Levels of Diction
Also referred to as literary, elevated, or scholarly.
What is formal ciction
This refers to the association people have with words beyond the dictionary definition.
What is connotation
A sentence that makes a statement.
What is declarative
This is a question which expects no answer.
What is a rhetorical question
"I want God, I want poetry, I want danger, I want freedom, I want sin."
What is anaphora
"I seem him die. I seen it all," is an examples of this level of diction.
What is informal diction
The literal dictionary definition of a word
What is denotation
These sentences contain an independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
What are complex sentences
This sentence contains two complete thoughts that run together with no adequate sign given to mark the break between them.
What is a run on sentence
"Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow."
What is inversion
This level of diction is also referred to as conversational, general, or neutral.
What is standard diction
When the word indicates the level of the description (i.e. good, great, exemplary)
What is degree
These sentences tend to be shorter and demanding.
What are imperative sentences
This is a deliberate omission of conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.
"So we'll live, and play, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies, and head poor rogues talk of court news and we'll talk with them too."
What is polysyndeton
This level of diction is also referred to as slang, colloquial, or vernacular.
What is informal diction
This could include similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification.
What is figurative language
These sentences consist of two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or by a semicolon.
What is a compound sentence
This is a particular form of understatement generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise would be used.
What is litotes.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."
What is a periodic sentence
This is the level of diction that is utilized in most businesses and education.
What is academic diction
This refers to local language; it is the language specific to a particular social group, region, or profession.
What is dialect
This type of sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending; also called a loose sentence.
What is a cumulative sentence
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, " is an example of this device.
What is anaphora
"The rest of the year, the box was put away, sometimes one place, sometimes another; it had spent one year in Mr. Graves's barn and another year underfoot in the post office, and sometimes it was set on a shelf in the Martin grocery and left there."
What is a cumulative sentence