English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Levels of Diction
Chapter 13 Diction and Conciseness
Part 5 Struttin Your Stuff with Style
Diction is measured from formal to informal language usage. Formal diction is marked by multisyllable words, long sentences, and a formal tone; informal diction includes shorter words and sentences and a less formal tone. Neither level of diction (or any levels in between) is “good” or “bad”; rather, each is appropriate in different writing situations. The following chart shows the levels of diction and when each is used.
Let’s explore diction in greater detail.
1. Elevated diction
The most elevated level of diction has abstract language, a serious tone, few personal references, few contractions, and considerable distance implied between reader and writer. It’s used for the most formal documents such as stock offerings, land deeds, formal sermons, and technical articles.
The following selection is from Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” delivered in the early eighteenth century. As you read it, notice that the words are part of an educated person’s vocabulary. Examples of elevated diction include wrath (great anger), inconceivable (cannot be imagined), and abhor (detest).
Notice also the great many figures of speech, such as the two imaginative comparisons. The first, a metaphor, compares God’s anger to a bow and arrow: “The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow. ...” The second, a simile, compares humans to spiders: “The God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect...”
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course when once it is let loose. ’Tis true that judgment against your evil work has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are continually rising and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath toward you burns like fire. . . .
2. Standard American English
The language used in most academic and professional writing is called “Edited American English” or “Standard Written English.” It’s the writing you find in magazines such as Newsweek, US News and World Report, and The Atlantic. Such language conforms to the widely established rules of grammar, sentence structure, usage, punctuation, and spelling that you’ve been learning in this book.
Here’s an example of Standard American English from an article I wrote for a newspaper:
When I was young, time seemed to stand still. But as I plunge kicking and screaming into my middle years, time compresses and I find myself thinking about eternity. No, not mortality, spirituality, or perfume; rather, I’m talking about the unique meaning “eternity” has for Long Islanders.
To empty-nesters left contemplating the remains of an Easter feast once the guests have rolled out the door, eternity is two people and a ham. To my single female friends, eternity is waiting for Mr. Right to appear on their doorstep and in their arms. To a long-married man, eternity is shopping for shoes with his wife.
To Long Islanders, however, eternity takes on a whole new meaning. My traingoing friends claim that eternity is the Long Island Railroad loudspeaker squawking during rush hour, “LIRR delays through Jamaica, delays through Hicksville, delays on the Ronkonkoma branch.” Why not just drive? You know the answer to that question if you’ve ever been westbound on the Southern State in the fall, as the sun sets on the highway and you’re blinded for six straight miles. Traffic grinds to a standstill as everyone fumbles with their sun visors and squints into their windshield. You know what eternity is when you travel from New York City to the Hamptons on a Friday night in August. They don’t call it “Long” Island for nothing.
3. Colloquial language
Next comes colloquial language, the level of diction characteristic of casual conversation and informal writing. The following joke shows the difference between standard diction and colloquial language. Notice the contractions and the use of the word buddies.
Three buddies die in a car crash and go to heaven for orientation. They’re all asked, “When you’re in your casket and friends and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?”
The first guy says, “I’d like to hear them say that I was a great doctor and a great family man.”
The second guy says, “I’d like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and teacher who made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow.”
The last guy replies, “I’d like to hear them say . . . ’Look, he’s moving!’”
4. Slang
Less formal than colloquial language is slang, coined words and phrases or new meanings for established terms. Some recent slang includes the words dweeb, nerd, doofus. Slang is fun, informal, and great for casual conversations with friends. Slang is never used in formal writing.
5. Vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary language of a particular region, such as “pop” or “soda” for a carbonated beverage. Dialect, the language specific to a particular regional area, is a type of vernacular. It’s different from slang because dialect reflects differences in regions and socioeconomic status. Like colloquial language and slang, vernacular and dialect are not appropriate for formal writing.
Here’s how the novelist and humorist Mark Twain used vernacular and dialect to describe the people and events in the American West in the 1880s. This excerpt is from Twain’s Life on the Mississippi.
“Say, Jim, I’m a-goin’ home for a few days.”
“What for?”
“Well, I hain’t b’en there for a right smart while and I’d like to see who things are comin’ on.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“’Bout two weeks.”