How Do You Determine an Author’s Style?

Feature Menu

Style

Literary Devices

Figurative Language

Irony

Your Turn

Style

When you hear the word style, you may think of the way your friends dress . . .

or the way a baseball player swings a bat.

A person’s style is created by how he or she does something—whether it’s selecting clothes or playing a sport.

Style

To determine a writer’s style, look at the way he or she uses language.

realistic dialogue

lighthearted tone

short, conversational

sentences

comical main characters

Every writer has a style, although some styles are easier to recognize than others.

Style

Most writers do not try to invent new styles. Rather, a writer’s style comes from the choices he or she makes putting words on a page.

Should I use a long word or a short one?

Do I want a simple sentence

or a long, complex

sentence?

The decisions a writer makes determine his or her style.

Word Choice

Style

The writer’s word choice sets the work’s tone, or attitude, and mood, or feeling.

A happy tone can create a carefree mood.

Nina and her dad frolicked on the playground.

Nina and her dad frolicked on the playground.

An angry tone can create a tense mood.

“I’ll drag you to court!” Mrs. Hicks shouted.

“I’ll drag you to court!” Mrs. Hicks shouted.

Tone and Mood

What mood does the tone create in the passage?

What words show his attitude toward his brother?

What words show Manny’s attitude toward the park?

Style

It was a frosty October day, yet the new playground was crowded with parents and their happy, noisy children.

“Wow!” exclaimed Manny to his friend. “I am so pumped that the park is finally ready. This awesome track and baseball diamond will be great in the spring. And the new swings and slide are perfect for keeping my annoying pest of a little brother busy.”

Read the following. Note its tone and mood.

It was a frosty October day, yet the new playground was crowded with parents and their happy, noisy children.

“Wow!” exclaimed Manny to his friend. “I am so pumped that the park is finally ready. This awesome track and baseball diamond will be great in the spring. And the new swings and slide are perfect for keeping my annoying pest of a little brother busy.”

It was a frosty October day, yet the new playground was crowded with parents and their happy, noisy children.

“Wow!” exclaimed Manny to his friend. “I am so pumped that the park is finally ready. This awesome track and baseball diamond will be great in the spring. And the new swings and slide are perfect for keeping my annoying pest of a little brother busy.”

The tone, as shown in Manny’s attitude toward the park and how it will keep his little brother busy, creates a mood of excited anticipation.

Tone and Mood

Style

Quick Check

The old woman stalked cautiously down the long, dark hallway. With each step, she moved closer to her victim: the elusive noisy cricket that had somehow made its way into the house.

I’ll get him this time, she thought. I can’t listen to his racket one more night!

The woman’s careful steps were virtually soundless; those old slippers were softer than a whisper. Yet, somehow, the cricket heard her, and it jumped just beyond her reach into the linen closet.

What is the tone of this passage?

How does the tone contribute to the mood of the passage?

[End of Section]

Literary Devices

Another way to determine an author’s style is to examine his or her use of literary devices. A literary device is a technique writers use to produce a certain effect.

Examples of literary devices include

• imagery,

• dialect, and

• symbols.

Literary Devices

Language that creates word pictures and appeals to our senses is called imagery.

Images make us feel as if we are

• seeing,

• hearing,

• touching,

• tasting, or

• smelling

what the writer describes.

Imagery

Literary Devices

Imagery helps create word pictures as you read.

The children laughed as they ran along the beach, feet pounding the soft sand. The salty ocean breeze cooled their faces.

Imagery

Literary Devices

Dialect is a way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular place or group of people.

Writers sometimes use dialect to provide clues about the people and settings in stories, bringing characters and places to life.

?What

does this character look like?

Y’all come on back to my ranch

and watch me lasso that steer.

Dialect

Literary Devices

Y’all come on back to my ranch

and watch me lasso that steer.

Did you guess that the character is a

friendly cowboy?

Dialect can make characters seem more real.

Dialect

For example, a skull and crossbones represent part of the human skeleton. As a symbol . . .

Literary Devices

A symbol is a person, place, or event that has meaning but also stands for something else.

Toxic smoke!Pirates!

a skull and crossbones represent danger.

Symbols

Poison!

Literary Devices

Read the passage. Then, answer the questions.

Mr. Badu created many jobs and donated millions of dollars to local nonprofit organizations. To honor his contributions, Mayor Cohen presented him with the keys to the city.

Identify the symbol.

Mr. Badu created many jobs and donated millions of dollars to local nonprofit organizations. To honor his contributions, Mayor Cohen presented him with the keys to the city.

What do the keys symbolize?

