Unit 4: Style

21 terms. Say what each one means, then open the card to check.

• Diction

  A writer’s word choice: how formal, specific, plain or emotionally loaded the words are.

  Example. A mayor who calls a budget cut a “trim” rather than a “gutting” signals that she sees it as small and harmless.

• Connotation

  The feelings and associations a word carries beyond its literal dictionary meaning, which is its denotation.

  Example. “Confident” and “arrogant” can describe the same behavior, but “confident” praises it and “arrogant” blames it.

• Register

  The level of formality in a piece of writing, from casual and conversational to formal and technical.

  Example. A lab report says “the sample was heated for ten minutes”; a text to a friend says “I cooked it way too long.”

• Syntax

  How words are arranged into phrases, clauses and sentences, including sentence length, type and word order.

  Example. Opening with “Only after the storm passed” delays the main clause, so “did we see the damage” arrives with more force.

• Parallelism

  Using the same grammatical form for items in a series, so the ideas feel balanced and equally important.

  Example. “She came to listen, to learn and to lead” uses three matching verb phrases.

• Antithesis

  Setting contrasting ideas side by side in matching grammatical form to sharpen the difference between them.

  Example. “The town grew richer; its river grew poorer” sets gain against loss in two matching clauses.

• Periodic sentence

  A sentence that holds its main clause until the end, building suspense or stressing the final point.

  Example. “Through three winters, two floods and one fire, the bakery stayed open.” The main point lands last.

• Cumulative sentence

  A sentence that states its main clause first and then adds detail after detail, also called a loose sentence.

  Example. “The market opened, loud with vendors, bright with peppers, sharp with the smell of fresh bread.”

• Anaphora

  Repeating the same word or phrase at the start of several clauses or sentences in a row, for rhythm and emphasis.

  Example. “Every child deserves a library. Every child deserves a teacher. Every child deserves a chance.”

• Fragment for effect

  A deliberately incomplete sentence a writer uses to isolate one idea and make it stand out.

  Example. “The town voted to close the skate park. Again.” The one-word fragment stresses the writer’s frustration.

• Tone

  The writer’s attitude toward the subject or the audience, shown through word choice, details and sentence structure.

  Example. A review that calls a film “a brave, glorious mess” is critical but affectionate.

• Shift in tone

  A change in the writer’s attitude partway through a text, often marked by a pivot word such as but, yet or however.

  Example. A toast that teases the groom about his cooking, then turns tender when it thanks his late father.

• Hedging

  Words such as perhaps, likely or in most cases that limit a claim, making the writer sound careful and fair.

  Example. “A second bus line would probably shorten most commutes” claims less than “A second bus line will shorten commutes.”

• Figurative language

  Language that means more than its literal words, such as metaphor or personification, used to make an idea vivid or persuasive.

  Example. Saying a new law “opened a door” for small farms means it created an opportunity, not that anyone opened a door.

• Metaphor

  An implied comparison that describes one thing as if it were another, without using like or as.

  Example. Calling a deadline “a wall we keep driving toward” makes it feel solid and dangerous.

• Simile

  A stated comparison between two unlike things that uses like or as.

  Example. “The old dog’s tail thumped like a drum on the porch boards” makes its welcome loud and easy to picture.

• Extended metaphor

  One comparison developed across several sentences or a whole passage, so each new detail adds to the point.

  Example. An essay that treats a school as a garden, with teachers as gardeners, students as seedlings and a hard exam as a frost.

• Personification

  Giving human traits, feelings or actions to something that is not human.

  Example. “The old factory watched the town shrink around it” gives the building eyes and a kind of patience.

• Hyperbole

  Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or humor, not meant to be taken literally.

  Example. “I have asked you a million times to close the gate” exaggerates to stress how often the request was made.

• Understatement

  Presenting something as smaller or less serious than it is, often for dry humor or restraint.

  Example. Calling a basement with a foot of water in it “a bit damp.”

• Verbal irony

  Saying something different from, often the opposite of, what one actually means.

  Example. Calling a three-hour flight delay “a triumph of modern travel.”