ELEMENTS OF STYLE AND TONEAP English Literature

Mrs. Brooks

Style is a combination of:

Diction Syntax Sound Devices Imagery Figurative Language Point of View

Let’s think of Style this way:

Every Possible Rhetorical Device,

Strategy, or Technique

Stylistic choices create Tone, and both tone and style tend to mirror what’s happening in a story

-consider the minimalist style being employed to mirror the ordinary, the mundane, the bluntness of reality, in a manner that creates a matter-of-fact tone

Diction:Levels of Language

Formal Informal/Conversational/Colloquial

(implies regional dialect) Slang

Ex. Formal: Hatred engenders violence.Informal: Hatred causes violence.Slang: Man, don’t be hatin’!

Diction, continued

Concrete or Abstract nouns? Objects/Things vs. Thoughts/Ideas/Feelings Denotative or Connotative? Ex.: House or Home Walked or Plodded Happy or Ecstatic Elevated Prose or Close to Speech? She gazed upon him with a dispassionate heart. Wha y’all doin’ ‘round her - “Close to Speech” may also be colloquial

Syntax

Sentence Length: Consider patterns of sentences in terms

of their relative length. A short sentence in the midst of several long sentences is often used to emphasize the information contained in the short sentence.

Like other stylistic choices, sentence structure tends to mirror events it is describing

Simple vs. Complex

Simple sentences can be short or long (longer simple sentences tend to be compound: equally weighted ideas joined by “and”“or” “but”“nor”)

Whereas Complex sentences have dependent clauses

Ex: “Poppa, a good quiet man, spent the last hours

before our parting moving aimlessly about the yard, keeping to himself and avoiding me.”

More Syntax

Active vs. Passive VoiceActive = Amy made the catch. Passive = The catch was made by Amy.

-Active Voice: emphasizes the responsibility of the person because they are the ones doing the action; they are the subject of the sentence

-Passive Voice: emphasized the thing that happened rather than who did it; in passive construction, the thing is the subject.

Here’s another example of Active vs. Passive Voice.

Active: Bob made the bread.

Bob is the subject doing the action: “Bob made...”

Here, Bob’s responsibility or achievement is emphasized – He made the bread!

Passive: The bread was made by Bob.

The bread is the subject passively receiving the action

Here, the bread is more important than who made it.

Example of Style Mirroring Events "The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and

now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out of a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light." (Fitzgerald)

The first sentence is compound, equally emphasizing key building blocks of the party.

The short second sentence emphasizes the main point of the scene: That Gatsby’s party is the center of the world.

The last sentence is long and rhythmic and complex; it parallels the actions of a dance; it is swirling and hypnotic, changing directions in midcourse with a semicolon, much like a tipsy and elated partygoer.

Parallel Structure: means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.

Examples: Not Parallel:

Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.

Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

More Parallel Structure

Not Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and in a detailed manner.

Parallel: The production manager was asked to write his report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.

Parallel Structure

Not Parallel: The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and his motivation was low.

Parallel: The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and lacked motivation.

Syntax:More Types of Sentences

Loose Sentence: puts the main idea before all additional information; in other words, it puts first things first, and lets the reader know what it is mainly about when she has read the first few words.

Effect/Purpose? They are more straight-forward and direct.

Periodic Sentence: puts the modifying information first so that the main idea is expressed at or near the end of it.

Effect/Purpose? They can build suspense or curiosity; they can seem dramatic , formal, or literary.

Loose vs. .

Periodic

Examples: Loose vs. Periodic

“She decided to study English, despite the fact that she loved music, practiced everyday, and wrote all of her own songs.”

“The world won’t end even if we fail again and again.”

“Fred escaped into the storm cellar while the wind howled like a freight train and the tornado drew closer, hurtling farm machinery through the air.”

“Although she loved music, practiced everyday, and wrote all of her own songs, she decided to study English.”

“Even if we fail again and again, the world won’t end.”

“The wind howled like a freight train, and the monstrous tornado drew closer, hurtling farm machinery through the air, as Fred escaped into the storm cellar.”

Loose Periodic

More Syntax

Juxtaposition: Two or more ideas, words, phrases, characters, actions, settings, are placed near each other or side-by-side for the purpose of pointing out an important comparison or contrast

Example: “The young girl bounded along past

her arthritic grandmother.”

Syntax!

Rhetorical Questions: “We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come

into being without it? What does Nature hold dearer, or more proper to herself? Could you have a hot bath unless the firewood underwent some change? Could you be nourished if the food suffered no change? Do you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the same order, and no less necessary to Nature?”

--Marcus Aurelius

Purpose/Effect = To actively engage the audience, to draw them into the “conversation”, to perhaps appeal to the audience’s ethos of common concern/interest. Rhetorical questions can also be a tool of sarcasm and other more general humor.

Syntax

Repetition -Anaphora: repetition of a

word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

Examples of Anaphora: - "I needed a drink, I

needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."(Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely)

-"I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to aerobicize."(Weird Science, 1985)

Syntax : Interesting Punctuation

Semicolon ; Often a writer chooses a semicolon to achieve a

more flowing effect and to show a close relationship of ideas. Using a period to separate two independent clauses has a more conclusive effect. It forces more of a pause on the reader's part.

