using the first four images, please answer #1 and #2 on the last page with detailed and text cited answers.

Word choice, or diction, in a text includes the vocabulary, the use of standard or nonstandard language, even the use (or not) of contractions. Standard English is used by almost all academics and professionals. It conforms 1 , I to the conventions of language that are accepted most widely by English speakers. While many dialects of English are glish are used throughout the nation and world, Standard English provides a consistent way to communicate with Source: Stan Eales, cartoonstock people across regions and cultures. For this reason, even though writers may What comparison does this cartoon occasionally include dialect or informal language for affect, Standard English make? What is the point of the comparison? How might it relate to the is the preferred form for rhetorical writing that can be clearly understood by setting? effect of words on tone in a nonmusical a wide audience. Nonstandard English reflects regional variations, slang, and colloquial expressions. Many people use it in nonprofessional or nonacademic settings. Fiction writers often use it to capture the flavor of a character. "Diction is often classified as formal, informal, or neutral. Formal diction is free of slang and contractions and often academic or dignified in tone. It is the language of scholarly publications, legal documents, and other serious In Part 3, you will make inferences about a writer's tone based on the communications. Informal diction is marked by contractions and slang- strategic choice of words and writing style. You will also see how these choices the language of everyday speech. Neutral diction has a conversational or influence the way a message is received. personal tone and is commonly used in popular magazine and newspaper articles. It is characterized by words that are free of emotional undertones. It may contain contractions, but it tends to avoid slang. All types of diction have their place . For example, Ericsson includes both formal and informal diction when KEY TERMS introducing her discussion of "Delusion": connotation style I could write the book on this one. Delusion, a cousin of dismissal, is denotation one the tendency to see excuses as facts. It's a powerful lying tool because it diction word choice filters out information that contradicts what we want to believe. Alcoholics who believe that the problems in their lives are legitimate reasons for drinking rather than results of the drinking offer the classic example of nodoms us earl oal deluded thinking. 3.1 Tone | STL-1.D STL-1.E oil boom s logo of bugelq so to boom Notice that Ericsson begins her paragraph with an informal colloquialism: Tone is a writer's attitude or feeling about a subject conveyed through his or her "I could write the book on this one. " This common saying, which people often strategic choice of words, with particular attention to the connotations of the use conversationally, helps ease the reader into the subject matter. But after words. Depending on the writer's choice of words, the tone of a piece may be her first sentence, Ericsson begins using formal, standard English; she employs serious or playful, optimistic or pessimistic, sincere or ironic. serious language to discuss how the psychology of "delusion" can have serious no sbutit consequences. Tone and Word Choice Writers set their tone by using appropriate words to elicit emotions In effective writing, the writer's choices work together to engage a targeted in the reader. Words have denotation and connotation. Denotation is the audience, establish the writer's credibility, develop a convincing line of reasoning, dictionary definition of a word; connotation is the emotional implication or and achieve the writer's purpose(s) arising from the rhetorical situation. association of a word. Take, for example, two words with a similar denotation: One choice a writer makes is about what tone to use. Tone is communicated house and home. Denotatively, there is little difference between these terms. through various techniques and strategies but especially through word choice But connotatively, house implies a physical structure where people live and and writing style. ome implies a place of security and belonging. The word home has positive connotations. By using highly connotative words, writers are able to evoke pecific feelings and emotions within their audiences. STRATEGIC USE OF TONE 343Consider the connotations of the following excerpt from a short essay called "Green Dreams: The All-American Lawn." wasting billions of gallons of water and applying endless killing chemicals The ideal American lawn represents a perfect symmetry of greenness that destroy all the insect life. Every year, Americans spend billions of each blade nearly identical, not a weed in sight to distract the eye. It is nature dollars buying fuel, fertilizers, and pesticides to ensure that our houses are surrounded by a manicured ecological wasteland. minutely sculpted and carefully shaped into uniform harmony tha However , each homeowner has the power to change this narrative , ony that calms the eye with its unblemished regularity. With the help of endless watering and if you want to see more birds and bunnies-and aren't worried about the Invigorating nutrients, the American lawn even thrives in areas that would occasional dandelion-you can stop drenching your lawn in pesticides and otherwise be landscapes of desert rock and sand. One can almost imagine herbicides. Who knows? You might spend less time applying chemicals our mythic settler forefathers, who attempted to tame the Wilderness and more time enjoying nature. looking upon this expanse of crewcut green and smiling with satisfaction The second is familiar to you-it is from Greta Thunberg's Speech at The Many of the words and phrases in this passage have positive connotations UN Climate Action Summit, the anchor text in Unit 1. perfect, carefully shaped, harmony, invigorating, thrives, and satisfaction. The descriptive details about nature and the strong verbs work to create a c "How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just business as peaceful tone. Though formal, the word choice is creative instead of academi a calm and usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 82 years. Tone and Writing Style "There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these