from “A Dog’s Tale” by Mark Twain What is the tone of this passage? What words help create the tone? [End of Section]

10. At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed. The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled for breath. from “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe Mood Mood is the atmosphere a writer creates through diction and figurative language. • Many writers become famous for the moods or atmospheres they create. [End of Section]

11. Theme Style has a powerful influence on theme, the central idea about life that a story expresses. Light and conversational style Optimistic theme:Together, a family can cope with difficult times more easily than an individual can. [End of Section]

12. Practice Here is a simple sentence: The boy walked through the woods. 1. Rewrite the sentence using figurative language to create an atmosphere of gloom. 2. Rewrite the sentence using an ornate, or flowery, style. 3. Rewrite the sentence to indicate a tone of affection for the boy. [End of Section]

13. The End