Diction Worksheets

Low or informal diction:

Example of Jargon: Awash; I only climbed on the spare spar

Elevated language or formal diction:

1.a).phosphorescent: of or relating to a type of light that glows softly in the dark and that does not produce heat

b).cadaverous: looking very thin & pale; resembling a corpse

c).elusive: hard to find or capture; hard to understand, define, or remember 

The side of the ship made a fuzzy belt of shadow on the darkling glassy shimmer of the sea. I saw at once something extended and white floating very close to the ladder. Before I could form a guess a small flash of shimmering light, which seemed to issue suddenly from the naked body of a man, flickered in the sleeping water with the quiet, quiet play of summer lighting in a night sky. With a gasp I saw revealed to my stare a pair of feet, the long legs, a broad livid back shot right up to my neck in a greenish pale glow. As he hung by the ladder, like a resting swimmer, the sea lighting played about his limbs at every spin, and he appeared in it terrible, silvery, fishlike.

 

3. Elevated language allows the passage to have a deeper meaning to its details and message. Paraphrased language opens up the passage to be understood by a broader audience.

Abstract & concrete diction:

4.a saw

b).climbed 

c).raised  

d).dropped

5.The authors chose to leave everything nameless to get the readers thinking and on their toes on who said what. Also, no names would allow readers to believe they are the nameless person since a title isn't in place.

Denotation & connotation: 

6.  The Secret Sharer denotation is defined as, a person who shares their possessions mysteriously or hides it from everyone else 

Chart:

Word: 

1.cadaverous:

Denotation- looking very thin or pale

Connotation- mysterious eerie  

2.darkling:

D-in the dark

C- object that prefers the dark lurks there

3.pale:

D-light skinned

C-ghostly near death 

4.phosphorescence:

D-luminescence that is caused by the absorption of radiations

C-few lights, eerie

5.ghastly:

D-very shocking or horrible

C- terrifying supernatural

6.headless:

D-having no head

C-mindless or can't think the subconscious  

7.fishlike:

D-acting or feeling like the characteristics of a fish

C-an object coming from the sea wet