Tone – Style – Syntax

Tone is defined as the writer or speaker’s attitude toward the subject. The following is a list of tone words:

Angry Fanciful Indignant

Sharp Complimentary Bantering
Upset Condescending Flippant
Silly Sympathetic Condescending
Boring Contemptuous Patronizing
Afraid Apologetic Facetious
Happy Humorous Clinical
Hollow Horrific Inflammatory
Joyful Sarcastic Benevolent
Allusive Nostalgic Burlesque
Sweet Zealous Detached
Vexed Irreverent Cynical
Tired Benevolent Incisive
Bitter Seductive Allusive
Dreamy Candid Scornful
Restrained Pitiful Effusive
Proud Didactic Fanciful
Dramatic Satiric Colloquial
Sad Whimsical Compassionate
Cold Dramatic Impartial
Urgent Learned Insipid
Joking Informative Pretentious
Poignant Somber Vibrant
Detached Urgent Irreverent
Confused Confident Sentimental
Childish Mock-heroic Moralistic
Peaceful Objective Complimentary
Mocking Diffident Contemptuous
Objective Ironic Sympathetic
Vibrant Petty Taunting
Frivolous Factual Angry
Audacious Retrained Turgid
Shocking Elegiac Sardonic
Somber Disdainful Contentious
Giddy Lugubrious Insolent
Provocative Candid Concerned
Sentimental Pedantic

The following will signal a change or shift in tone:

● Key words – but, yet, nevertheless, however, although.
● Punctuation – dashes, periods, colons.
● Stanza and paragraph divisions.
● Changes in line and stanza or sentence length.

There are at least four areas that may be considered when analyzing style: diction, sentence structure, treatment of subject matter, and
figurative language.

I. Diction (choice of words) – Describe diction by considering the following:

A. Words may be monosyllabic (one syllable in length) or polysyllabic (more than one syllable in length). The higher
ratio of polysyllabic words, the more difficult the content.

B. Words may be mainly colloquial (slang), informal (conversational), formal (literary) or old-fashioned.

C. Words may be mainly denotative (containing an exact meaning), e.g. dress, or connotative (containing a suggested
meaning), e.g. gown.

D. Words may be concrete (specific) or abstract (general).

E. Words may be euphonious (pleasant sounding), e.g. butterfly, or cacophonous (harsh sounding), e.g. pus.

Words That Describe Language

Jargon Vulgar Scholarly
Insipid Pedantic Poetic
Precise Euphemistic Moralistic
Esoteric Pretentious Slang
Connotative Sensuous Idiomatic
Plain Exact Concrete
Literal Learned Cultured
Colloquial Symbolic Picturesque
Artificial Simple Homespun
Detached Figurative Provincial
Bombastic Trite
Abstract Obscure
Grotesque Precise
Concrete Exact

II. Sentence Structure – Describe the sentence structure by considering the following:

A. Examine the sentence length. Are the sentences telegraphic (shorter than 5 words in length), medium
(approximately eighteen words in length), or long and involved (thirty words or more in length)? Does the sentence
length fit the subject matter, what variety of lengths is present? Why is the sentence length effective?

B. Examine sentence patterns. Some elements to consider are listed below:

1. A declarative sentence (assertive) makes a statement, e.g., The king is sick. An imperative sentence
gives a command, e.g., Stand up. An interrogative sentence asks a question, e.g., Is the king sick? An
exclamatory sentence makes an exclamation, e.g., The king is dead!

2. A simple sentence contains one subject and one verb, e.g., The singer bowed to her adoring audience.
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction (and, but,
or) or by a semicolon, e.g., The singer bowed to the audience, but she sang no encores. A complex
sentence contains an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses, e.g., You said that you
would tell the truth. A compound-complex sentence contains two or more principal clauses and one or
more subordinate clause, e.g., The singer bowed while the audience applauded, but she sang no
encores.

3. A loose sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending, e.g. We reached
Edmonton that morning after a turbulent fight and some exciting experiences. A periodic sentence
makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached, e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight
and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton.

4. In a balanced sentence, the phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their likeness or
structure, meaning, and/or length, e.g., He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me
beside the still waters.

5. Natural order of a sentence involves constructing sentences so the subject comes before the predicate,
e.g., Oranges grow in California. Inverted order of a sentence (sentence inversion) involves
constructing sentences so the predicate comes before the subject, e.g., In California grow oranges. This
is a device in which normal sentence patterns are reversed to create an emphatic or rhythmic effect.
Split order of sentences divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in the middle, e.g.,
In California oranges grow.

6. Juxtaposition is a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases
are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit, e.g., “The apparition of these
faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” (from “In a Station of the Metro” by Ezra Pound).

7. Parallel structure (parallelism) refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or

parts of sentence. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that
elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased, e.g., He was walking,
running, and jumping for joy.

