Word with Neutral Denotation House

DIDLS

Using the acronym DIDLS helps in remembering the basic elements of tone that should be considered when evaluating prose or poetry. Diction, images, details, language, and sentence structure all help to create the author's or speaker's attitude toward the subject and audience.
Diction / The connotation of the word choice
Images / Vivid appeals to understanding through the senses
Details / Facts that are included or those omitted
Language / The overall use of language, such as formal, clinical, jargon
Syntax / How structure affects the reader's attitude

Diction

Diction is the author’s choice of words. An author’s diction will vary based on his audience and purpose for writing. Good readers become sensitive to word choice to become aware of this use a thesaurus, select an interesting word with a neutral denotation. Then list each synonym and discuss the attitude implied by the varying words. Do this activity for a minimum of three words.

Example:

Word with neutral denotation House:

Home- a warm place for a family

Shack- a worn down small building

Mansion- a large building for someone with lots of money

Cabin- a building in the mountains used for shelter

Images

The use of vivid descriptions or figures of speech that appeal to sensory experiences helps to create the author's tone. An image is thus any vivid or picturesque phrase that evokes a particular sensation in the reader's mind.

Evaluate the author's tone conveyed in the images of the following lines of poetry:

·  My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. ______

·  An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king. ______

·  He clasps the crag with crooked hands. ______

·  If we must die, let it not be like hogs ______

·  Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot. ______

·  Love sets you going like a fat gold watch. ______

·  Smiling, the boy fell dead. ______

·  You do me wrong to take me out of the grave ______

Thou art a soul in bliss ______

Details

Details are most commonly the facts given by the author as support for the attitude or tone. The speaker's perspective shapes what details are given.

Open your textbook to The Most Dangerous Game. Read the first page and create a list of details.

Language

Like word choice, the language of a passage has control over tone. Language is the entire body of words used in a text, not just isolated bits of diction. It is important to develop a vocabulary that describes language. Different from tone, these words describe the force or quality of the diction, images, and details. These words qualify how the work is written, not the attitude or tone.

Words to Describe Language

·  Academic- found in textbooks and scholarly articles

·  Casual- used in personal email or on social networking

·  Colloquial

·  Emotional- think of a romantic hallmark card

·  Figurative- similes, metaphors and other things like this

·  Formal- used in legal documents

·  Jargon- words specific to a trade

·  Slang- words used among a specific age group

·  Vulgar- curse words

What type of language is used in The Most Dangerous Game?______

Provide a quote that supports your choice of language. ______

Open your book to Caucasian Mummies. What type of language is used in this article?

Provide a quote that supports your choice of language. ______

Syntax

Syntax is how an author constructs a sentence affects what the audience understands. The inverted order of an interrogative sentence cues the reader or listener to a question and creates a tension between speaker and listener. Similarly, short sentences are often emphatic, passionate or flippant, whereas longer sentences suggest the writer's thoughtful response.

Describe the sentence structure of The Cask of Amontillado by considering the following:

·  Sentence length (short, medium, or long?)

·  Sentence beginnings (variety or repetitive pattern?)

·  Arrangement of ideas in a sentence (most to least important, etc.)

·  Type of sentence (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory)

·  Type of sentence (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex)

·  Loose sentence (Ex: We ate dinner that evening after the thunderstorm.)

·  Periodic sentence (Ex: That evening, after the thunderstorm, we ate dinner.)

·  Balanced sentence (phrases/clauses balance each other in likeness of structure, meaning, or length: e.g., He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.)

·  Natural order sentence (subject first, predicate second)

·  Inverted order sentence (predicate first, subject second)

·  Split order sentence (Ex: In California oranges grow.)

·  Juxtaposition (normally unassociated ideas, words, phrases are placed next to one another)

·  Parallel structure (structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence)

·  Repetition (words, sounds, ideas are repeated to create emphasis)

·  Rhetorical question (expects no answer)