Question

I have to analyze the use of diction and syntax in three authors specific works, but I'm unsure of how to anazlyze/explain these, exactly. I know that diction is the author's word choice and syntax is sentence structure, but I don't know how to pinpoint one's diction and syntax. For syntax could I just put something like "Old-English" with an example from the text? For diction I'm totally lost.

Thank you for the help

Answer 1

Try comparing/contrasting these two: “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway and “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner.

http://www.mrbauld.com/hemclean.html

and

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Diction ~ Think about these things: short, simple words? or complex, multi-syllable words? Why did the authors make those choices?

Syntax ~ Think about similar things: mostly simple (one clause) sentences? mostly compound or complex (2-3 clauses) sentences? Why did the authors make those choices?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax

Let us know what you come up with.