Tone: the attitude toward the subject and audience that is implied in literature.
Example: In “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell states “The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men of the men who have been flogged with bamboos…” (50 essays Pg.277)
Function: The gruesome tone here brings out a dark feeling from the author to the reader. Without this the message would not have come across as strongly as the author intended.
Syntax: how chosen words are used to form a sentence.
Example: “Laila peeked from the top of the stairs. She watched the stranger sit down with her parents. He leaned toward them. Said a few muttered words. Then Babi’s face was white, and getting whiter, and he was looking at …show more content…
(50 Essays, “Shooting an Elephant”)
Function: Orwell’s use of diction to describe the crowd enhances his feelings for what he’d done to the elephant and how he saw the onlookers. He describes their outcry as “devilish,” showing that the reaction almost haunted him, as he knew he and the crowd were in the wrong for causing such pain to an innocent, “grandmotherly” animal.
Colloquialism: a non-formal way of writing; word choice that would be found in everyday, relaxed conversation
Example:In the exposition of Ethan Frome, the text is mainly in a relaxed form of language, similar to spoken word: “The Frome farm was always ‘bout as bare’s a milkpan when the cat’s been round; and you know what one of them old water mills is wuth nowadays.”
Function: The book is written in a style that imitates the language of the time period so that the reader’s internal voice will interpret the words as if they were being spoken to them in that time, similar to being TOLD a story instead of reading
Example: In “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell states “The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men of the men who have been flogged with bamboos…” (50 essays Pg.277)
Function: The gruesome tone here brings out a dark feeling from the author to the reader. Without this the message would not have come across as strongly as the author intended.
Syntax: how chosen words are used to form a sentence.
Example: “Laila peeked from the top of the stairs. She watched the stranger sit down with her parents. He leaned toward them. Said a few muttered words. Then Babi’s face was white, and getting whiter, and he was looking at …show more content…
(50 Essays, “Shooting an Elephant”)
Function: Orwell’s use of diction to describe the crowd enhances his feelings for what he’d done to the elephant and how he saw the onlookers. He describes their outcry as “devilish,” showing that the reaction almost haunted him, as he knew he and the crowd were in the wrong for causing such pain to an innocent, “grandmotherly” animal.
Colloquialism: a non-formal way of writing; word choice that would be found in everyday, relaxed conversation
Example:In the exposition of Ethan Frome, the text is mainly in a relaxed form of language, similar to spoken word: “The Frome farm was always ‘bout as bare’s a milkpan when the cat’s been round; and you know what one of them old water mills is wuth nowadays.”
Function: The book is written in a style that imitates the language of the time period so that the reader’s internal voice will interpret the words as if they were being spoken to them in that time, similar to being TOLD a story instead of reading