Style, a definition:
Using certain kinds of sentences and words that serve the your and your audience’s values, expectations, and goals.
Style can be thought of how you manage patterns, repetition, and disruptions of those patterns and repetitions. Deciding on those patterns, repetitions, and disruptions matters when you consider your audience.
In the Blankenship reading, the consideration of audience is what that audience might expect from you and what your audience’s values and expectations are:
- what sorts of words are they used to hearing? (e.g., technical vocabulary, colloquial language) What do they value? (e.g., investors respond well to language that centers a return on investment)
- what kinds of sentences would your audience expect and value? (e.g., long ones, complex ones, simple ones)
- what kinds of organization or paragraphing? (e.g., long paragraphs, short ones)
Here is what we will focus on this semester, more specifically, in regard to style:
- Voice and Audience
- Word origins and tone
- Words and register
- Sentences: Phrases and Clauses
- Sentences: Active and passive voice
- Sentences: Cohesion
- Sentences: Types
- Sentences: Length
- Sentences: Punctuation
- Sentences: Tropes and Figures
When you think about style, what comes to mind OTHER than writing and speaking? Comment below in response to this question by naming 1-2 things in the comments section below and how style in that domain is similar and/or different from how style is used in terms of writing and speaking.
After commenting below, click on the “Click here to continue” button to go to the next module page.
One example of style is composing music. Similar to speaking, it’s an auditory language that will have some overlaps with how distinct styles are developed. There will be emphasis on certain notes or beats, and structure of a song is also important. Speaking style can also bring emphasis on certain syllables and people talk at different speeds. People also have spoken accents or dialects that can be similar to musical genres and subgenres.
When I think about style, the first thing that comes to mind is fashion. Fashion is used to express identity, often without the use of words. It is similar to style in writing in that “cohesion” is critical. A well dressed person pays attention to details, not just tops and bottoms, but also accessories.
One thing that reminds me of style relates to the style that a sports team can have especially in like American Football, in which some teams can either be more pass oriented or running oriented. Each teams coach brings their own style and adapts it to all the players and they all form a cohesion culmination of their unique skills and it either works and the team does fairly well, or they completely fold and dont make the playoffs. This is similar to writing because each person has their own style and it is noticeable in writing and in sports.
Style reminds me of how people dress, and the style a person will play and hit the ball in tennis. Style here is similar to style in writing because both are when somebody puts their personal touch into their work. Additionally style in all these cases help you work towards your goals.
The first thing that comes to my mind when someone talks about style is the way
I dress and my attitude. How I compare my writing to outfits depends on the occasion sometimes you want to be striking, others your want to make a statement, others are casual but outstanding; it is important to find balance, you can’t wear an eye-ching purple jacket with a neon pink shirt, is too much. Attitude I would contrast to the way I approach people, in the case of writing it is the tone I use with my audience.
Style is how the authors structures their ideas. It can be through the use of certain jargon. Or writing techniques such as imagery and figurative language. Author’s style focuses on presentation. Style helps the reader to interact with the text rather than just read and understand it.
The two things that come to mind when thinking about style apart from writing and speaking are fashion and attitude. In fashion, style is applied in a similar manner as it does in writing and speaking because one has to select outfits that reflect their flair. Similarly, style in regards to attitude also serves the same purpose as that used in writing and speaking because one’s attitude is a reflection of their individual preferences as well as the expectations of others around them (audience).
When I think about style I think about music genres. In the music domain I think that your style reflects your personality and/or your alter ego. This is similar in terms of writing and speaking because through all three domains you are able to show who you are or who you want to be. Of course everything is up for interpretation but music, writing, and speaking are all ways for people to get to know you.
The only other thing that comes to mind when I hear style would probably be fashion, the way you dress, etc.. I think it would be similar to style in the domain of writing because both could be unique to you in the sense that the unique combination you choose specifically depends on your perception, decisions, values, etc.
One thing that I relate style to is fashion. The garments that someone chooses is what makes them unique. It makes them who they are. When a style is super pronounced, it can have an effect where if someone trying to copy another person’s style, other’s will notice. This is because if a style is super unique, other people will be aboule to recognize it. If you were to compare this to style in terms of writing, it would be like me trying to emulate a famous writer like Edgar Allen Poe or William Shakespear. It would be quite obvious that I was copying their style because the way that they wrote was so unique to them.
When I hear the word style, I think of fashion. I like how people use fashion as a way of expression. In this sense, fashion is similar to style in writing because both are a form of expressing yourself however you want.