what is diction ?
3 answers
i didn't understand to much is it word cgoice
dic·tion
ˈdikSHən/Submit
noun
1.
the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
"Wordsworth campaigned against exaggerated poetic diction"
2.
the style of enunciation in speaking or singing.
"she began imitating his careful diction"
ˈdikSHən/Submit
noun
1.
the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.
"Wordsworth campaigned against exaggerated poetic diction"
2.
the style of enunciation in speaking or singing.
"she began imitating his careful diction"
Deciding whether to use the word "drunk" or "intoxicated" is a matter of diction. The words mean the same thing, right? But why would one author choose the first and another author choose the second?
Here's a section from Chapter II of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn:
He listened some more; then he come tiptoeing down and stood right between us; we could a touched him, nearly. Well, likely it was minutes and minutes that there warn't a sound, and we all there so close together. There was a place on my ankle that got to itching, but I dasn't scratch it; and then my ear begun to itch; and next my back, right between my shoulders. Seemed like I'd die if I couldn't scratch. Well, I've noticed that thing plenty times since. If you are
with the quality, or at a funeral, or trying to go to
sleep when you ain't sleepy -- if you are anywheres where it won't do for you to scratch, why you will itch all over in upwards of a thousand places.
And here's a section from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the Dover road that lay, on a Friday night late in November, before the first of the persons with whom this history has business. The Dover road lay, as to him, beyond the Dover mail, as it lumbered up Shooter's Hill. He walked up hill in the mire by the side of the mail, as the rest of the passengers did; not because they had the least relish for walking exercise, under the circumstances, but because the hill, and the harness, and the mud, and the mail, were all so heavy, that the horses had three times already come to a stop, besides once drawing the coach across the road, with the mutinous intent of taking it back to Blackheath. Reins and whip and coachman and guard, however, in combination, had read that article of war which forbade a purpose otherwise strongly in favour of the argument, that some brute animals are endued with Reason; and the team had capitulated and returned to their duty.
Why do you think these authors chose such vastly different wording for their stories? That's what diction is all about ... choice of words.
Here's a section from Chapter II of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn:
He listened some more; then he come tiptoeing down and stood right between us; we could a touched him, nearly. Well, likely it was minutes and minutes that there warn't a sound, and we all there so close together. There was a place on my ankle that got to itching, but I dasn't scratch it; and then my ear begun to itch; and next my back, right between my shoulders. Seemed like I'd die if I couldn't scratch. Well, I've noticed that thing plenty times since. If you are
with the quality, or at a funeral, or trying to go to
sleep when you ain't sleepy -- if you are anywheres where it won't do for you to scratch, why you will itch all over in upwards of a thousand places.
And here's a section from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:
It was the Dover road that lay, on a Friday night late in November, before the first of the persons with whom this history has business. The Dover road lay, as to him, beyond the Dover mail, as it lumbered up Shooter's Hill. He walked up hill in the mire by the side of the mail, as the rest of the passengers did; not because they had the least relish for walking exercise, under the circumstances, but because the hill, and the harness, and the mud, and the mail, were all so heavy, that the horses had three times already come to a stop, besides once drawing the coach across the road, with the mutinous intent of taking it back to Blackheath. Reins and whip and coachman and guard, however, in combination, had read that article of war which forbade a purpose otherwise strongly in favour of the argument, that some brute animals are endued with Reason; and the team had capitulated and returned to their duty.
Why do you think these authors chose such vastly different wording for their stories? That's what diction is all about ... choice of words.