The document discusses word choice and style in writing. It provides examples of informal versus formal diction, usual versus unusual word choices, and concrete versus abstract language. The document emphasizes that word choice contributes greatly to an author's style and the tone and feelings conveyed. Writers must choose words carefully based on their audience and purpose. Overall style is shaped by many small decisions around diction.

1. Choosing right:
Word Choice
and Style
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is
the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” – Mark Twain
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2. 3 impressionist paintings
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3. of the same thing - boats
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4. But very different
because of . ..
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5. The painters made
different style choices:
different brushstrokes,
colors,textures …
STYLE STYLE
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6. …even different
perspectives. (These
boats areseen from above
–a different perspective.)
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And those different style choices create different feelings. This
painting says SUMMERTIME! It feels fun, upbeat, playful.

7. Butthispainting’sstylecreates a serious,somber, STORM-
COMING feeling.
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8. How do writers create their Style?
A constant stream of small decisions shapes a writer’s larger
style. Many of these decisions have to do with word choice,
also known as diction. Word order is also important, that’s
covered in Style 2.
If you have ever changed the words you choose based on who
you’re talking to then you know about diction. Imagine giving
instructions to a six year old vs to a teenager, or sharing a
story about a night out with a work supervisor vs a friend.
What about a cover letter sent with a resume vs a memo at
work vs a Facebook post? Different words needed!
If you can think of a good example, email it in for up to 10
Bonus Points. Email to kgordon@northampton.edu
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9. Informal: casual, every day, colloquial type words
Formal: dressed up, “standard” English words
Usual, commonplace, easy (for most of us) words
Unusual, rare, jargony, difficult (for most of us),
poetic words
Concrete: specific, detailed words
Abstract: general, or vague words
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The types of words a writer chooses are important
for meaning of course but also for tone & style. As
with colors, most meanings have a range of words,
each with a slightly different tone or feeling.

