Language Network

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Language Network
Developing Style
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Developing Style
Writing Style
Writing style is a combination of the words and
images you choose, and the types of sentences
you write.
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Developing Style
Specific Words
Denotations and Connotations
Practice and Apply
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Specific Words
In addition to using a particular level of
language, a writer may choose to use concrete
words or abstract words, specific words or
general words.
The writers selection of words makes up his or
her diction.
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Specific Words
GENERAL The man saw a car.
SPECIFIC The patrol officer saw a blue
sedan.
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Specific Words
Precise nouns and verbs also can be used to
replace a string of words and modifiers.
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Specific Words
The car shifted from lane to lane through traffic.
The car zigzagged through traffic.
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Denotations and Connotations
Words have two kinds of meanings, called
denotations and connotations.
The denotation of a word is its dictionary
definition.
The connotation of a word is the set of
associations and feelings the word evokes.
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Denotations and Connotations
Cheap, inexpensive, and economical all mean about
the same thing, but their connotative meanings
are very different.
That car is really economical.
POSITIVE CONNOTATION
That car is really inexpensive.
NEUTRAL CONNOTATION
That car is really cheap.
NEGATIVE CONNOTATION
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Denotations and Connotations
In many dictionaries you can find explanations
of connotations in the lists of synonyms that
follow words definitions.
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Practice and Apply
Rewrite the sentence by replacing the underlined
words with more specific ones.
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Practice and Apply
Rewrite the sentence by replacing the underlined
word with a more specific one.
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Practice and Apply
Explain how these two sentences differ in meaning.
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Practice and Apply
Explain how these two sentences differ in meaning.
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Developing Style
Imagery
Figures of Speech
Practice and Apply
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Imagery
Imagery
Imagery conveys sensory impressions. It helps
the reader see, hear, feel, taste, and smell
what is being described.
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Imagery
This description appeals to several senses.
The crisp winter day with its dazzling light and
scent of new snow was a perfect setting for the
womens halfpipe competition. The densely packed
crowd huddled together for warmth and tried to
avoid sliding on the slippery, steep slope. The
competitors whizzed by, shredding the slopes,
inches from the spectators. What an exciting day!
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Figures of Speech
Figures of Speech
Figures of speech, or figurative language,
communicate ideas beyond the ordinary, literal
meaning of words.
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Figures of Speech
Simile, metaphor, and personification are three
examples of figures of speech. You can use them
to create strong, memorable images for the reader.
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Figures of Speech
A simile is a comparison that contains the word
like or as. Fresh similes compare things that a
person might not normally think of comparing.
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Figures of Speech
Similes make the scene from James Hursts story
more vivid.
. . . Then, like a bursting Roman candle, the
gum tree ahead of us was shattered by a bolt of
lightning. . . .the rain fell straight down in
parallel paths like ropes hanging from the
sky. James Hurst, The Scarlet Ibis
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Figures of Speech
In a metaphor something is treated as though it
were something else. The comparison is made
without the use of like or as.
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Figures of Speech
Richard Wright uses the metaphor of a runaway
train to describe the path his life was taking.
. . . without my knowing it, the locomotive of
my heart was rushing down a dangerous slope,
heading for a collision, heedless of the warning
red lights that blinked all about me, the sirens
and the bells and the screams that filled the
air. Richard Wright, Black Boy
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Figures of Speech
Personification is a figure of speech in which a
writer gives human characteristics to an animal,
a thing, or an idea.
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Figures of Speech
Susan Doro uses personification to present a poem
as a main character.
But tonight the poem saw that she was having a
good time, joking with her buddies. It was an
hour and a half later when the poem looked in
again. Susan Doro, The Cultural Worker
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Practice and Apply
Use imagery to complete the sentence.
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Practice and Apply
Use a simile to complete the sentence.
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Practice and Apply
Use a metaphor to complete the sentence.
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Practice and Apply
Write a paragraph that uses personification to
describe how one of these objects acts.