Elements of style

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Nynfxn_1

Humanities

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You’ll be reading Advice to Little Girls by Mark Twain, Use the Style Analysis organizer(that I’ll put after the passage) to make notes and observations about the passage.

Use specific examples from the text to support your points.

This is the passage:

Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for every trifling offence. This retaliation should only be resorted to under peculiarly aggravated circumstances.

If you have nothing but a rag-doll stuffed with sawdust, while one of your more fortunate little play-mates has a costly China one, you should treat her with a show of kindness nevertheless. And you ought not to attempt to make a forcible swap with her unless your conscience would justify you in it, and you know you are able to do it.

You ought never to take your little brother’s “chewing-gum” away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to his time of life, he will regard it as a perfectly fair transaction. In all ages of the world this eminently plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant to financial ruin and disaster.

If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud—never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scold him a little, for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to the lessons you are inculcating, and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to move impurities from his person, and possibly the skin, in spots.

If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that you won’t. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do as she bids you, and then afterwards act quietly in the matter according to the dictates of your best judgment.

You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that you are indebted for your food, and your nice bed, and for your beautiful clothes, and for the privilege of staying home from school when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought to respect their little prejudices, and humor their little whims, and put up with their little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.

Good little girls always show marked deference for the aged. You ought never to “sass” old people unless they “sass” you first.

There are two parts to this assignment, so read the instructions for Parts 1 and 2 carefully.

Part 1: Copy and paste your selected passage, including title and author, in the space below. Use the organizer to make notes and observations about the elements of the author’s style. Guiding questions are included to help you develop an in-depth analysis, but every question does not have to be answered in order to have an insightful analysis.

You have to give a Quote or Example from Text and Observation About Style for Subject, Syntax, Diction, Tone, Theme plus answer the questions underneath them.

Subject

What is the text about?

If you have read other texts by the same author, is there an overlap in the subject matter? This will tell you if the author tends to write on a particular subject.

Syntax

What types of sentences are used in the passage?

How does the writer punctuate sentences and how does the punctuation affect the meaning?

How does the writer begin his or her sentences?

How are words and phrases arranged within the sentence? What is the writer trying to accomplish through this pattern?

What unique syntactical choices has the writer made and what is their effect?

Diction

What type of diction does the writer use (formal, informal, dialect, slang, abstract, concrete, etc.)?

What connotative words does the writer use? What is the cumulative effect of those words?

What figurative language does the writer use and to what effect?

To which senses do the writer’s words appeal? What is the writer accomplishing through this use of imagery?

Tone

What is the cumulative effect of the writer’s syntax and diction? What attitude is conveyed?

What words best describe the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject?

Theme

What does the passage say about life or other universal ideas (war, love, friendship, trials, etc.)? What meaning does the writer want readers to take away from his or her text?

Part 2: Write a paragraph analyzing the author’s style. In your analysis, discuss the author’s tone, diction, syntax, theme, and subject matter, and explain how those elements shape the author’s style. Be sure to comment on how the author’s style helps accomplish his or her purpose.

Part B

After analyzing how your selected author creates his or her style, you will write three to five sentences of your own that mimic the author’s style. This is called a pastiche.

Select three to five sentences from the published author’s text and paste them into a document.

Choose your own subject, but follow the author’s style.

In a separate paragraph, explain how this author’s style differs from your style. What stylistic elements are unique to the passage you chose? Which elements did you use that you do not typically employ in your writing? What is their effect on the passage you wrote?

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