The keys to the city don’t actually unlock anything. Instead, they symbolize the city’s appreciation for Mr. Badu’s achievements.

Symbols

Literary Devices

Quick Check

The boat slowed as it neared the shore. Overhead, the full moon shone like a spot-light, sending beams dancing along the ripples.

“Blimey, ’ere we are at last,” growled Captain Haines. “Strike the bloomin’ colors! Step lively, now!”

A sailor swiftly lowered the British flag.

Captain Haines touched the lucky rabbit’s foot he always carried. If the border guards found out where the ship was from, the mission was doomed.

Identify the imagery, dialect, and symbols.

[End of Section]

Figurative Language

Writers often use figures of speech—expressions that are not literally true but suggest similarities between usually unrelated things.

Figures of speech can be an important part of a writer’s style.

His eyes sparkled likediamonds.

. . .

Figurative Language

Here are some figures of speech that you will find in your reading:

Similes compare two unlike things using a word of comparison, such as like, than, as, or resembles.

compare unlike things directly, without using a specific word of comparison.

speaks of a nonhuman or inanimate thing as if it had human or lifelike qualities.

Metaphors

Personification

Figurative Language

Similes compare two unlike objects using a word of comparison, such as like, than, as, or resembles.

Youssef shot up like a rocket as he went for the basket.

Describe how Youssef made his shot.

Similes

Figurative Language

Metaphors compare unlike things directly, without using a specific word of comparison.

Hannah’s eyes are stars brightening the room.

Change this metaphor into a simile.

Metaphors

Figurative Language

Personification speaks of a nonhuman or nonliving thing as if it had human or lifelike qualities.

The moonlight danced along the water.

How does personification help the moonlight come alive?

Personification

Figurative Language

Idioms are expressions that mean something different from the literal meanings of the words.

The actor hid nothing from her fans. Her life, you might say, was an open book.

How does the idiom express the idea that nothing is hidden?

Idioms

Figurative Language

Quick Check

Christian was upset when his mother told him his room smelled like an old running shoe.

“How can you say that, Mom?” he asked, his face a question mark. “I’m as neat as a tack.”

“Maybe the room is neat, but your laundry bag is overflowing with sweaty clothes,” replied his mom. “I think the bag will walk out of here on its own pretty soon.”

Identify the similes, metaphor, and personification.

[End of Section]

Irony

Another aspect of a writer’s style is irony—what happens when reality contradicts what we expect.

For example, we expect a tiger to be a dangerous beast stalking its prey . . . not a pet relaxing in a monk’s lap.

Irony

There are three types of ironyirony:

verbal irony

dramatic irony

situational irony

Irony

Verbal irony occurs when we say one thing but mean something else. Often, the speaker’s tone, or attitude, is key to the meaning.

Here, Laura means the opposite of what she says.

“I can’t wait to get to the cafeteria for my favorite lunch—hot dogs and beans,” Laura said sarcastically.

Irony

With situational irony, a situation turns out to be the opposite of what we would expect.

For example, we expect to find a kitten peering at fish in a fishbowl.

We certainly don’t expect to find that kitten in the bowl!

Irony

Dramatic irony occurs when we know something that a character does not know.

Jolene has no idea that her brothers are sneaking up to attack her with pillows, but we do know.

It’s really quiet around here today.

Irony

Quick Check

“Yeah?” grumbled the police officer behind the desk.

“I’m . . . ah . . . here to . . . ah . . . pick up my brother, Joshua Taylor,” the woman said nervously.

The officer noticed her jumpy behavior. She looks familiar, he thought. Wait a minute—that’s Bonnie Taylor! She’s on our Most Wanted list. He smiled.

“Well, young lady, you’ll be joining your brother, but you won’t be leaving. You’re under arrest.”

Which type of irony does this passage contain?

[End of Section]

Your Turn

Read this passage, and identify which statement on the next slide correctly describes its style.

Analyze Author’s Style

But what bothered him even more was when his father’s eyes went away.

Usually it happened when it didn’t cause any particular trouble. Sometimes during a meal his father’s fork would stop halfway to his mouth, just stop, and there would be a long pause while the eyes went away, far away. "Stop the Sun" by Gary Paulsen from Boy's Life, January 1986. Copyright © 1986 by Gary Paulsen. Reproduced by permission of Flannery Literary Agency on behalf of the author.

Your Turn

Style 1

The writer uses imagery and idioms to create a light tone about a serious subject.

Analyze Author’s Style

Style 2

Repetition and vivid imagery help show a young man’s struggle to understand his father.

Which statement correctly describes the passage’s style?

The End