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DICTION
Analaura De La Cruz
Kathleen Dos Santos
DEFINITION
•
Word choice of an author of any piece of work. It reflects not only the vocabulary of the
writer, but his or her reason for that particular word or phrase
• Includes replacing proper words with slang, and vice versa
PRONUNCIATIONS
• Written: ‘dik-shən
• Audio:
LITERARY EXAMPLE 1
“What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar’d in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but ay,
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an ay,
Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer ay.
If he be slain, say ay; or if not, no:
Bried sounds determine of my weal or woe.”
Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 2
•
The author’s purpose is to show Juliet’s true concerns and love for Romeo by comparing
not having the knowledge of how Romeo is doing to hell. Diction supports the author’s
purpose by creating imagery for the reader and a tone of anxiousness and desperation.
LITERARY EXAMPLE 2
“Ralph looked at him dumbly. For a moment he had a fleeting picture of the strange glamour that
had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood - Simon was
dead - and Jack had.... The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to
them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to
wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of
the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in
the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of
innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called
Piggy.” (pg. 234) Lord of the Flies
•
The author’s purpose is to show Ralph’s realization of everything that had happened on the
island and how he understands that he nor any of the other boys could ever be kids again.
Diction supports the author’s purpose by creating the image that Ralph is seeing in his mind
and then explaining Ralph’s realization that nothing would ever be the same by saying
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the
air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”
LITERARY EXAMPLE 3
1st Witch: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2nd Witch: Thrice and once the hedge-pic whined.
3rd Witch: Harpier cries; ‘tis time, ‘tis time.
1st Witch: Round about the cauldron go;
In the poinson’d entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot.
All: Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caultron bubble.
Macbeth, William Shakespeare Act IV, scene I, lines 1 to 11
•
The author’s purpose is to show the Witches evilness and characteristics. Diction supports
this purpose by creating a loot of imagery of the Witches actions and creating an eerie
tone and setting.