Understanding Diction in Writing

Accuracy involves careful word selection to convey precise meaning.
Precision emphasizes using exact language to communicate effectively.
Appropriateness reflects the suitability of words for achieving a text's purpose.
Concreteness stimulates the senses, enhancing reader engagement.

Formal Diction: Employs sophisticated and professional language.
Informal Diction: Uses conversational and realistic language.
Colloquial Diction: Incorporates informal language tied to specific regions or time periods.
Slang Diction: Language restricted to particular social groups or contexts.
Pedantic Diction: Features highly complex or scholarly language.
Poetic Diction: Descriptive and lyrical language creating melodic sound.
Concrete Diction: Utilizes denotative meaning for clarity.
Abstract Diction: Includes intangible, conceptual words.

Imagery: Creates visual representations through words.
Types of Imagery:
- Visual (sight)
- Auditory (hearing)
- Olfactory (smell)
- Gustatory (taste)
- Tactile (touch)
- Kinesthetic (motion)
- Organic (sensation and emotion)

Simile: Direct comparison using "like" or "as."
Metaphor: Asserts two objects are identical.
Synesthesia: Describes sensory experiences using intertwined senses.
Oxymoron: Pairs contradicting terms.
Paradox: Presents contradictions that can be true.
Irony: Expresses something contrary to the intended meaning.
- Verbal Irony: Opposite of what is meant.
- Situational Irony: Outcome is contrary to what was expected.
- Dramatic Irony: Audience knows something characters do not.
Personification: Attributes human traits to non-human entities.
Apostrophe: Speaks to absent or non-existent individuals.
Allusion: References historical, mythological, or political figures.
Metonymy: Substitutes the name of one object for another closely related.
Synecdoche: Signifies a whole or part by using its fragment or whole.
Anaphora: Repetition of a phrase or word at the beginning of successive clauses.
Hyperbole: Intentional exaggeration for emphasis.
Litotes: Expresses positive by negating its opposite.
Pun or Paronomasia: Wordplay for humorous effect.

Poetry is a rhythmic and imaginative art form.
William Wordsworth defined poetry as using language distinctively from prose.
Defamiliarization: Makes familiar things appear strange or new.
Figurative Language: Incorporates various figures of speech.
Poetic Form: Distinguishes poetry from prose.
Structure of Poetry:
- Verse: Similar to a line or stanza in poetry.
- Meter: Refers to the number of syllables in a line.
- Rhyme: Similar final sounds; involves rhyme schemes.
- Line Break: Indicates where a poet chooses to end a line.
- End-Stopped Line: Concludes a thought or sentence.
- Enjambment: Continues a sentence beyond the line break.

Lyric Poetry: Expresses personal emotions and thoughts.
Narrative Poetry: Tells a story through verse.
Dramatic Poetry: Intended for performance, rich in emotion.
Various forms of poetry are defined by their rhyme schemes and structures, including couplets, tercets, quartets, and more.

Sensory Devices: Create vivid experiences appealing to the senses (imagery, metaphor, simile).
Sound Devices:
- Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds.
- Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds.
- Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds.

Narrative Modes:
- Exposition: Background information about character, setting, and mood.
- Action: The movement and actions of characters.
- Description: Details about characters and settings.
- Monologue and Dialogue: Internal thoughts and conversations between characters.

Character Types:
- Protagonist: Main character.
- Antagonist: Opposes the protagonist.
- Dynamic, static, round, flat characters contribute to narrative depth.
Setting: Time, place, and environment of the story.
Point of View: Narration perspective (first, second, and third person).
Plot Structure: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.
Conflict Types: Man vs. self, society, nature, supernatural, technology, etc.
Theme: Central unifying idea of a literary work.