Practicing Style

As a class, lets review the following quotations. Pay particular attention to the writers
use of diction, figurative language, punctuation, and sentence structure. Notate any of these
elements that stand out. Identify what level of style the quotation employs.
1. I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart; I am, I am, I am.
Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

2. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down,
but I wish you to know that you inspired it. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

3. Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever
notice that trees do everything to get attention we do, except walk? Alice Walker, The
Color Purple

4. When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the
attention of the world. George Washington Carver (1864-1943)

5. Society, being codified by man, decrees that woman is inferior; she can do away with
this inferiority only by destroying the male's superiority. Simon de Beauvoir (19081986)