Rhetoric and Style

A writer’s style is a combination of word choices a writer makes, syntactical patterns they create, and conventions of grammar and mechanics that they use. 

A writer’s word choice is called diction. Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. Connotation, on the other hand, varies, depending on the context. 

Active verbs and clear modifiers (words, phrases, or clauses that add description and qualification) are tools writers use to engage their audience and convey a perspective on the things they describe. 

Formal diction sticks to grammatical rules and avoids colloquial or slang expressions. Informal diction is more conversational and might include more casual expressions. 

Figurative language is related to diction. In general, figurative language involves words or phrases that are not meant to be taken literally and usually involve comparison. Examples of figurative language include metaphor, simile, analogy, personification, and allusion. 

How words are combined to form sentences is called syntax. Sentences are made up of clauses, at least one of which must be an independent clause. 

Longer compound and complex sentences may use coordination (joining clauses with for, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so) or subordination (joining clauses with when, because, until, if). 

Often a writer will build a longer sentence with a series of clauses or modifiers, holding the main clause until the end (a periodic sentence) or placing it at the beginning (a cumulative sentence) with a series of modifiers at the end. Within these longer sentences, a writer might insert a parenthetical, which interrupts a sentence to provide information that may not be essential to understanding the writer’s main point but still furthers the writer’s purpose or speaks to the audience’s needs. 

Another effective rhetorical strategy, especially in speeches, is parallel structure — repeating the same word, phrase, or clause for emphasis.

Antithesis is the use of contrary ideas using similar grammatical structures. 

Ex: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” 

Punctuation such as commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, hyphens, parentheses, quotation marks, and end marks all show the audience the relationships among ideas in a given sentence and throughout a text. 

Tone is the author’s attitude toward the subject. This is conveyed through the writer’s style. 

Tones also shift within one text, and identifying those tonal shifts is important. These points in a text alert the audience to a potential qualification, refinement, or reconsideration of a writer’s perspective or argument. 

Writers sometimes use irony, an incongruity between expectation and reality, to communicate a complex perspective or acknowledge a complex rhetorical situation. Specific style choices convey irony. There are several types of irony, including verbal irony, in which there is a difference between what a writer says and what they mean; situational irony, in which there is a discrepancy between what is likely to happen and what actually happens; and dramatic irony (usually in literature), in which the contrast is between what a character says or thinks and what the audience knows to be true. 

There are many ways to create irony, but writers generally use two common techniques. Hyperbole, or overstatement, is more than simple exaggeration or a lie; it is exaggeration in the service of truth, and, like a well crafted metaphor, it suggests deeper meaning in order to advance the writer’s purpose. The opposite of hyperbole – understatement – has a similar effect. Both elements draw the reader’s attention to the writer’s perspective on the idea being downplayed or overemphasized.