Word choice and style work together to create a writer's tone. Writing style figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable, And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. is the way in which a writer expresses thoughts and ideas and creates the "voice "You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand readers hear when they read. A number of factors combine to create a writer's your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you style. Word choice is one important element. The style of sentences a writer choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you. uses is another: Some writers rely on long, flowing sentences with descriptive "We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where adjectives; others rely on more formal language, academic terms, and complex we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether sentence structure that reveals their expertise on a topic. Sometimes in less you like it or not." formal writing, sentence fragments and slang can help a writer create a down- to-earth style. These two sources convey their messages through two very different Both of the following texts are on the same topic: protection of the writing styles and tones. Each uses word choice, writing style, and connotation environment. As you read each, identify words with positive or negative to convince the reader. der. "Green Dreams: The All-American Lawn" uses connotations. Also consider the style of the writing and how the inviting language in the first paragraph to engage the reader but, in the second supports the style and creates an overall tone. The first repeats the excerpt paragraph, tactically switches tone to suggest that the inviting appearances you read earlier from "Green Dreams: The All-American Lawn," but then described in the introduction hide a more problematic reality. In contrast, moves on to the rest of the essay. Thunberg confronts the audience with short, clipped sentences and shame- evoking rhetorical questions. Her words are highly negative: failing us, your The ideal American lawn represents a perfect symmetry of greenness, betrayal, never forgive you. The writers employ vastly different tones, but both each blade nearly identical, not a weed in sight to distract the eye. It is effectively communicate their message. nature minutely sculpted and carefully shaped into uniform harmony that Other elements also contribute to an writer's style. These characteristics calms the eye with its unblemished regularity. With the help of endless include watering and invigorating nutrients, the American lawn even thrives in Punctuation, such as a dashes and semicolons areas that would otherwise be landscapes of desert rock and sand. One can almost imagine our mythic settler forefathers, who attempted to tame Text features such as headings within an article or speech the Wilderness, looking upon this expanse of crewcut green and smiling . Questions, sometimes rhetorical, within the writing with satisfaction. But what looks so green and peaceful at first glance is, in actuality, Comparisons more barren than a desert. The perfect lawn consists of one plant- . Syntax, or arrangement of words, phrases, and paragraphs grass-and represents a monoculture devoid of the diversity necessary to . Contractions, colloquialisms, sentence fragments, and slang support a thriving ecosystem. To achieve this uniform greenness requires STRATEGIC USE OF TONE 345Compare the word choice, style, and tone of the following two passages both written by women on the subject of writing and both delivered as speech Here's what you might notice about elements of Virginia Wolff's style. by request at universities. In the first, Virginia Wolff (1882-1941) attempt ong sentences connected with semicolons are Punctuation, such as to figure out what to say on the subject of women and fiction. This is hits dashes and semicolons common, which gives the effect of a pile-up of deas. Dashes are also used for some parenthetical Chapter 1 of A Room of One's Own (1929) begins. comments that reflect a tone ("to call [thought] by a prouder name than it deserved," "you know the little But, you may say, we asked you to speak about women and fiction- tug" what has that got to do with a room of one's own? I will try to explain First sentence is a question asked from the When you asked me to speak about women and fiction I sat down on the Questions audience's perspective; a question is also used to banks of a river and began to wonder what the words meant. They might address the audience in the sentence about her mean simply a few remarks about Fanny Burney; a few more about Jane line. thought as something caught on the end of a fishing Austen; a tribute to the Brontes and a sketch of Haworth Parsonage under show; some witticisms if possible about Miss Mitford; a respectful allusion Comparison between the content of her speech and a Comparison to George Eliot; a reference to Mrs. Gaskell and one would have done nugget of truth that can be placed on the mantel. Also lengthy comparison between how a thought takes But at second sight the words seemed not so simple. The title women shape (or not) like something at the end of a fishing and fiction might mean, and you may have meant it to mean, women and line and how it is "hauled in" for examination and what they are like; or it might mean women and the fiction that they write; thrown back if not good enough. or it might mean women and the fiction that is written about them; or it First sentence begins as if in mid-stream with "But, might mean that somehow all three are inextricably mixed together and Syntax you may say," an unusual opening syntax; repetition you want me to consider them in that light. But when I began to consider of clauses beginning with "or" in the first paragraph. the subject in this last way, which seemed the most interesting, I soon Table 6-3 saw that it had one fatal drawback. I should never be able to come to a conclusion. I should never be able to fulfill what is, I understand, the first Together with her word choice, Wolff's writing style helps create a serious duty of a lecturer-to hand you after an hour's discourse a nugget of pure tone, suggesting she took her audience of educated readers seriously and truth to wrap up between the pages of your notebooks and keep on the mantelpiece for ever. All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one