Transcript Diction & Tone - Bowman at Brooks

Diction & Tone
Diction refers to the author’s
choice of words.
Tone is the attitude or feeling
that the writer’s words express.
When analyzing diction, consider
such questions as:
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Is the language concrete or abstract?
Are the words monosyllabic or polysyllabic?
Do the words have interesting connotations?
Is the diction formal or colloquial?
Is there any change in the level of diction in the
passage?
• What can the reader infer about the speaker or the
speaker’s attitude from the word choice?
What are some of the conclusions
we can draw from these answers?
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Concrete?
Abstract?
Monosyllabic words
Polysyllabic words
Formal
Colloquial
Change in type of
diction?
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Childlike
Mature thinking
Intellectually inferior
Sophisticated
Educated
Illiterate
Does this indicate an
epiphany?
Denotation means the literal, dictionary definition of
the word – plump and obese both mean caloricly
challenged
Connotation means the implied or suggested meaning
attached to a word, or the emotional “tag” that goes
along with the word.
Corpulent, plump, obese, heavy set, fleshy, fat, paunchy, burly,
over-weight, roly poly, bulky, portly, weighty, pudgy
Which word do we use to insult someone?
Which one do we use to describe someone we like?
Which one do we use to describe a cute little baby?
The choice of diction contributes to the
tone
When discussing tone, consider such
questions as:
• 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 a noticeable emotional
mood or atmosphere?
• Can anything in the passage be described as irony?
ALWAYS use an adjective when
describing diction and tone.
____ diction contributes to the
____ tone.
Now --- let’s try it
Bouncing into the room, she lit up the
vicinity with a joyous glow on her face
as she exuberantly shared details about
her fiancé and their wedding plans.
What are the specific words that create
the feeling of the sentence? What words
did the author use to create the feeling of
the sentence?
Bouncing into the room, she lit up
the vicinity with a joyous glow on her
face as she exuberantly shared about
her fiancé and their wedding plans.
Bouncing – lit – joyous – glow –
exuberantly shared– fiancé - wedding
What kind of words are these?
Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity with a
joyous glow on her face as she exuberantly shared
about her fiancé and their wedding plans.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Cheerful diction contributes to the euphoric
tone.
Or uplifting diction contributes to the joyful
tone.
She huddled in the corner, clutching her tattered
blanket and shaking convulsively, as she
feverishly searched the room for the unknown
dangers that awaited her.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
She lay on the couch in a white evening
dress, whispering softly in the ear of her fiancé,
running her fingers through his hair and gently
nibbling his earlobe.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Harvard accepted her, allowing this child
the opportunity to study in the same halls as the
many famous scholars before her, giving her the
chance to excel in her field in the best college in the
United States.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Bursting through the door, the flustered
mother hollered uncontrollably at the innocent
teacher who gave her child an F.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Drawing the attention of his classmates, as
well as his teacher, the student dared to experiment
with his professor’s intelligence by interrogating
him about the Bible.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
He furtively glanced behind him, for fear of his
imagined pursuers, then hurriedly walked on,
jumping at the slightest sound, even of a leaf
crackling under his own foot.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Gently smiling, her mother tenderly tucked
the covers up around the child’s neck, and carefully,
quietly, left the room, making sure to leave a
comforting ray of light shining through the opened
door should the child awake.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
The laughing wind skipped through the
village, teasing the trees until they danced with
anger and cajoling the grass into fighting itself,
blade slapping blade, as the silly dog with golfball
eyes and flopping, tongue bounded across the
lawn.
____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.
Remember………………………
What kind of words are there?
And how do they make you feel?
Abhorrent
abrupt accusing
accusatory
admonitory
bantering
bitter boring brash bucolic calm
cautious
childish coarse cold
colloquial
concerned
despairing
desperate
disdainful
disgusted
ecstatic effusive
elated elegiac eloquent
embittered
erudite exuberant
foreboding
gloomy harsh haughty
hopeful humble
indignant
inflammatory
irreverent
irritated ironic
joking joyful light
loving miserable
melancholic
nervous nostalgic optimistic
outraged
paranoid passionate
patronizing
pedantic peaceful
pessimistic
pitiful
pleasant playful proud pompous
pretentious
questioning
reflective
reminiscent
resigned
romantic sad
sanctimonious sarcastic
sardonic
scornful sentimental
serene serious sharp shocked silly
solemn somber soothing
snobbish
snooty sympathetic
taunting turgid vexed
vibrant whimsical
angry anxious appreciative
apologetic
arrogant audacious
condemning
dark
condescending
contemptuous dreamy mocking moralistic mournful
persuasive
piquant cynical compassionate confidant
See…………
The more words you know to describe
passages, the more sophisticated your
descriptions will be when you analyze
authors’ writing
And one last tip………..
Never, never, never, never, never say:
“the author uses diction”
do you mean – the author chooses words?
Well, duh!!!!!!
Always say:
the author uses ______(what kind of) diction
indignant? dark? euphoric?
Describe it!!!!!!