1. Analyzing author’s style
AP Language
Analyzing author’s style

2. Agenda I can analyze an author’s style for its rhetorical purpose.
Pass out Style Models
Notes on Style
Practice analyzing style
Writing in Style
Reminders:
Retest for Rhetorical Analysis Essay must be completed by Friday, Feb. 17th! I will be staying after school on Wednesday for anyone who needs to retest!
Also, Annotate Bib is due on Feb. 15th!

3. Style
When we talk about an author’s style, we aren’t talking about his/her clothing.
Style according to classical rhetoricians is an author’s choice of diction
and arrangements of words
in sentences (syntax).

4. Style: Review of Diction/Syntax
Kinds of diction
General or specific
Abstract or concrete
Formal or informal
Polysyllabic or monosyllabic
Common words or jargon
Denotative or connotative
B. Length of sentences
C. Kinds of sentences
Grammatical: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex
Rhetorical: loose, periodic, antithetical
Functional: statement, question, command, exclamation

5. Style
But wait, why are we learning this again? Patterns in diction and syntax will often characterize a text as one of three major categories of “style.” -Low/Colloquial Style -Middle Style -High/Formal Style

6. Style
But wait, why are we learning this again? Patterns in diction and syntax will often characterize a text as one of three major categories of “style.” -Low/Colloquial Style -Middle Style -High/Formal Style

7. Low/Colloquial Style
Colloquialism: a word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation.
Features of low style:
Simple words (casual vocab, colloquialisms, slang, etc)
Monosyllabic words
Contractions
1st and 2nd person pronouns
Frequent simple repetition (repetition of words but maybe not sophisticated repetition like Epistrophe)
Short sentences, use of fragments, etc

8. Middle Style Middle style is all about balance.
Pretty even distribution of monosyllabic and polysyllabic words
Short sentences reserved for emphasizing important info
More or less even distribution of simple, complex, compound, and compound-complex sentences
Uses some classical formal stylistic patterns, but is stingy with them—this style is about not drawing too much attention to the speaker

9. High Style High Style is sophisticated, professorial
Polysyllabic diction
Mostly 3rd person pronouns (although sometimes can include 1st and 2nd)
Longer sentences with more complex structures
Intentionally uses more complex rhetorical strategies: Anaphora, antithesis, parallelism, metaphor, irony, metonymy, synecdoche, litotes, hyperbole

10. Name That Style
As we watch the videos, write down features of style that will help you categorize them as high, middle, or colloquial style.
V’s Speech from “V for Vendetta”
Graduation Speech from “Billy Madison”
Pep Talk from “Stripes”
Discuss—which styles do these speakers use to accomplish their rhetorical goals?

11. Why Style?
Why do you think speakers would choose each of these styles?
DECORUM

12. Style Practice:
Since it’s Valentine’s day, you are going to show me you understand the three different styles.
Directions: Composing three different Valentine’s Day cards – one in low style, one in middle style, and one in high style.
Your cards must be at least 3 sentences each, and they must use at least 3 features of each style. Use your models of each style for reference.