ELEMENTS OF STYLE

AND TONE
AP English Literature
Mrs. Brooks
Style is a combination of:
 Diction
 Syntax
 Sound Devices
 Imagery
 Figurative Language
 Point of View
Let’s think of Style this way:

at e gy,
Str
e vice,
t ori ca l D
Rh e
oss ible
v e r y P que
E hni
e c
or T
 Stylistic choices create Tone, and both tone and
style tend to mirror what’s happening in a story

-consider the minimalist style being employed to

mirror the ordinary, the mundane, the bluntness of
reality, in a manner that creates a matter-of-fact
tone
Diction:
Levels of Language

 Formal
 Informal/Conversational/Colloquial (implies regional
dialect)
 Slang

Ex.
Formal: Hatred engenders violence.
Informal: Hatred causes violence.
Slang: Man, don’t be hatin’!
Diction, continued
 Concrete or Abstract nouns?
 Objects/Things vs. Thoughts/Ideas/Feelings
 Denotative or Connotative?
 Ex.: House or Home
Walked or Plodded
Happy or Ecstatic
 Elevated Prose or Close to Speech?

She gazed upon him with a dispassionate heart.

Wha y’all doin’ ‘round her
- “Close to Speech” may also be colloquial
Syntax
Sentence Length:
 Consider patterns of sentences in terms of their

relative length. A short sentence in the midst of

several long sentences is often used to emphasize
the information contained in the short sentence.

 Like other stylistic choices, sentence structure

tends to mirror events it is describing
 Simple vs. Complex

 Simple sentences can be short or long (longer simple

sentences tend to be compound: equally weighted ideas
joined by “and”“or” “but”“nor”)
 Whereas Complex sentences have dependent clauses

Ex:
“Poppa, a good quiet man, spent the last hours before our
parting moving aimlessly about the yard, keeping to
himself and avoiding me.”
More Syntax
Active vs. Passive Voice
Active = Amy made the catch.
Passive = The catch was made by Amy.

-Active Voice: emphasizes the responsibility of the person

because they are the ones doing the action; they are the
subject of the sentence
-Passive Voice: emphasized the thing that happened rather
than who did it; in passive construction, the thing is the
subject.
Here’s another example of Active vs. Passive Voice.
Active: Bob made the bread.
 Bob is the subject doing the
action: “Bob made...”
 Here, Bob’s responsibility or
achievement is emphasized
– He made the bread!
 Passive: The bread
was made by Bob.
 The bread is the subject
passively receiving the
action
 Here, the bread is more
important than who
made it.
Example of Style Mirroring Events
"The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the


orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key
higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out of a
cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and
form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here
and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the
center of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of
faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light." (Fitzgerald)
The first sentence is compound, equally emphasizing key building blocks of
the party.
The short second sentence emphasizes the main point of the scene: That
Gatsby’s party is the center of the world.
The last sentence is long and rhythmic and complex; it parallels the actions of
a dance; it is swirling and hypnotic, changing directions in midcourse with a
semicolon, much like a tipsy and elated partygoer.
Parallel Structure: means using the same pattern of
words to show that two or more ideas have the same
level of importance.

Examples:
 Not Parallel:

Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.

 Parallel:

Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

More Parallel Structure
 Not Parallel:
The production manager was asked to write his
report quickly, accurately, and in a detailed
manner.
 Parallel:
The production manager was asked to write his
report quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.
Parallel Structure
 Not Parallel:
The teacher said that he was a poor student because
he waited until the last minute to study for the exam,
completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and
his motivation was low.
 Parallel:
The teacher said that he was a poor student because
he waited until the last minute to study for the exam,
completed his lab problems in a careless manner, and
lacked motivation.
Syntax:
More Types of Sentences
Loose vs.
Loose Sentence: puts the main
idea before all additional
information; in other words, it
puts first things first, and lets
the reader know what it is
mainly about when she has read
the first few words.
 Effect/Purpose? They are more
straight-forward and direct.
. Periodic
Periodic Sentence: puts the
modifying information first so
that the main idea is expressed
at or near the end of it.
Effect/Purpose? They can
build suspense or curiosity;
they can seem dramatic ,
formal, or literary.
Examples: Loose vs. Periodic
Loose
 “She decided to study English,
despite the fact that she loved
music, practiced everyday, and
wrote all of her own songs.”
 “The world won’t end even if we
fail again and again.”
 “Fred escaped into the storm
cellar while the wind howled like
a freight train and the tornado
drew closer, hurtling farm
machinery through the air.”
Periodic
 “Although she loved music,
practiced everyday, and wrote all
of her own songs, she decided to
study English.”
 “Even if we fail again and again,
the world won’t end.”
 “The wind howled like a freight
train, and the monstrous tornado
drew closer, hurtling farm
machinery through the air, as Fred
escaped into the storm cellar.”
More Syntax
Juxtaposition: Two or more ideas, words, phrases,
characters, actions, settings, are placed near each
other or side-by-side for the purpose of pointing out
an important comparison or contrast
Example:
“The young girl bounded along past her
arthritic grandmother.”
Syntax!
Rhetorical Questions:
“We shrink from change; yet is there anything that can come into being
without it? What does Nature hold dearer, or more proper to herself?
Could you have a hot bath unless the firewood underwent some
change? Could you be nourished if the food suffered no change? Do
you not see, then, that change in yourself is of the same order, and no
less necessary to Nature?”
--Marcus Aurelius

Purpose/Effect = To actively engage the audience, to draw them into

the “conversation”, to perhaps appeal to the audience’s ethos of
common concern/interest. Rhetorical questions can also be a tool of
sarcasm and other more general humor.
Syntax
Repetition Examples of Anaphora:
- "I needed a drink, I needed a
-Anaphora: lot of life insurance, I
repetition of a word or needed a vacation, I needed
phrase at the a home in the country. What
I had was a coat, a hat and a
beginning of gun."
successive clauses (Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My
Lovely)
-"I want her to live. I want her
to breathe. I want her to
aerobicize."
(Weird Science, 1985)
Syntax : Interesting Punctuation
Semicolon ;

 Dashes –
 Often a writer chooses a semicolon to achieve a more
flowing effect and to show a close relationship of ideas.  Indicate added emphasis, an
Using a period to separate two independent clauses has a
more conclusive effect. It forces more of a pause on the
interruption, or an abrupt change of
reader's part. thought
Example: "With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is
a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I Example: “You are the friend—the only
must say I have a great respect for the semi-colon; it's a
useful little chap." friend—who offered to help me.”
(Abraham Lincoln)

Colon : “I wish you would—oh, never mind.”

Indicates that the second independent clause holds
more weight/importance/meaning than the first. It’s often
used for announcements, pronouncements, and other  Parenthesis ()
amplifications of meaning.
Example: “The seven years’ difference in our ages lay -usually to interject additional
between us like a chasm: I wondered if these years
would ever operate between us as a bridge.”
information, sometimes taking on the
(Baldwin) form of commentary or opinion
 Syntax: Chiasmus (Antithesis)

Sentence structure in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first by reversing the parts, for the sake of creating a thought-provoking comparison or counter-point.

Examples:
 "You forget what you want to remember, and you

remember what you want to forget.”

 "In the end, the true test is not the speeches a

president delivers; it’s whether the president

delivers on the speeches.”
 "I flee who chases me, and chase who flees me."
Sound Devices
 Onomatopoeia – words that imitate sounds – “Bang!” “Crash!” “Splash!”
 Purpose? To create auditory imagery

 Alliteration /Consonance – Repetition of consonant sounds –

“the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain.“
 Purpose? makes the reader read faster, thereby adding a sense of speed
and intensity to the sentence, and it creates a consistent pattern that focuses
the audience’s attention. It also creates a poetic rhythm .

