Pretentious Diction

1. At the beginning of the essay Merrill seems to be a bit bashful about poor writing. But Merrill also uses “Poor” and “Principle” in his title “The Principle of Poor Writing.” This irony shows that it can be a negative or positive. Another example of Merrill using irony can be found on page 428 “Many scientists actually do write poorly, but they probably perform by ear without perceiving clearly how their results are achieved.” Merrill’s title, introduction or advice did not tip me off because many people in today’s society do struggle with writing.

Nevertheless, the most complex level of usage that McCrimmon discusses is the formal level of usage. One point of the formal structure is that the sentences are “relatively long and involved” (193). The sentences in scholarly articles typically follow rules, which makes them more difficult to read than other types of writing. Further, these writings also use “extensive vocabulary” (193). There are often words that most people would not know the meaning of unless they are professionals in that field. In addition, sentences in the formal level “make no attempt to establish

“There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.” This quote by Edward Gibbon illustrates the intensity of writing and what gratification it can hold. When one writes, they are not confined to one certain formula. A person is able to express their thoughts and feelings in any way they choose. Language is a border for many people in that some cannot comprehend a certain language, understand how to use it, or recognize what is being said to them. On the other side of the border, they are not viewed as equals or as important compared to those who are not competing with this barrier. In his essay “Coming into Language,” Jimmy Santiago Baca uses his personal experiences to demonstrate how much

Analyzing Stylistic Choices helps you see the linguistic and rhetorical choices writers make to inform or convince readers.

A story is only as good as the way it is told. The way a writer uses his or her words to say something is just as important as what they don’t say. Charles Baxter, author of plethora of books and university teacher, writes a craft book that goes deeper than the surface of writing and deeper than the words written down. In Charles Baxter’s The Art of Subtext, he discusses how authors can use the words they do write just as much to express what they don’t write.

In order to piece a story together, most writer resort to using rhetorical techniques to flesh their ideas. Techniques such as diction, theme, and tone come a long way in making a story whole. Diction is the deliberate choice of a style of language for a desired effect or tone. The words chosen achieve a particular effect, whether it be formal, informal, or colloquial. For example, Nathaniel Hawthorn used formal diction in writing The Scarlet Letter whereas Mark Twain’s diction in multiple of his works is informal.

As inexperienced writers, it can be easy for students to feel like they need to overcompensate to their professors by using overly extravagant words. In today’s society, thesauruses are available at just a right click in Microsoft Word, so it becomes extremely tempting for students to switch common, “simple” words for words that seem more “sophisticated” so they can sound smart and like they understand the topic more. Even though some “sophisticated” words are more specific and can work more efficiently on many occasions, students need to be aware of their audience and what level to accommodate their

The first of four qualities Postman describes is most easily explained as “polysemy.” To Neil Postman, the use of literary language in speech correlates to the general public’s understanding of this style of phrasing. He states, “…the use of language as a means of complex argument was an important,

As I place my fingers on each of the keys necessary to fabricate a legible word, they weigh heavy on my past. Such past refers to the restricted form of writing I am accustomed to from my prolonged institutionalization, enveloped in my own limits, I attempt to unfasten the belt to my oh-so tight pants. High strung and critical of my mistakes, even now I am on alert for anything grammatically displeasing.

Kenneth Burke, in “Psychology and Form” and “Lexicon Rhetoricae,” two brief essays in his book Counterstatement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), writes that the most profound effects of a work of art are created by the repetition of form; the creation of expectations in a reader through repeated and carefully varied devices, as well as through information, enhances our excitement about information by baffling our emotional expectation, and finally satisfies us with increasingly complex style and devices as well as with plot complications. Language, symbolism, and dramatic action fuse at the end of the work. Burke cautions us to beware of the tyranny of the informational, as characters, and even authors—especially the humorist

In the first part of this essay, David Wallace, the author, explains the theories of both a Descriptivist and Prescriptivist. Wallace discusses Garner’s book, “A Dictionary of Modern American Usage”, and the issues on language usage. He also gives us some of the advantages and disadvantages on both the Descriptivist and Prescriptivist. He uses footnotes to expand on his ideas. I believe, he uses footnotes to help the reader understand his perspective. His footnotes are not the usual footnotes we see in an original text but, then again, this is Wallace we are talking about. They often include personal anecdotes like how he became a "SNOOT” or how he ends up teaching on every term a “Three week Emergency Remedial Usage and Grammar Unit” because

when working on a creative paper. While right brained students may know what they mean, but

Word choice in writing is influenced by the context, just as is the case between formal speeches and informal ones. The kind of words in formal and less formal writing gravitates between academic and formal, depending on the context and the message being put across. The morphemes used in both formal (academic) and less formal (as is the case in newspapers), vary. Formal writing uses different word forms and morphemes, due to the strict nature of this kind of written communication. Less formal writing moves between using a lot of morphemes and still maintaining a certain level of formality, so as to communicate effectively. In some instances, less formal writing may even use colloquial language and a lot of morphemes. In this discussion, the focus is on an academic form of writing and a less formal kind of writing, picked from a newspaper. The discussion shall analyze how morphemes have been used in the two kinds of writing and why this is the case.

Now the word 'style is used in so many senses that it has become a breeding ground for ambiguity. The word is applied to the teaching of how to write a composition (see below); it is also used to reveal the correspondence between thought and expression; it frequently denotes an individual manner of making use of language; it

Literature and linguistic aesthetics are two phase of a single paper, without one other has