Notes from Style Analysis Analyzing Rhetoric

Slide 1

Take apart a passage and divide it into its basic components for examining how the writer
dev his subject

Slide 2

Take apart a passage and divide it into its basic components for examining how the writer
dev his subject

Slide 3

Connotation – word’s power to produce a strong reaction in the reader lies mainly in its
connotative meaning; ex – political figure – statesman or politician – statesman suggests
responsibility, intelligence and high-mindedness; politician suggests self-serving or
unprincipled behavior
Diction, language, figurative language, figure of speech
Diction builds throughout a piece so ideas, tone or attitude are continually reinforced
Identify diction then analyze it by discussing the connotation of the word or phrase
Formal – 3rd person, scientific, research; informal – 1st or 2nd, casual, more personal and
perhaps directed
Slang – language peculiar to a particular group; informal, nonstandard vocabulary
Jargon – confused, unintelligible language, strange dialect; hybrid language – ex – drop
down menu
Use of slang or jargon signals to the reader that the writer is a member of their group, in
solidarity with them and know about a complicated topic that is important in their
community
Scheme – artful variation from the typical arrangement of words in a sentence
ex - parallelism of words, phrases, clauses
ex – antithesis - parallelism juxtaposes words, phrases or clauses that contrast –
effect is that the writer is trying to pt out to the reader 2 juxtaposed ideas rather than
similarities; ant of words, phrases, clauses – ex – to err is human, to forgive, divine
Scheme involving interruption – purpose to provide on the spot info or ideas to readers
Ex – parenthesis, dash, appositive
Scheme involving omission – asyndeton (omission of conj between related clauses) and
ellipsis
Scheme involving rep – alliteration, assonance, anaphora (rep of same group of words at
beg of successive clauses), epistrophe (rep of same group of words at end of clauses),
anadiplosis – rep of word at end of one clauses and beg of next; climax – rep in order of
increasing important
Slide 4

Trope – artful variation from typical or expected way a word or idea is expresses
Ex – metaphor, simile, synecdoche, metonymy, personification, periphrasis – descriptive
word or phrase used to refer to a proper word or name – Big Apple
Trope word play – these entertain by playing w sounds and meanings of words
Ex – onomatopoeia
Trope involving overstatement (hyperbole) or understatement (litotes)
Trope involving management of meaning – irony, oxymoron, rhetorical question
Tropes are used to attract attention and develop ideas in a strategic way
Figurative language – analogy, sensory description, poetic devices – metaphor, simile,
hyperbole, onomatopoeia, personification, oxymoron, synecdoche, alliteration, assonance

Slide 5

Who, what, when, where

Imagery is a literal and concrete representation of a sensory experience or of an object
that cane be known by one or more of the senses
Ask – what does the detail in the passage tell me, literally? What do I visualize” Hear?
Smell? etc

Slide 6

1st person– 1st person pronouns show the narrator’s thoughts or feelings
3rd limited – see story from only on char point of view but not 1st hand
3rd omniscient – all knowing point of view; look for words and phrases that describe the
emotions, feelings and reactions of the char; broader range of viewpoints presented
Places reader in mind and thought process of narrator, no matter how random and
spontaneous that may be

Slide 7

Notice the framework and analyze why the author chose to do it that way
Recognize the beg or end of passage, particular sequence, chronology, literary techniques
that stand out, emphasis on any part, shift in tone from one part to the next
Refer to previous lectures about style, modes of discourse and rhetorical strategies to dev
those modes

Slide 8

Analyze how the relationship between the syntax and the content reflects the author’s
purpose
Identify sent patterns and say why the author uses certain syntactic patterns in a passage
Short sent followed by long shifts reader's attention, which emphasizes the meaning of
the importance of the shorter sent
Sent focus us achieved by syntactic tension ( the withholding of syntactic closure); like
periodic, that withholds info an creates high tension and interest; cum/loose- relieve
tension and allow rdr to explore rest of sent w/o urgency) and rep (purposeful rep
emplasizes the repested structure and focuses the rdrs attention on its mng; may give
balance and =, grammatical rep)
Function grows out of form. Short simple sent makes a succinct pt; cd sent conveys
balanced ideas related in terms of equal importance; series of cd sent suggests that writer
takes a balanced view of challenging issues and wants to give equal weights to more than
one side of the issue; cx and cd-cx sent show more complicated rel between ideas and
communicate the intricacies of the writer’s thinking and his willingness to take up
complicated issues and make sense of them
// - 2 or more ideas fulfilling a similar situation, writer want to sound measured,
deliberate and balanced – words, phrases, clauses, sent