Friday, October 19, 2018

Diction & Syntax

Questions for analyzing Diction and Syntax

Diction
1. What type of words draw your attention? (Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives…)
2. Is the language general and abstract or specific and concrete?
3. Is the language formal, informal, colloquial, or slang?
4. Does the text employ figurative language?
5. Are there words with strong connotations that indicate strong emotions?
Syntax
1. What is the order of the parts of the sentence?
         (Subject-Verb-Object) or (Object-subject-verb)
2. What are the sentences like?
         Periodic-moving toward something important at the end.
         Cumulative-beginning with an important idea and then adding details.
                  More on these two sentence types here.
3. Describe the types of sentences.
         (Simple, compound, complex, compound complex)
4. Does the writer ask questions?
5. How does the writer connect words, phrases, and clauses?
More on Diction and Syntax in Death of a Salesman is here.
________________________________________________________

No comments: