Analyzing for style

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Analyzing for style

• Focus on syntax and diction

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Style

• Style the literary element that describes the
  ways that the author uses words
• the author's word choice, sentence structure,
  figurative language, and sentence arrangement all
  work together to establish mood, images, and
  meaning in the text.
• Style describes how the author describes events,
  objects, and ideas.

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Style cont

• Just as we change our fashion depending on the
  look we want to achieve, style can dress the same
  message in several different ways. For example
• Original
• "No sich uh thing!" Tea Cake retorted. (Zora
  Neale Hurston. Their Eyes Were Watching God.
  Urbana U of Illinois P, 1978, p. 205.)
• Informal
• "Nothing like that ever happened," Tea Cake
  replied.
• Formal
• "With great fortune, that happenstance did not
  become a reality," Tea Cake stated.
• Journalistic, after Ernest Hemingway
• "It did not happen," Tea Cake said.
• Archaic, after Nathaniel Hawthorne
• "Verily, it was a circumstance, to be noted, that
  appeared not to so much have been a reality as to
  have evolved as a thing that had not yet come to
  be," Tea Cake impelled.

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Style cont

• Wording and phrasing can tell us about emotions
  in the scene, the setting, and characters. For
  example
• He's passed away.
• He's sleeping with the fishes.
• He died.
• He's gone to meet his Maker.
• He kicked the bucket.
• When we want to analyze style we focus on two
  elements diction and syntax

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Diction

• Diction The word choice that an author uses
• When done artfully it is called a trope
• It often takes the form of metaphors, similes,
  personification, and hyperbole

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Diction Questions to ask

• Which of the following categories best describes
  the diction in the passage or text?
• Low or informal (e.g., dialect, slang, or jargon)
• Elevated or formal language
• Abstract and concrete diction
• Denotation and connotation
• What effect is the author trying to achieve
  through the use of a specific type of diction?
• What does the authors use of diction suggest
  about his or her attitude toward the subject,
  event, or character?\
• What are the connotations of a given word used in
  a particular context? (To begin, you might ask if
  the word(s) have a positive or negative
  connotation, then consider them in the specific
  context.)
• What words would best describe the diction in a
  specific passage or the text in general?

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Syntax

• Syntax is the grammatical structure of sentences,
  or the deliberate sentence structure the author
  chooses to make his or her desired point

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Elements of syntax

• Sentence length
• Number of sentences
• Rhythm of sentences
• Sentence beginnings variety or pattern
• Voice active or passive
• Word order/arrangement of ideas
• Sentence types

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Syntax Questions to ask

• Punctuation How does the author punctuate the
  sentence and to what extent does the punctuation
  affect the meaning?
• Structure How are words and phrases arranged
  within the sentence? What is the author trying to
  accomplish through this arrangement?
• How would you characterize the authors syntax in
  this text?
• Changes Are there places where the syntax
  clearly changes? If so, where, how, and why?
• Devices How would you describe the authors use
  of the following
• Independent and dependent clauses
• Coordinating, subordinating, or correlative
  conjunctions
• Repetition
• Parallelism
• Fragments
• Comparisons
• Sentence beginnings How does the author begin
  his or her sentences? (Does the author, for
  example, consistently begin with introductory
  phrases or clauses?