Example: "With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it's a useful little chap."(Abraham Lincoln)

Colon : Indicates that the second independent clause

holds more weight/importance/meaning than the first. It’s often used for announcements, pronouncements, and other amplifications of meaning.

Example: “The seven years’ difference in our ages lay between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years would ever operate between us as a bridge.”

(Baldwin)

Dashes – Indicate added emphasis, an

interruption, or an abrupt change of thought

Example: “You are the friend—the only friend—who offered to help me.”

“I wish you would—oh, never mind.”

Parenthesis () -usually to interject additional

information, sometimes taking on the form of commentary or opinion

Syntax: Chiasmus (Antithesis)

Sentence structure in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first by reversing the parts, for the sake of creating a thought-provoking comparison or counter-point.

Examples: "You forget what you want to remember, and

you remember what you want to forget.” "In the end, the true test is not the speeches

a president delivers; it’s whether the president delivers on the speeches.”

"I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me."

Sound Devices

Onomatopoeia – words that imitate sounds – “Bang!” “Crash!” “Splash!”

Purpose? To create auditory imagery

Alliteration /Consonance – Repetition of consonant sounds – “the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.“ Purpose? makes the reader read faster, thereby adding

a sense of speed and intensity to the sentence, and it creates a consistent pattern that focuses the audience’s attention. It also creates a poetic rhythm .

-Assonance- The repetition of vowel sounds – "Do you like blue?“ ; “The sea gulls glide on streams of air

They rise so high they touch the sky Just like a silent prayer”

Purpose? Creates a slower poetic rhythm / pattern, often used for visual imagery

Imagery

What types of sensory imagery does an author employ? -Visual -Auditory -Tactile -Olfactory -Gustatory

Purpose? To draw the audience into a scene, to create a realistic feeling of actually being there. Images are often used to set the mood or tone of a particular scene . Images may also be symbolic of deeper meanings

Figurative Language is the use of words that go beyond their ordinary meaning.  It requires you to use your imagination, to think in broad generalizations, and to apply that insight to figure out the author's meaning.

Some of the most commonly used are:-Irony-Simile/Metaphor/Extended Metaphor-Hyperbole or Understatement-Personification-Paradox/Oxymoron – an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but

that may yet have some truth in it

Paradox

Examples:- “One may understand the cosmos, but

never the ego; the self is more distant than any star.” (G.K. Chesterton)

- “Even a man is not able to become human!”

- “So many troubles I got that they become my comfort!” 

(M. Ghalib)

Types of Irony

Verbal irony uses words to suggest opposite meanings; saying one thing but meaning another – often takes the form of sarcasm

In dramatic irony, the reader is aware of something that a character in a piece of literature does not know. 

In situational irony, the outcome of a situation is very different from what is expected.

Other forms of Verbal Irony besides sarcasm

Verbal Irony

Hyperbole Understatement

Litotes

Hyperbole is a rhetorical device in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.

Considered in its context, hyperbole can be very revealing of character

Here’s an example:

The narrator of Martin Amis's novel Money is John Self, a larger-than-life filmmaker whose gargantuan appetites are matched by the author's hyperbolic prose style.

In LA, you can’t do anything unless you drive. Now I can’t do

anything unless I drink. And the drink-drive combination, it really isn’t possible out there. If you so much as loosen your seatbelt or drop you ashes or pick your nose, then it's an Alcatraz autopsy with the questions asked later. Any indiscipline, you feel, any variation, and there’s a bullhorn, a set of scope sights, and a coptered police drawing a bead on your rug.

-from Money (1984) by Martin Amis

UNDERSTATEMENT

Understatement is a staple of humor in English-speaking cultures, especially in British humor.

For example, in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, a suburban dinner party is invaded by Death, who wears a long black cloak and carries a scythe. He is the Grim Reaper; the party is over; the guests must all go with him. "Well," says one party guest, "that's cast rather a gloom over the evening, hasn't it?" In another scene, an Army officer has just lost his leg. When asked how he feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and responds, "Stings a bit.“

So is the author’s purpose for using understatement always to achieve humor?.....No. Not Always. Sometimes it’s used to diminish the seriousness of a situation. Consider the following:

“It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.” —J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

LITOTES

Litotes are a specific form of understatement in which a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite. For example, rather than merely saying that something is attractive (or even very attractive), one might say it is "not unattractive". Thereby implying that it is attractive by denying that it is unattractive

For Example: - We are not amused. - Running a marathon in under two hours is no small accomplishment. - Her singing is not bad. - The situation we have on our hands is not ideal.

In order to understand the author’s purpose for using litotes, as with all other rhetorical strategies, you must consider the context. As with the more general form of understatement, litotes may be used to downplay an accomplishment, to be modest, maintain polite civility, to avoid panic (to name a few).

Point of View

P.O.V. is a stylistic choice that greatly affects the way the audience experiences a piece of literature; like all other stylistic choices, it contributes greatly to tone

First person participant – has more potential for bias -Unreliable narrator (we perceive the narrator is deceptive,

deluded, deranged, insane, etc.) -Innocent(naïve) narrator – fails to understand all the

implications of what’s happening this has a lot of potential for Dramatic Irony

Third person nonparticipant -Omniscient

-Editorial Omniscience vs. Impartial Omniscience -Limited Omniscience -Objective (doesn’t enter the mind of any character,

simply describes events from the outside)