The Writer’s Voice

Voice of the Writer ??? The identity we create by choosing words and arranging them on the page E.g. angry, friendly, meditative (thoughtful) Why do we need the voice? To convey the message we want to

Features of the language to control the voice: Tone Writer’s stance/attitude toward the topic Diction Choice of words Point of view Perspective from which the writer views the topic Metadiscourse Signals that help readers understand the message

TONE In face-to-face communication, the voice and even mimics help to communicate the tone. But how does writer’s voice sound? It is the rhetorical situation (topic, purpose, and audience) that determines the tone! Compare and contrast the tone of a text message to a friend with a letter to the dean. See the examples on p and go to exercise 20!

DICTION There is a connection between tone and diction—choice of words! There are some important points to know related to diction. A) denotation and connotation. Denotation: dictionary meaning of a word Connotation: what the word suggests

E.g. These words and phrases all refer to "a young person," but their connotations may be quite different depending on the context youngster, child, kid, little one, small fry, brat, urchin, juvenile, minor. Some carry positive connotations (little one) Some negative connotations (brat) Some fairly neutral connotations (child) E.g. Calling a young person a brat lets the readers know at once how the writer feels about the rotten kid.

Other examples for connotation Economical and cheap (synonyms) An economical car means having good gas mileage (positive connotation) A cheap car means needing multiple car repairs (negative connotation) Choose, select, and pick out (synonyms) Pick out is the least formal Select is the most formal Choose is neutral

Then, which of these words do we select? Consider the situation, the audience, and purpose! E.g. Don’t use too formal words if it is not really needed Or don’t use too informal words if it doesn’t serve your purpose Inappropriate word choice means the loss of personal voice! Look at the example paragraph on p. 121; then go to group discussion

B) Metaphor Use of metaphor (application of words from one sphere to another) is another way of using diction. Metaphors can be made by using only «be» All the world is a stage Happiness is a warm puppy Or with a simple modifier Company as a sinking ship Flowery prose See the paragraph on p. 124

C) Verbs and Formality Phrasal verbs and idioms are informal E.g They can be used in personal essays but not good for research papers or technical reports Go to exercise 21 on p. 126

D) Nominalized Verbs and Abstract Subjects Nominalized verbs (verbs that have been turned into nouns) are used very often in formal writing. E.g. Occur – occurence; succeed – success; combine – combination; remove – removal They can be used for coherence (known-new concept) E.g. Written language differs from spoken language. This difference ….. However, you should use it carefully

Ask yourself: Is the agent there? If so, is it functioning as the subject? (Does the sentence explain who is doing what?) If the answer is NO, then you need to revise Can you find the agent in the following sentence? High student achievement led to the creating of the Gifted Students Program.

The agent is an abstraction! Could be a student or anyone else!! Possible revision: The School Board created the Gifted Students Program for higher achievers. Now go to exercise 22 on p agent

E) Contractions Contractions affect the rhythm of the sentence. They are more conversational and less formal Think of the rhythm in the following two sentences: It is a nice day today. It’s a nice day today. Contractions with pronouns are more common in written language than contractions with nouns My dog’ll eat anything He’ll eat anything

METADISCOURSE Certain signals that help the reader understand the writer’s message. E.g. ‘thus’ tells that a summary is on the way ‘for example’ tells that an example will be given.. The are many metadiscourse signals: A) Connectors Conjunctive adverbs: however, so, nevertheless, … Prepositional phrases: in other words, in addition, … Listing conjunctions: first, next, in conclusion, … Contrasting pairs: on the one hand/on the other hand…

B) Signals to inform readers about writer’s own attitude: E.g. 1. The point is that we, as readers, shouldn’t have to do the figuring. (emphasizes our point of view about the proposition) 2. Parallelism is usually thought of as a device for enhancing a writer’s style – and indeed it is that --- as you learned in Chapter 4. (calls attention to the truth of the statement)

3. You’ve probably been told at one time or another to avoid I or you or the passive voice – and, very possibly, the it-cleft as well. Use of probably is called ‘hedging’ (use of a word or phrase to make statements less forceful or assertive) Other hedging words: perhaps, seem, indicate, suggest, to a certain extent, might, may, could

C) Other metadiscourse markers 1. As you probably noticed, the only difference between the two passages is in the rhythm pattern of the last sentence in each. 2. The following passive sentence, which may look familiar, closes the first paragraph of the section in Chapter 2 called ‘Sentence Patterns.’ 3. It is important to recognize that pronouns without antecedents are in violation of the known-new contract. 4. And you can be sure that in reading their own prose, whether silently or aloud, they are paying attention to sentence rhythm.

D) Code Gloss (parenthetical comment) Used when the writer wants to clarify the meaning of a word or phrase See example paragraph on p E) Attributor (the first sentence of a paragraph introducing the previous quotation) E.g. In the following paragraph,…..

POINT OF VIEW Point of view is the perspective from which the writer views the topic. How is it done? By using personal pronouns! First person (I) is used in most essays Third person (he, she, it) is used in scientific reports, newspapers, historical articles, … Use of we, us, our (collective first person) Can be used when the writer wants the reader to be included in his description of the universe E.g Now at first sight, all this evidence that the universe looks the same whichever direction we look in might seem to suggest there is something special about our place in the universe.

Use of you Not necessarily to address the reader; can be used in a more general sense E.g. Most of the rooms were evidently used for anthropological items. You had the sense of a museum of the second order. Use of one Can be used in the same way as ‘you’, but it adds formality, a distance that ‘you’ does not have. E.g. When one sees the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time, the sight is simply breathtaking. Now go to Group Discussion on p. 135