Diction: The Word of Choice

DICTION
THE WORD OF CHOICE

• What are you trying to do?
• What is your purpose?

finding the exact word that produces
the exact effect that a writer intends.
NON STANDARD LANGUAGE
• Language deficient in some form or

manner Vulgarity – language deficient in
taste and refinement; coarse, base.
SLANG
• It refers to a group of recently coined words;

slang is ephemeral and exclusionary Slang
words often come and go quickly, passing in
and out of usage within months or years.
JARGONS
• It consists of words and expressions

characteristic of a particular trade,
profession, or pursuit. (gigabyte, logic
board, CPU, DVD
CLICHE
• A figurative language used so often it has
lost its freshness and clarity. (“Slept like a
log” “bigger and better” “jump for joy”)
COLLOQUIAL
•A nonstandard, often regional ways of
using language appropriate to informal
and conversational speech and writing.
DIALECT
• A nonstandard subgroup of a language with its
own vocabulary and grammatical features.
Writers often use regional dialects or dialects that
reveal a person’s economic or social class.
FORMAL DICTION/ELEVATED LANGUAGE
• Language appropriate for more formal

occasions; often more abstract and more
figurative.
THE THREE QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE
DICTION
•Appropriateness
•Specificity
•imagery
APPROPRIATENESS
When writers care about Who will be reading their words
and how the reader may react
(when writers write for someone other than themselves)

LANGUAGE FORMALITY SCALE
Learned popular colloquial slang
Most formal Least formal

THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION
popular Learned
(common to the speech of the educated and the uneducated (used more widely by the educated and in more formal occasions)
alike)
Concur---------------------------------------------------------
• Agree-------------------------------------
Commence---------------------------------
• Begin--------------------------------------
Lucid-------------------------------------------
• Clear-------------------------------------
Remonstrate----------------------------
• Disagree--------------------------------
Terminate---------------------------------
• End----------------------------------------
Succor---------------------------------------
• Help---------------------------------------
Facilitate----------------------------------
• Make easy-----------------------------
Esoteric-------------------------------------
• Secret-----------------------------------
Cogitate------------------------------------
• Think------------------------------------
Verbose--------------------------------------
• Wordy----------------------------------
SPECIFICITY
• Specific words refer to uniquely individual persons, events, or
objects
• Concrete specific words attract our senses
• Abstract specific words relate to concepts that are mostly
inferred
IMAGERY
• One meaning of this term suggests the pictures

(images) that occur in our minds when specific
diction is employed
• In another sense, imagery refers to tropes.
TYPES OF DICTION
CONCRETE VS. ABSTRACT
• Concrete diction consists of specific words that describe

physical qualities or conditions. The language is specific;
tangible things.
• Abstract diction refers to language that denotes ideas,
emotions, conditions, or concepts that are intangible. Girl, flag
vs. beauty, patriotism
DENOTATION VS. CONNOTATION
• Denotation is the exact, literal definition of a word independent of

any emotional association or secondary meaning. Exact meaning.
• Connotation is the implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word

and consists of the suggestions, associations, and emotional
overtones attached to a word.
LITERAL VS. FIGURATIVE
• accurate lang. w/out embellishment vs.

comparative lang. for a pictorial effect
Frugal vs. tight as bark on a tree
HYPERBOLE (OVERSTATED) VS. UNDERSTATED
• Languange deliberately misrepresenting as more

vs. lang. deliberately misrepresenting as less
• The shot heard round the world vs. The reports of
my death are largely exaggerated
PEDESTRIAN VS. PEDANTIC
•Language of the common layman vs.

Language inflated to display importance
•Cool vs urbane/cosmopolitan/suave
ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE
• Active vs. passive – states action vs. states being

• The students made progress vs progress was made by
the students.
• Passive is used when author wants to remain vague or
conceal information.
MONOSYLLABIC VS. POLYSYLLABIC
• One syllable in length vs. more than one

syllable in length

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DICTION

THE WORD OF CHOICE

• What is your purpose?

• Language deficient in some form or

• It refers to a group of recently coined words;

• It consists of words and expressions

• Language appropriate for more formal

(when writers write for someone other than themselves)

Learned popular colloquial slang

Most formal Least formal

• One meaning of this term suggests the pictures

• Concrete diction consists of specific words that describe

• Denotation is the exact, literal definition of a word independent of

• Connotation is the implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word

• accurate lang. w/out embellishment vs.

• Languange deliberately misrepresenting as more

•Language of the common layman vs.

• Active vs. passive – states action vs. states being

• One syllable in length vs. more than one

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