Looking at the Elements of STYLE

1. Looking at the Elements of STYLE

2. Elements of Style • Word Choice • Imagery • Metaphor/Simile

3. Word Choice Good word choice includes: • Sensory Words • Specific Descriptive Details • Active Verbs

4. Word Choice Sensory language—words and phrases that trigger the senses of touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing—can bring readers into the writer’s world.

5. Word Choice • Through sensory language, readers see what you see, hear what you hear,feel what you feel. Read from Guts by Paulsen.

6. Word Choice Specific Descriptive Language: • Using Descriptive language is like the author “calling it as he sees it.” Imagine . . .

7. Word Choice: Descriptive Language The author is thinking “midnight black, V8- engined, convertible Ferrari . . .”

8. Word Choice: Descriptive Language But he writes “car.” Hmmmm. That’s not calling it as he sees it. Read from Artemis Fowl

9. Active Verbs • Active verbs obviously describe an action: • Crawl • Drag • Plunge • Flee • Active verbs do NOT use “helping verbs” (is, was, were, have, has) • were sent, had started, was shot, had discovered

10. Active Verbs • Active verbs also do NOT use “—ing” • Looking • Running • Knowing • Look for original sounding active verbs • Don’t choose: say, said, come, go, see, walk, talk, hit, eat, read, write, sleep, got, took, want etc

11. Find the Active Verbs From the Advertiser’s Sports Page Headlines: • Glover surges to one-stroke lead • Warriors sweep Ohio State • Punahou tops Kamehameha • Penn St. stuffs Hawaii in five

12. Find the Active Verbs • “The Crimson Tide was voted No. 1 in The Associated Press poll today. . .” • The Hawaii volleyball team opened the new year with a bang, pounding out a 30-20, 30-20, 30-26 rout of Ohio State . . .” • “With a birdie on the last hole and a spectacular mid-round surge, Lucas Glover grabbed the first-round lead yesterday . . .”

13. IMAGERY Imagery is the use of vivid description, usually rich in sensory words, to create pictures or images in the reader’s mind.

14. Imagery • Smart Student says, “Wait a minute! You just said imagery uses descriptive and sensory language!” • Mrs. Urada answers, “Yes!” • “What’s the difference?” • “The three are almost the same!”

15. Imagery • One way that imagery MAY differ from descriptive language is that instead of directly “telling” or describing something with adjectives, imagery will SHOW a sensory-filled picture using actions and indirect examples.

16. Imagery: Showing vs. Telling • This is an example of an author directly “telling” about the king from “The Lady or the Tiger?” Telling : • The king was a violent tyrant. (adjective)

17. Imagery: Showing vs. Telling However, good writers SHOW rather than tell. They let us see people and ideas in action. Showing: “. . . for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight and crush down uneven places.”

18. Is this Telling or is it Imagery? • “There’s a shadow hanging over me” • “She was staring, openmouthed, the coffee urn in her hand poised above a cup.” • “She was snarling. Red and blue sprinkles fell from the half-eaten donut that she wagged in Alvina’s face.” • “How do I say goodbye to what we had?” • “And let me just make my move.”

19. Is this Telling or is it Imagery? • “Been there done that in my life.” • “And you come to me on a summer breeze” • “You’re everything I thought you never were and nothing like I thought you could’ve been . . .” • “I only wanna see you smile. I just wanna make you happy.”

20. Is this Telling or is it Imagery? • “As she waddled into the elevator, Martin was sure he felt it sink under her weight.” • “They’re gonna clean up your looks with all the lies.” • “I promise that my love won’t change I will always be in love with you.”

21. Metaphor & Simile • A good way to describe something—such as a person, a place, or a feeling—is to compare it to something else. • EXAMPLE: “She’s as light as a feather.” • EXAMPLE: “My brother is a pig.” • Both create sensory images. A feather and a pig is something we can see & feel.

22. Similes • A simile is a comparison using like or as. It usually compares two dissimilar objects. • For example: His feet were as big as boats. We are comparing the size of feet to boats.

23. Metaphor Examples • A metaphorstates that one thing is something else. It is a comparison, but it does NOT use like or as to make the comparison. • For example: Her hair is silk. The sentence compares hair to silk.

24. Identifying Similes and Metaphors • The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves. • As the teacher entered the room she muttered under her breath, "This class is like a three-ring circus!" • The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack. • The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day. • I feel like a limp dishrag.

25. Identifying Similes and Metaphors • Those girls are like two peas in a pod. • The fluorescent light was the sun during our test. • No one invites Harold to parties because he’s a wet blanket. • The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog’s bath. • Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs.

26. Instructions for a Style Response • Quote line or lines exactly from the text. Use quotation marks. • Identify the Element of Style: Word Choice, Imagery, Simile or Metaphor • Complete the sentence starter for your chosen Element of Style.