-Assonance- The repetition of vowel sounds –

"Do you like blue?“ ; “The sea gulls glide on streams of air
They rise so high they touch the sky
Just like a silent prayer”
 Purpose? Creates a slower poetic rhythm / pattern, often used for
visual imagery
Imagery
 What types of sensory imagery does an author employ?
-Visual
-Auditory
-Tactile
-Olfactory
-Gustatory

Purpose? To draw the audience into a scene, to create a realistic feeling

of actually being there. Images are often used to set the mood or tone
of a particular scene . Images may also be symbolic of deeper
meanings
 Figurative Language is the use of words that go beyond their
ordinary meaning.  It requires you to use your imagination, to think
in broad generalizations, and to apply that insight to figure out the
author's meaning.
 Some of the most commonly used are:

-Irony
-Simile/Metaphor/Extended Metaphor
-Hyperbole or Understatement
-Personification
-Paradox/Oxymoron –

an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet

have some truth in it
Paradox
 Examples:
 “One may understand the cosmos, but never the

ego; the self is more distant than any star.” (G.K.

Chesterton)
 “Even a man is not able to become human!”
 “So many troubles I got that they become my

comfort!” 
(M. Ghalib)
Types of Irony
 Verbal irony uses words to suggest opposite
meanings; saying one thing but meaning another –
often takes the form of sarcasm
 In dramatic irony, the reader is aware of something
that a character in a piece of literature does not
know. 
 In situational irony, the outcome of a situation is
very different from what is expected.
Other forms of Verbal Irony besides sarcasm

Verbal Irony

Hyperbole Understatement

Litotes
 Hyperbole is a rhetorical device in which
statements are exaggerated. It may be used to
evoke strong feelings or to create a strong
impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.
 Considered in its context, hyperbole can be very
revealing of character
Here’s an example:
The narrator of Martin Amis's novel Money is John Self, a
larger-than-life filmmaker whose gargantuan appetites are
matched by the author's hyperbolic prose style.

In LA, you can’t do anything unless you drive. Now I can’t do

anything unless I drink. And the drink-drive combination, it really
isn’t possible out there. If you so much as loosen your seatbelt or
drop you ashes or pick your nose, then it's an Alcatraz autopsy
with the questions asked later. Any indiscipline, you feel, any
variation, and there’s a bullhorn, a set of scope sights, and a
coptered police drawing a bead on your rug.
-from Money (1984) by Martin Amis
UNDERSTATEMENT
 Understatement is a staple of humor in English-speaking cultures, especially in British
humor.

 For example, in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, a suburban dinner party is invaded by
Death, who wears a long black cloak and carries a scythe. He is the Grim Reaper; the party
is over; the guests must all go with him. "Well," says one party guest, "that's cast rather a
gloom over the evening, hasn't it?" In another scene, an Army officer has just lost his leg.
When asked how he feels, he looks down at his bloody stump and responds, "Stings a bit.“

 So is the author’s purpose for using understatement always to achieve humor?.....No. Not
Always. Sometimes it’s used to diminish the seriousness of a situation. Consider the
following:

“It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain.”
—J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
LITOTES
 Litotes are a specific form of understatement in which a certain statement is expressed
by denying its opposite. For example, rather than merely saying that something is
attractive (or even very attractive), one might say it is "not unattractive". Thereby
implying that it is attractive by denying that it is unattractive

 For Example:
- We are not amused.
- Running a marathon in under two hours is no small accomplishment.
- Her singing is not bad.
- The situation we have on our hands is not ideal.

 In order to understand the author’s purpose for using litotes, as with all other rhetorical
strategies, you must consider the context. As with the more general form of understatement,
litotes may be used to downplay an accomplishment, to be modest, maintain polite civility,
to avoid panic (to name a few).
Point of View
 P.O.V. is a stylistic choice that greatly affects the way the audience experiences
a piece of literature; like all other stylistic choices, it contributes greatly to tone
 First person participant – has more potential for bias

-Unreliable narrator (we perceive the narrator is deceptive, deluded,

deranged, insane, etc.)
-Innocent(naïve) narrator – fails to understand all the implications of
what’s happening this has a lot of potential for Dramatic Irony
 Third person nonparticipant

-Omniscient
-Editorial Omniscience vs. Impartial Omniscience
-Limited Omniscience
-Objective (doesn’t enter the mind of any character,
simply describes events from the outside)