DIDLS - AP Language Composition Rhetorical Analysis DIDLS...

AP Language & Composition: Rhetorical Analysis
DIDLS: The Key to TONE
D iction - the word choice
What words does the author choose? Consider his/her word choice compared to
another. Why did the author choose that particular word? What are the advantages
and disadvantages?
Ex: Self-confident: proud, conceited, egotistical, stuck-up, haughty, smug,
condescending
Describe diction by considering the following:
a) syllables – words can be monosyllabic or polysyllabic . The higher the
ration of polysyllabic words, the more difficult the content.
b) denotative/connotative meanings
c) concrete ( specific) or abstract (general)
d) sounds – words can be pleasant sounding ( euphonious ) or harsh sounding
( cacophonous )
I mages - vivid appeals to understanding through the senses
What images does the author use? What does he/she focus on in a sensory way?
NOTE: Images differ from detail in the degree to which they appeal to the senses.
The use of vivid descriptions or figures of speech that appeal to sensory experiences
helps to create the author's tone.
1) Reference to one thing as another
a. simile
b. metaphor
c. personification
d. synecdoche - a whole is represented by a part
EX: All hands on deck!
e. metonymy – reference to something/someone through an
associated item
EX: The suits on Wall Street surely made a mess of
things!
2) Wordplay/Pun
a. onomatopoeia
b. paronomasia – punning
c. antanaclasis - the repetition of a word or phrase whose meaning
changes
in the second instance EX: “Your argument is
sound...all sound. “ (Benjamin Franklin)
3) Substitutions
a. anthimeria – substitution of one part of speech for another

EX: Go ahead and google that to find an answer.