Diction Handouts

Low or Informal Diction:
1.) Example of a Jargon: awash

Elevated Language or Formal Diction:
2.) a. Elongated: unusually long in relation to its width - "But at once I saw something long and pale floating very close to the ladder."
     b. Phosphorescent: is when something glows with light without becoming hot to the touch - "Before I can form a guess a faint flash of a glowing light,..."
     c. Elusive: difficult to find, catch or achieve - "... which seemed to issue suddenly from the naked body of man, flickered in the sleeping water with the silent play of summer lightning in a night sky."
     d. Cadaverous: resembling a corpse in being pale, thin, or bony - "... the long legs, the broad livid back immersed right up to that neck in the greenish pale glow."

3.) The use of an elevated language contributes to the tone by making the writing into formal writing and a higher reading level for readers. Paraphrasing the passage affects the tone by creating the writing to where all different levels of reading can understand the passage.

Abstract & Concrete Diction:
4.) Floating · Saw · Dropped · Climbed

5.)

Denotation & Connotation Diction:
6.) a. Denotation: resembling a corpse on being very pale, thin, bony
Connotation: negative feeling, sickness
     b. Denotation: of or relating to growing darkness
Connotation: negative feeling, doom
     c. Denotation: light in color
Connotation: a dead corpse
     d. Denotation: glowing with light
Connotation: bright
     e. Denotation: causing horror or fear
Connotation: scary doom
     f. Denotation: having no head
Connotation: mindless
     g. Denotation: like a fish
Connotation: cold, slimy