Vocabulary for Style Analysis

Vocabulary for style analysis

1.    The problem of the text:   to set an important (serious, burning, urgent, vital) problem,  to solve the problem of,   it seems to be a great problem (of ...),  to render the idea of social injustice,  inequality,  pollution, humanity, charity,  the  state independence, unemployment, discrimination,   to  tackle the problem of

2.    The point of the story:  to  make  the point plain, to  show  how vital the point of the text is, to expound the point by repeating the same idea (revealing the idea in relation to ..), to make  his point understandable for the reader

3.    The purpose of the text:  to convey to (to  reproduce in)  the reader   the authors thoughts and feelings (informational function), to make the reader to visualize and feel  what he wants him to visualize and feel (the emotional and expressive function),  to draw the readers’ attention  to what the author finds important and wants to bring to his notice (the expressive function), to appeal to the reader,  distinguish several functions (aims),  to win the reader (listener)  over to the  author’s (listener’s)  side, to emphasize the contrasting contradictory ideas, to arrange the ideas  according to the degree of their importance or emphasis,  to express the author’s  individual  attitude  toward  what  he describes, to give the personal appraisal  of ...,  to secure the desired effect, to express our perception of the likeness (contrast, similarity) of two objects or ideas,   its  sole purpose is to  entertain and divert the reader, to keep the reader in a state of  expectations, to  accentuate the connection between the two parts the antecedent extract  introduces, the  dramatic   meat  of the text  is  not in its narrative (plot) but in the revelation of the ..., the text (logically) falls into 2 parts entitled ..., the  direct address to the reader is of great importance,  the blending of description and narration is skillfully used ... to , to  create  an atmosphere of growing suspense, to add a dramatic flavour to the extract,   the incongruity  between the contents and the literary form,  to  be a symbolic representation of the atmosphere created in the book, the incongruity   of the sensual  plot and the drystone  of the descriptor

4.     The structure of the text

4.1. The  exposition  of the story (text)    to start the reader on the story

4.2. The climax of the story/text (gradation) -  the anticlimax the moment   of the highest  interest (tension): to arrange the ideas according to the  degree of their importance  or emphasis,   the  most  important  from his point of view,  coming last, to  lead  on to a melodramatic (intellectual),  psychological, emotional

4.3.  The outcome of the text/story: to succeed  in  holding readers attention to the end, the outcome of the story is  dramatic (predictable,  quite unexpected) to be based on the effect of the deceived expectancy,  surprised endings (happy-ends)  are typical of ...

4.4. Text contents and its understatement (the subject-matter of the text): to write with (understanding) and understatement to emphasize the contrasting and contradictory ideas, to stress the fact that, to  accentuate the connection,  the plot development is tense and dynamic (slow and lax),  to contain an ingenious plot, the scene is set in...,  to convey concise information compactly, to pile up the details to  create the state of suspense, to specify the setting and the time  span of the story, plot  development and the characters involved 

5.   The point of view: the author’s choice of the point of view contributes to the vividness of narration, description, the story is told from the point of view of the author (the main character an onlooker), the general slant of the story is

6.    The form of the speech:   the point of view of the character is  incorporated in the structure of the narrative,  the  paragraph represents non-personal  direct speech  with all its  specific traits,   to gain much from dialogues,  monologue is used to advantage, conversation plays a subordinate part in the story,  to make the description, narration convincing, to give a personal  character to his narration

7.    Characterization of character drawing:   to  define the  character to the  reader  by describing or explaining it, to offer an interpretation of each person in the story (direct characterization), to characterize a person through action and conversation, to leave it to the reader to judge the characters by what they do and say (indirect characterization) to employ both the direct and indirect methods of characterization, to give the character full dimension by depicting him both with understanding understatement, the portrayal is vivid and true to life, to apply a direct method of characterization through action plays an important part in the text, the characterization is shallow (superficial, profound ...), to see the characters with understanding and sympathy, to ridicule hypocrisy and self-righteousness through the character of..., the chief traits of his character are ..., a self-spoken man with moral fiber of steel

The linguistic system of the text presents itself as a complex unity of versatile means

8.       Linguistic means

8.1 The choice of vocabulary: the choice of vocabulary is determined by   the  purpose of the text (by their being used in spoken or written speech,  to depend on the contents and the aim of the utterance,  the effective use of language plays a major part in …, the arrangement of appropriate words is of very great importance, to depend on the object of the writer, to have a more emphatic meaning, to lay emphasis (on the structural  means, vocabulary, on the idea problem, the choice of words is  accounted for the  author’s intention to …, the relation between the direct and the contextual meaning of the word,  the name sounds quite appropriate, the author  introduces the word "…” to show (underline), elevated words create an atmosphere of,  to abound in bookish and highly literary words (archaisms, colloquial words, slang, vulgarisms, jarganisms, barbarisms, French borrowings), the author selects words which are slightly unexpected in the present context

8. 2. Word structure and grammar forms: special (particular) use of conjunctions prepositions derivational word-building, word-forming patterns

8. 3. Sentence Patterns: the general character of the sentence contributes to the expressiveness, tension immobility, relaxation, to consider the peculiar structure of the sentence, the lantithetic structure of the sentence, junction meaning implied in the sentence is …, to be logically connected with  the previous paragraph (the antecedented), successive clauses (homogeneous  members)  produce the effect of tension, persistence

8. 4. The compositional pattern of the text: to consider the general principles of the text composition

9.       The type of the text and the functional style: to serve as a vivid example of …, the piece of writing

10.    The reader’s perception:  grasp the full significance of what he says (writes, appreciate, admire the lyrical (emotional, humorous, ironical, subtle) tone of the text, to participate in the  adventure and imaginary  experiences, to strengthen the bond of understanding between the reader and the author, to produce a vivid impression of the hero’s sufferings, to feel a change  in the tone or mood of the passage,  to appreciate the actual humour of these words, to define a contrast in mood and atmosphere between