Elements of Style

THIS DOCUMENT IS TO BE REVISED TO MAKE IT APPLICABLE TO YEAR 8 LEVEL

Style is very revealing and a very interesting part of literary study. It is the WAY the author makes us love or hate his/her work ; a way of expressing his / her ideas. The important thing to note is HOW THIS IS ACHIEVED .

POINT OF VIEW

Why is the use of third person limited, first person or third person omniscient narration good for this novel and for the way the reader reacts to certain characters? ( Third person means that the narrator is outside the story but only gives us the thoughts of one or two people )

FORM OF NARRATION

The text can be written in a number of ways - diary, letter, narrative prose, flashback and it could be very factual , or opinionative . E.g. a writer who claims to be very factual can nevertheless write selectively and highlight only certain things for a purpose - sensationalism or to stereotype a character or create feeling in the reader by using highly emotive words.

DEVICE AND TECHNIQUES

• IMAGERY

Imagery deals with the way language creates images in our mind through the use of METAPHORS, SIMILES, PERSONIFICATION and SYMBOLS . These help us to understand more clearly what the author is trying to say because they stick in our mind.

• TONE

Tone is the way a writer feels about the topic he/ she is writing about or the way the author sounds through the writing e.g. angry, pompous, abrupt, ironic, melancholic, sad , pensive etc. The reader can work out tone by studying the CONNOTATIONS of words and looking at the SENTENCE LENGTH.

E.g. an author could say " On Sunday, April the third, your Kelpie- cross attacked my cat" or he could say

" Last week your beast of a dog savagely mauled my cat ". Clearly , the second version id stronger and expresses a more angry tone than the first.

Tone can be described as : scathing, abusive, truculent, sarcastic, arrogant, ironic, curt, suspicious, patronising, firm, formal, neutral, informal, hearty, genial, friendly, warm, gentle, respectful, humble, apologetic, flattering,

• SUSPENSE

IN literature suspense refers to the anxiety and anticipation that are created when the reader is unsure of what will happen next. Writers often use stepping stones of suspense as a major device for securing and maintaining the reader’s interest. The suspense element may be either of two main types :

1. the outcome is uncertain and the suspense lies in the question of who or what or how.
2. the outcome is inevitable from the events which have gone before and suspense resides in the reader’s anticipation of exactly when .

• IRONY

Irony is used to describe a situation where the meaning of a statement is different from what is actually said or performed. You can identify irony by considering when;

1. the reader is aware of something that a character is not aware of
2. one character is aware of what another character is not

The irony is the difference between the meaning intended by the speaker who does not know and the reader or character who does know.

SYNTAX

• SENTENCE STRUCTURE
• SENTENCE LENGTH
• PUNCTUATION

The way a sentence is written can have a different effect. For example using similar length sentences with no variety can indicate that the ideas are connected or that everything is okay in the situation described.

However, in a chase scene or one of suspense, an author may use sentences of alternating lengths so as to create the stop-start sensation. This reflects the panic that the character might be experiencing. A long sentence could create a sense of speed or anger , DEPENDING ON THE CONTEXT OF THE STORY.

Sentences can sound formal, or informal depending on whether they reflect human speech.

ALL THE ABOVE COMBINE TO CREATE AN OVERALL SENSE OF THE TYPE OF STYLE THAT AN AUTHOR IS USING . THESE CAN BE DESCRIBED AS

Formal, informal, colloquial, factual, persuasive, opinionative, climactic, poetic, conversational, biblical, etc.