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Adding Voice and Style to Writing

Adding Voice and Style to Writing. Teaching Voice. When I began teaching, I had no idea how to teach voice. I wasn't even sure what it was. I asked several colleagues "How do you teach voice in writing?" I'll summarize their answers: " Voice, you either have it or you don't .”

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Adding Voice and Style to Writing

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  1. Adding Voice and Style to Writing

  2. Teaching Voice • When I began teaching, I had no idea how to teach voice. I wasn't even sure what it was. • I asked several colleagues "How do you teach voice in writing?" • I'll summarize their answers: • "Voice, you either have it or you don't.” • “You can't really teach it." • Translation: "I don't know what it is either.”

  3. What is Voice? • Each writer has a distinct personality. • Each writer has passions, opinions, prejudices, and information. • Words should capture the writer's personality. • Writers with strong voice capture the reader's attention with individuality, liveliness, and energy. • Strong voice makes the writer's purpose clear.

  4. Strong voice helps readers experience the emotions of the writer and understand the writer's ideas. • Careful word choice, punctuation, paragraphing, and style help strengthen a writer's voice.

  5. Voice Activity • Read the two articles and answer the following: • Does the author convey his or her voice? • How does the reader know? • What can be inferred about the author of this piece? • Write your answers in complete sentences, using as much detail as possible.

  6. Two Voices, Two Purposes • Two distinct voices with two different purposes: • to entertain • to inform or persuade

  7. What is Descriptive writing? • A writing style that portrays people, places, things, moments, and theories with enough VIVID detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written about.

  8. Principles of descriptive writing • There are three characteristics of a purely descriptive essay worthy of remembering. • A single, clear dominant impression • Objective or subjective • Reader visualization

  9. Dominant impression • A descriptive essay has one, clear dominant impression. • If, for ex. you are describing a snowfall, it is important for you to decide and to let your reader know if it is threatening or beautiful • In order to have one dominant impression, the snowfall can’t be both threatening and beautiful.

  10. Dominant impressionCon’t. • The dominant impression guides the author’s selection of detail and is thereby made clear to the reader in the thesis sentence.

  11. Objective/subjective • A descriptive essay can be both objective or subjective. • This allows for a wide choice of tone, diction and attitude. • For instance, an objective description on one’s dog will mention facts such as height, weight, coloring and so forth.

  12. Objective/subjective con’t. • A subjective description of a dog will include the previously mentioned details, but will also stress the author’ feeling toward the dog, as well as its personality and habits.

  13. Reader Visualization • The purpose of a purely descriptive essay is to involve the reader enough so he/she can actually visualize the things being described. • Therefore, it is important to use specific and concrete details.

  14. Conventions • A descriptive essay relies on concrete, sensory detail to communicate its point. • Remember, we have five (5) senses, not one or two!

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