How To Juice Up Your Language Its all about style The writers weve read this year are distinct They each have a voice They each have an authorial style That style is a result of authorial choices Writers who are thinking about their craft ID: 569536
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Slide1
Making a 3 into a 4, a 6 into a 7, or an 8 into a 9
How To Juice Up Your LanguageSlide2
It’s all about style.
The writers we’ve read this year are distinct. They each have a voice. They each have an authorial
style
.
That style is a result of authorial choices. Writers who are thinking about their craft
choose
how they’ll sound.
Most student writing sounds like student writing. Its only choice is a lack of choice. Because the writer is indifferent, the writing
sounds
indifferent. And the reader is therefore indifferent, too.
You
are a writer.
You
have choices.
You
can sound better than you do.
Style is more than decoration. It can clarify your meaning, amplify your point, enhance your message.Slide3
How Do We Develop More Style?
Be concise.
D
estroy wasteful,
empty
phrases!
Eliminate
Take out words that don’t sound/feel like the others in your writing
.
Make kites of your sentences; give them loft and buoyancy with figurative language.
Use parallel structure. Do it to balance ideas and to enhance elegance, to unify disparate parts or to contrast your ideas.
Consider the harmony, efficacy, and beauty of the “rule of three.”
Choose strong
, precise verbs
. It is a good idea to avoid “is” and “are” verbs. Active verbs transform sentences and vivify language.
Bolster and invigorate your
vocabulary with useful variants of words.
If you don’t know how to use a word, then
don’t use it
! But if you can think of a more precise synonym,
use it
.Slide4
How Do We Develop More Style?
When drafting your sentences, vary their types and lengths. Try short sentences.
Even fragments, if they’re rhetorically compelling. Where
appropriate, be
confident and precise
enough to use a balanced and grammatically correct longer sentence, especially if it helps clarify your meaning.
Establish a tone through purposive word selection based on consciousness of connotations.
Effective word choice is made on the basis of your purpose, your topic, and your audience. THINK about these things!Slide5
Do This Now.
Write two paragraphs about
love
or about
hooking up
.
Before you begin writing, think about and choose an audience, a purpose, and a definition or range for your topic.
Skip lines as you write so that you can edit later.Slide6
Give It Some Juice.
Throw away garbage words or phrases. Put a line through them and see how that alters your text. (E.g., why say “innumerable amounts of kisses” instead of just “innumerable kisses” or—better yet—“countless kisses”?)
Eliminate
buzzy adverbs and
lame nouns
that say little (e.g.,
kind, thing, really, very, awfully
).
Replace weak verbs with strong, precise verbs.
Choose two or three sentences to put into parallel structure. Add parallel structure
within
another sentence.
Find two opportunities to add alliteration. Find two opportunities to use the “rule of three.”
Add 2 concrete uses of figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification) that evoke a
specific
feeling.
Count the number of words in each sentence. Count how many sentences start with the same grammatical element (subject, prepositional phrase, etc.) Make strategic revisions so that from sentence to sentence, there is variation in length and style.