8. Repetition is a device in which words, sounds, and ides are used more than once for the purpose of
enhancing rhythm and creating emphasis, e.g. “…government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.”

9. A rhetorical question is a question, which expects no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and
is generally stronger than a direct statement, e.g., If Mr. Ferhoff is always fair, as you have said, why
did he refuse to listen to Mrs. Baldwin’s argument?

C. Examine sentence beginnings. Is there good variety or does a pattern emerge?

D. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a sentence. Are they set out in a special way for a purpose?

E. Examine the arrangement of ideas in a paragraph to see if there is any evidence of any patterns or structure.
III. Treatment of Subject Matter – Describe the author’s treatment of subject matter by considering the following: Has the
author been:

A. Subjective? Are his conclusions based upon opinions; are they rather personal in nature?
B. Objective? Are his conclusions based upon facts; are they impersonal or scientific?

C. Supportive of his main idea? If so, how did he support his claims? Did he: a. state his opinions, b. report his
experiences, c. report observations, d. refer to readings, e. refer to statements made by experts, f. use statistical
data?

IV. Figurative Language

A. Simile is a comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words like or as. It is definitely a stated
comparison, where the poet says one thing is like another, e.g., The warrior fought like a lion.

B. Metaphor is a comparison without the use of like or as. The poet states that one thing is another. It is usually a
comparison between something that is real or concrete and something that is abstract, e.g., Life is but a dream.

C. Personification is a kind of metaphor which gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics, e.g.
The wind cried in the dark.

D. Hyperbole is a deliberate, extravagant and often outrageous exaggeration. It may be used either for serious or
comic effect, e.g. The shot that was heard ‘round the world.

E. Understatement (Meiosis) is the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony which deliberately represents something
as much less than it really is, e.g., I could probably manage to survive on a salary of two million dollars a year.

F. Paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. It may seem almost absurd. Although it may seem to be at odds with
ordinary experience, it usually turns out to have a coherent meaning, and reveals a truth which is normally hidden,
e.g., The more you know, the more you don’t know. (Socrates)

G. Oxymoron is a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination
usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness, e.g., sweet sorrow, wooden nickel.

H. Pun is a play on words which are identical or similar in sound but which have sharply diverse meanings. Puns may
have serious as well as humorous uses, e.g., When Mercutio is bleeding to death in Romeo and Juliet, he says to
friends, “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”

I. Irony is the result of a statement saying one thing while meaning the opposite. Its purpose is usually to criticize, e.g.,
It is simple to stop smoking. I’ve done it many times.

J. Sarcasm is a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something while he is actually insulting the
thing. Its purpose is to injure or hurt, e.g., As I fell down the stair head-first, I heard her say, “look at that
coordination.”

K. Antithesis involves a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings generally for the purpose of contrast,
e.g., sink or swim.

L. Apostrophe is a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present, and the inanimate
as if animate. Those are all addressed directly, e.g., The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

M. Allusion is a reference to a mythological, literary, historical, or Biblical person, place or thing, e.g., He met his
Waterloo.

N. Synecdoche (Metonymy) is a form of metaphor. In synecdoche, a part of something is used to signify the whole, e.g.,
All hands on deck. Also the reverse, whereby the whole can represent a part is synecdoche, e.g., Canada played the
United States in the Olympic hockey finals.

Another form of synecdoche involves the container representing the thing being contained, e.g., The pot is boiling.

One last form of synecdoche involves the material from which an object is made standing for the object itself, e.g.,
The quarterback tossed the pigskin.

In metonymy, the name of one thing is applied to another thing with which it is closely associated, e.g., I love
Shakespeare.
Elements of Rhetoric

Style:
● Syntax
● Diction
● Point of View
● Devices of Language (alliteration, assonance, etc.)
● Tone
● Imagery
● Figures of Speech
● Phrasing
● Coordination/subordination
● Selection of Detail
● Parallelism
● Repetition

Modes of Discourse (Purpose):

● Definition
● Cause/effect (causal analysis)
● Comparison/contrast
● Argumentation
● Description
● Narration
● Summary
● Persuasion (logic – emotion)
● Classification/division
● Process analysis

Some Generalizations About Literature

1. Authors usually devalue materialism.
2. As a rule, authors do not value formal religion. They do, however, generally value individual awareness.
3. Authors value mutability.
4. Authors are rarely neutral about the carpe diem theme.
5. Authors’ thinking often runs counter to their own cultural training.
6. Authors are not only our social historians, they are also our social critics.
7. In the conflict between the individual and society, authors normally value the individual more than society.
8. Most authors attack overwhelming pride.
9. Most authors have a critical tone toward war.
10. In much literature, the family is a source of the most passionate kind of conflict.