devoted much thought to the subject of women's roles that was emerging as a minor point-a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is social issue at the time. But she does not use distant academic language, and to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the her comparison of thought to a fish on a line is a down-to-earth analogy. The second passage was delivered almost 100 years later by novelist true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved. .. . [She sits by the side of a river to contemplate this question.] Zadie Smith, who was asked in 2008 to address writing students at Columbia The river reflected whatever it chose of sky and bridge and burning University on "some aspect of [her] craft." She presents her ideas in ten points. The excerpt below is point #8 from her speech "That Crafty Feeling." tree, and when the undergraduate had oared his boat through the reflections they closed again, completely, as if he had never been. There 8. Step Away from the Vehicle one might have sat the clock round lost in thought. Thought-to call it by You can ignore everything else in this lecture except number eight. It a prouder name than it deserved-had let its line down into the stream. is the only absolutely 24-carat-gold-plated piece of advice I have to give t swayed, minute after minute, hither and thither among the reflections you. I've never taken it myself, though I intend to next time around. . . . The and the weeds, letting the water lift it and sink it, until-you know the little advice is as follows: tug-the sudden conglomeration of an idea at the end of one's line: and When you finish your novel, if money is not a desperate priority, if you then the cautious hauling of it in, and the careful laying of it out? Alas, laid do not need to sell it at once or be published that very second-put it in a on the grass how small, how insignificant this thought of mine looked; the drawer. For as long as you can manage. A year or more is ideal-but even sort of fish that a good fisherman puts back into the water so that it may three months will do. Step away from the vehicle. The secret to editing your grow fatter and be one day worth cooking and eating. I will not trouble work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer. I can't you with that thought now, though if you look carefully you may find it for tell you how many times I've sat backstage with a line of novelists at some yourselves in the course of what I am going to say. festival, all of us with red pens in hand, frantically editing our published novels into fit form so that we might go on stage and read from them. It's an unfortunate thing, but it turns out that the perfect state of mind to edit All of the women mentioned in these lines played a role in shaping English literature. Haworth your own novel is two years after it's published, ten minutes before you Parsonage was the home of the Brontes and is now a museum. STRATEGIC USE OF TONE 347 346 ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION: AP' EDITION1. On separate paper, complete the following chart to help you identify the relationship between tone, word choice, style, and subject. Describe the author's Identify strategic word choices to help set the Identify at least three tone. tone. characteristics of the author's style. 2. The website of Utne Reader, in which Ericsson's essay was published, describes its audience this way: "Utne readers are enthusiastic and motivated agents of social change who want to spend their time and resources making the world a better place. They crave a well-rounded perspective on current events that moves beyond the headlines and sound bites." In what specific ways does Ericsson's tone connect to her intended audience? Does it enhance the strength of her argument? Why or why not?go on stage at a literary festival. At that moment every redundant phrase each show-off, pointless metaphor, all the pieces of deadwood, stupidity vanity and tedium are distressingly obvious to you. Two years earlier, When the proofs came, you looked at the same page and couldn't see a comm' out of place. And by the way, that's true of the professional editors, too. after they've read a manuscript multiple times, they stop being able to see It. You need a certain head on your shoulders to edit a novel, and it's not the head of a writer in the thick of it, nor the head of a professional editor who's read it in 12 different versions. It's the head of a smart stranger who PICKS it off a bookshelf and begins to read. You need to get the head of that smart stranger somehow. You need to forget you ever wrote that book. Punctuation, such as Sentences are long in this passage as well, but dashes and semicolons they are mixed with shorter sentences so the feeling of ideas piling up is softened. Text features Dividing her speech into ten points and numbering them provides chunks of text (similar to Ericsson's categories). Comparison The title of #8 compares standing back from your writing as if you were a criminal being asked to stand away from your car. That comparison makes a light-hearted comparison to the "crimes" an author can commit when she lacks distance from her work. Contractions, Uses a sentence fragment ("For as long as colloquialisms, sentence you can manage."). Uses contractions (can't, fragments, and slang I've, it's) Table 6-4 Smith's word choice and writing style help create a more light-hearted tone, and she makes it clear that she doesn't take herself too seriously (she doesn't follow her own advice; she sees "every redundant phrase, each show-off, pointless metaphor, all the pieces of deadwood, stupidity, vanity and tedium" in her own work). Smith is addressing an audience of college students, so she uses an informal tone that readily connects with the language and life experience of her listeners. The comparison to stepping away from a vehicle, the clever title, and other self-deprecating remarks help create a humorous tone. Since tone is the writer's attitude or feeling about a subject, it can take as many forms as there are attitudes and feelings. These are just a few. . Sarcastic-uses mockery by saying the opposite of what is really meant . Heartfelt-expresses genuine emotion . Scornful-expresses a very critical attitude . Playful-uses lighthearted language and images and easy-going, informal style . Somber-uses dark language and formal style