Quick questions on Language and Style - TCE English (Tasmania)

Diction is word choice. Ask whether the vocabulary is formal or colloquial, concrete or abstract, neutral or loaded. A single charged word can reveal an attitude that the surface meaning hides. If a writer describes a crowd as a swarm rather than a gathering, the insect comparison quietly suggests menace and loss of individuality, and that connotation is the point you would unpack.

Imagery is the sensory and figurative texture of writing: similes, metaphors, personification and vivid description. Strong analysis names the device and then explains the idea it builds, rather than simply spotting it. The question is always what the image makes the reader picture or feel, and how that serves the writer's larger purpose. A metaphor is never decoration; it asks the reader to understand one thing in terms of another, and your job is to explain the transfer.

Tone is the attitude the language conveys toward the subject or audience. Tone can be wry, mournful, urgent, detached or affectionate. You infer it from accumulated choices, so support any claim about tone with two or three pieces of evidence rather than one. A common weakness is to assert a tone in a single adjective and move on; markers want to see the tone proved from diction, imagery and rhythm working together.

Syntax is sentence structure. Short, clipped sentences can create tension or finality; long, flowing sentences can suggest reflection or the experience of being overwhelmed. Repetition, listing and sentence fragments are all syntactic effects worth naming. Punctuation belongs here too: a dash or a colon can control pace and emphasis, a semicolon can hold two ideas in tension, and a full stop dropped early can land like a blow.