LESSON 12 Diction: Whats in a word?

A. The towns new parking policy, which goes into effect on Monday, should significantly reduce traffic congestion on Main Street. B. The towns draconian new parking policy, which goes into effect on Monday, should significantly reduce traffic congestion on Main Street. 1. What does sentences B tell you that sentence A doesnt? a. what type of policy is being discussed. b. how the writer feels about the policy c. when the policy begins The answer is B. Both sentences tell you that the policy is a new parking policy, and both say that the policy goes into effect on Monday. But sentence B, because it addsthe word draconian,tells you how the writers feels about the new policy: He doesnt like it. His opinion is implied through his choice of the word draconian. Rather than directly saying, I think the policy is very severe, The writer suggests or implies that this is the way he feels. How Diction Influences Meaning A. The political parties are meeting with the hopes of clearing up their differences. B. The polical parties have entered into the negotiations in an attempt to resolve their conflict.

Both sentences convey the same information: Two parties are meeting because they have a disagreement of some sort to address. But the differences in the diction of each sentence tell us that theses two situation arent exactly the same or at least that the two writers have differences did you notice between these two sentence? List them bellow.

The differences in word choice should tell you that sentence B describes the more serious situation. Here are some of the observations you might have made about the writers diction that would have told you so: The polical parties in sentence B are not just meeting, theyve entered into negotiations . this phrase is often used to describe disagreements between warring parties. And negotiations are much more formal than meetings suggesting there is serious difference to be resolved in sentence B. Whereas in sentence A they are ironing things out, the parties in sentence B only attempt to resolve the problems. In sentence A, The parties are seeking to clear up their differences, whereas in sentence B the parties want to.