Diction

What is diction?

Diction is word choice.Words are the writer’s basic tools.

So choose your diction carefully and wisely in your writing.

The words you choose will affect how people feel when they read your writing.

Diction Continued

Although many diction words are adjectives, don’t neglect to recognize verbs which function as diction.

The choice of specific, appropriate verbs is very important in writing.

The use of specific rather than broad words can influence the effectiveness of the work.

3 Qualities of Effective Diction

1.Appropriateness2.Specificity3.Imagery

1. Appropriateness

This is when writers care about who will be reading their words and how the reader may react.

Which type of language is appropriate for your writing?-formal-popular-colloquial

Appropriateness

Formal-Scholarly writing, serious prose, poetry

Informal-Expository essays, newspaper editorials,

works of fiction Colloquial (Slang/Informal Speech)

-Create a mood, capture a historic or regional dialect

-Examples: any contractions, any shortened words, “kind of”, “like”, “mad” (angry), “yeah”, “sure” (certainly), “it’s me”

2. Specificity

Choose specific words that refer to uniquely individual persons, events, or objects.

3. Imagery

These are the pictures (images) that occur in our minds when specific diction is employed.

Revising Diction

When revising your diction or choosing diction to include in your writing, think about:

1. What is your purpose?2. Who is your audience?

Look at this example:?

Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity with a joyous glow on her face as she told about her fiancé and their wedding plans.

What specific 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 told about her fiancé and their wedding plans.

What kind of words are these?

So we could say that….

____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.

*Remember that TONE is the author’s attitude toward the writing. MOOD is the general atmosphere created by the author’s words.

Cheerful euphoric

Or____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.Uplifting joyful

Here’s another example:

She huddled in the corner, clutching her tattered blanket and shaking, as she feverishly searched the room for the unknown dangers that awaited her.

____ diction contributes to the ____ tone.

Frightening alarming

Annnd one more:to the serene 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.Loving serene

Denotation & Connotation

Denotation &Connotation

Now that you know why it is important to choose your diction wisely, let’s take a look at some more specifics regarding that diction.

Denotation

Denotation is the strict dictionary definition of a word.

House ’haus\ n, pl houses1: a building that servesas a living quarters for oneor a few families.

Denotation

Many words have more than one denotative meaning.

There are several other definitions for house. Here are just a few:

-those who dwell under the same roof and compose a family

-to provide with or take shelter-to encase, enclose, or shelter

Connotation

Connotation is the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word.

It is the feeling connected with aword.

HOUSE HOME

Which word has a better feeling?

The Purpose of Words

We use words to label things. But the words we use also show our

point of view. The diction you choose in your writing

can express a positive, neutral, or negative connotation.

For example:

positive: slender neutral: thin negative: skinny

Positive and Negative Connotation

Positive

We bought inexpensive souvenirs at the amusement park.

Negative We bought cheap souvenirs at the amusement park.

Positive

Everyone had a (smile, smirk) on his/her face on the ride home.

smile

Negative

I ate a (soggy, moist) sandwich.

soggy

Which word has the positive connotation?

average mediocre

spit saliva

childish childlike

antique old-fashioned

Now you try on your own!Look at the following words, all of

which have the denotative meaning “house”:home hut shack mansion cabin chalet abode dwelling shanty domicile residence

 Decide if each word has a positive,

negative, or neutral connotation and fill in the chart in your notes.