2. Theory – Style and language techniques
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Theory – Style and language techniques
- How can you describe a writer’s writing style?
How does the writer say what they say? Words to describe tone on the attachment.
- What affects a writer’s writing style? (technical, flowery, colloquial, formal, vivid)
- Favoured figures of speech such as imagery, sensory details, analogies, hyperbole
- Favoured sound devices such as alliteration, rhyme, onomatopoeia
- Diction (word choice) – Nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, pronouns, many modifiers (words that modify the noun i.e. adjectives/adverbs), jargon, slang, dialect
On a basic level, you can look at the parts of speech an author uses or favours. Sophisticated writing is often marked by its reliance on nouns and verbs (over adjectives and adverbs), since this promotes greater use of detail and figurative language to tell the story.
- Punctuation
| Describe the effect | Example | |
| Punctuation and rhythm | He shoots. I run. Beside me, I hear the bullet zip past. I duck round a corner. Pounding steps. I leap up, cling to the wall. | |
| Capitalisation | At which Time he prov’d himself the Noah’s Dove, that finding himself no Rest anywhere, was receiv’d again into his own Ark, and brought |
- Wordiness (sentence lengths), Conjunctions and repetition
- Syntax (sentence structures)
| Describe and the effect | Example | |
| Simple sentence | I am at home. | |
| Compound sentence | I am at home, and I’m having fun. | |
| Complex sentence | I am at home, even though everyone else is out. | |
| Loose sentence | I am at home, where it’s comfortable, because I don’t feel like much company tonight, after that long day at school. | |
| Periodic sentence | I am, because of that most exhausting day at school, at home tonight. |