10. Informal to Formal
Informal, casual, colloquial,
“slang” from different times
In between Formal, fancy, dressed up,
“standard” English
crib, pad, digs* my place, apartment,
house, home
residence, place of residence,
abode*
foot it, hoof it, pound the
sidewalk, burn the shoe leather
walk, take a walk, stroll Perambulate, amble, sashay,
mosey
Rad, bad, mad cool, slaying,
snatched, neat-o, boss*
Awesome, amazing, very
impressive, marvelous
Bodacious (slang tho?),
stupendous, prodigious
*Colloquial words tend to go in and
out of style. As with their clothes,
some people want to be in style with
their words. So they update their
lingo.
Advice: Know your audience. Use
slang when your readers/listeners
can relate.
In between words may be
most common for us, but
creative writers try for a
more distinct style. This can
make them harder, but also
more rewarding. They’re
trying to do more with each
word.
*Some formal words may also be
unusual.
Advice: Use words you know, but
read widely and know more!
Revise with dictionary and
Thesaurus, looking for the just-
right word to capture your
thought.
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11. Many words come with a feeling, a certain spin. Take
the synonyms for Home on the previous slide
Home – Warm feeling. Home is where the heart is. “There’s no place like home, there’s no
place like home...”
House – Cold impersonal feeling. A new house on the block.
Crib – Modern, hip, youthful. “Now this crib's about to kick off, this party looks wack.”
Pad – Once modern, beatnik then hippie. “Hey daddy-o let’s go to my pad.”
Place – Neutral feeling and casual. “Nice place you got here.”
Residence – Neutral feeling and formal. Official language. “State your place of residence.”
Abode – Fancy, poetic diction. Pretentious? “Welcome to my humble abode.” (But haha not
so a humble word choice)
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12. Usual to Unusual
Usual,
commonplace,
easy
A bit more
unusual/poetic
A tad more unusual Unusual, rare,
jargony, difficult
The sun went
down.
The sun dropped
below the horizon.
The golden orb of
the sun sank from
sight.
The fiery chariot
achieved
its destination at
long last and
moved
beyond the grasp
of human vision.
Does the job. Works
fine for some
purposes & audiences
Adds a fancier verb (went
became dropped) and
more info.
Adds alliteration Novelists and poets use
unusual diction to get the
most out of a moment.
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13. Concrete to Abstract
Concrete, specific, detailed Abstract, general, vague
Red Honda with a dented back bumper Damaged compact car
Rhododendron in full bloom Pretty bush
Ride the elliptical for 20 minutes Exercise a while
Square piece of old parchment Paper
Tip: When revising, look for the more specific,
concrete word or phrase. Good writing in most
fields is concrete writing.
Tip: Do you tend to give too much detail? Find just
the right spot between concrete and abstract. Ask:
Why am I writing, and to whom? What does the
occasion and the audience need?
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14. Novelist Cormac McCarthy (The Road, No Country for Old Men)
is known for unusual, poetic word choices
Schmoop has a brief analysis of McCarthy’s diction here. They quote this stunning passage
from The Road. I’ve underlined unusual word choices. We see hard words and also common
words used in uncommon ways:
He rose and stood tottering in that cold autistic dark with his arms
outheld for balance while the vestibular calculations in his skull cranked
out their reckonings. An old chronicle. To seek out the upright. No fall
but preceded by a declination. [< 3 sentence fragments] He took great
marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his return.
Eyes closed, arms oaring. Upright to what? Something nameless in the
night, lode or matrix. To which he and the stars were common satellite.
Like the great pendulum in its rotunda scribing through the long day
movements of the universe of which you may say it knows nothing and
yet know it must.
For up to 5 bonus points send an email explaining how the verb “oaring” is used
here. Hint: 1) It’s an implied metaphor. The Week 9 lecture explains metaphors.
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15. Good writingis oftenspecific& concrete
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to
men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of
skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
— From Ecclesiastes, a part of The Bible which novelist Thomas Wolfe described as “ the
greatest single piece of writing I have ever known.” !!
To highlight the emptiness of bad writing, George Orwell (who wrote 1984 and
Animal Farm) translated the above passage into abstract, bureaucratic English:
Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena
compel the conclusion that success or failure in
competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be
commensurate with innate capacity, but that a
considerable element of the unpredictable must
invariably be taken into account.
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16. Muddle a Common Saying:
Bonus Point Opp
Study the previous slide and do the same to a common saying for 10 Bonus Points.
Use a longer passage of very good writing for up to 20 points. Ask me if you need
examples of very good writing. Try searching famous speeches and inspirational
writing from the world’s religions.
An example: That old saying “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush” reminds us to
value what we have more than what we might be able to get. Here is my Owellian
rewrite, changing word choice, word order and sentence structure to make the
language so vague, abstract, and empty that it is nearly meaningless:
“Any one item that one already holds in one’s possession can and certainly should be
valued at a more high rate than twice the amount of that same or a similar item that is
not yet actually and fully within one’s possession.”
Have fun! And remember, you’re not explaining the saying or passage; you’re totally
messing it up. Email in with brief cover letter. (This Bonus Offer was in another
lecture but try it again if you like.)
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17. Looking at Diction in Elevation
Scott Carey knocked on the door of the
Ellis condo unit, and Bob Ellis (everyone in
Highland Acres still called him Doctor Bob,
although he was five years retired) let him
in. “Well, Scott, here you are. Ten on the
dot. Now what can I do for you?”
Scott was a big man, six-feet-four in his
stocking feet, with a bit of a belly growing
in front. “I’m not sure. Probably nothing,
but . . . I have a problem. I hope not a big
one, but it might be.”
“One you don’t want to talk to your regular
doctor about?” Ellis was seventy-four, with
thinning silver hair and a small limp that
didn’t slow him down much on the tennis
court.
 Is this casual or formal? Casual
Condo unit, Well, Probably nothing,
contractions like I’m instead of I am – everyday
speech
 Usual or unusual (or prosaic vs
poetic). Usual. Nothing too fancy in this
passage. No hard words or metaphors.
Concrete or abstract? Concrete
Physical things are described, not thoughts,
feelings or concepts. Authors DO shift diction
within a piece, between character for example
or at a climax, or in reflecting.
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18. Looking at Diction in “Making a Fist”
The last stanza:
Years later I smile to think of that
journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my
questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.
Is this casual or formal? More
formal than Elevation but not very
formal. Journey instead of trip.
separately and unanswerable.
 Usual or unusual (or prosaic vs
poetic). Mostly Usual
Concrete or abstract? Abstract
Journey, borders, woes, questions –
not things but metaphors and
concepts. The last 2 lines are
concrete, “still lying in the back
seat…,” but even then it’s a
metaphor – she’s like the child she
was that day.
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19. Starting an Essay that focuses on Style
Find 5 stand-out words in the piece you’ve chosen. Select
words that help create the style & that add to the tone
(funny, serious, sarcastic, sad…). List those, as on the
previous slide, then write the feelings each word gives
you. Ask friends and family what feeling the word gives
them. Take notes. If the writer is any good (skilled), the
feelings you list will be close to what he/she was aiming
for. If a word seems like a bad choice – yay! You have
something to say in your essay. Are you allowed to be
critical of an author? Definitely!
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Notice my style here is informal (as in yay!). I know essays
make some people nervous and I’m trying to put a lid on that
from the get-go. (Or, to say it more formally, I’m attempting to
pre-empt or forestall that nervousness from the beginning.)

20. Word Choice questions
for Compare and Contrast essays
• Are these two in the same genre (fiction, poetry)? Better not to
compare apples & oranges, but if you’d like to try let’s plan.
• Are the styles very different? If so, good choice for this essay.
• Where do the two pieces fall in the 3 ranges on slide 9?
• What passages really show off the writers’ different styles?
• What 3 word choices from each piece have strong connotations (see
slide 11)?
• Does one piece change styles more than the other? That’s interesting.
Where? Why?
• Do you like the style of one writer a lot more? Why? Give examples.
• If characters talk, what is their speaking style? Is it different from the
style of the narrator telling the story?
• Does the poem or story’s style chance in the last scene/stanza?
• Do I need most of the points on this essay? How else can I use this
lecture to write a well-developed essay. Is there a 3rd piece I could use?
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