tance between the reader and writer and uses the pro-
nouns
he, his, him; she, hers, her; it, its; and
they, them,
and
their.
Diction refers to the specific words chosen by the
author to express his or her ideas. Because words have
both a
denotation (exact or dictionary meaning) and a
connotation (implied or suggested meaning), as well as
an
emotional register, the words an author chooses are
very significant. Authors, like politicians, must choose
their words carefully to express
exactly the right idea
with exactly the right impact.
Style is the manner in which the writers express
their ideas in writing. Style is composed of three main
elements: sentence structure, degree of description and
detail, and degree of formality. Some
writers use a very
formal style; others may write in a casual style. Certain
styles are best for particular audiences or purposes.
For example, a high degree of formality with specific
details but without any unneccessary description would
be appropriate for business, where
time is money and
writers should get to the point as quickly as possible.
Finally,
tone is the mood or attitude conveyed by
the writing. Tone is created by a combination of point
of view, diction, and style. Tone is extremely important
in determining
meaning because as we noted, a word
as simple as “sure” can have many different meanings
depending upon the tone in which it is said. To deter-
mine the tone, you have to look for clues as to how the
writer wants his or her words to sound.
P r a c t i c e
In today’s
practice, you’ll combine these aspects of lan-
guage with everything else you’ve learned in this book
about reading comprehension:
■
Finding the facts
■
Determining
the main idea
■
Determining vocabulary meaning through context
■
Distinguishing facts and opinions
■
Chronological order
■
Cause and effect
■
Compare
and contrast
■
Order of importance
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