Daily Devices: Faulty Parallelism.

Sometimes a sentence that is not technically incorrect but could still be improved by making coordinate elements more precisely parallel.  Sentences may not be wrong, but sound clumsy, and can be made tighter and more effective.

In literature, the term ‘parallelism’ is used to refer to the practice placing together similarly structure related phrases, words or clauses. Parallelism involves placing sentence items in a parallel grammatical format wherein nouns are listed together, specific verb forms are listed together and the like. When one fails to follow this parallel structure, it results in faulty parallelism. The failure to maintain a balance in grammatical forms is known as faulty parallelism wherein similar grammatical forms receive dissimilar or unequal weight. 

 Example:

FAULTY:
He liked to play basketball and riding horses.

CORRECT:
He liked playing basketball and riding horses.
He liked to play basketball and to ride horses.
He liked to play basketball and ride horses.

Daily Devices: Periphrasis.

The term ‘periphrasis’ refers to a writer's intentional use of excessive language and surplus words to convey a meaning that could otherwise be constructed with fewer words and more direct. The use of this device can be to exaggerate a sentence, to create a grander effect, to beat around the bush and to draw attention away from the core of the sentence's purpose

I'm eating an elongated yellow fruit for lunch today.

In the above example; "I'm eating an elongated yellow fruit for lunch today", becomes "I'm eating a banana for lunch" in its simplest form.

Instead of simply saying “I am displeased with your behavior”, a furious teacher might say, “the manner in which you have conducted yourself in my presence of late has caused me to feel uncomfortable and has resulted in my feeling disgruntled and disappointed with you”. I'm sure we've all had one of those teachers who spoke using periphrasis twenty four hours a day.

Daily Devices: Onomatopoeia.

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It's that simple but can be used to great effect by talented writers. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

For example, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more meaningful description than simply saying, “The stream flows in the forest.” The reader is drawn to hear the sound of gushing water which makes the expression more effective.
 

In addition to the sound they represent, many onomatopoeic words have developed meanings of their own. For example, “whisper” not only represents the sound of people talking quietly, but also describes the action of people talking quietly.

Generally, words are used to tell what is happening. Onomatopoeia, on the other hand, helps the readers to hear the sounds the words they reflect. Hence, the reader cannot help but enter the world created by the poet with the aid of these words. Animal sounds are great; Meow, Moo, Neigh, Tweet, Oink or Baa, all muster the image of their corresponding animal.

The beauty of onomatopoeic words lies in the fact that they are bound to have an effect on the readers’ senses whether they are understood or not. Moreover, a simple plain expression does not have the same emphatic effect that conveys an idea powerfully to the readers. The use of onomatopoeic words helps create emphasis.

Daily Devices: Allegory.

Allegory: a symbolism device in which an abstract idea is given a form of characters, actions or events. Usually a rhetoric device, an allegory suggests a meaning via metaphoric examples. This can be used by writers as a top down approach to writing and is often chosen to shed light on darker themes with the use of personified characters.

Examples of stories that make use of allegory:

• Animal Farm by George Orwell.
• The Rabbits by John Marsden.
• The Lord of the Flies by William Golding.  

Example: George Orwell’s book Animal Farm.

Using the actions of animals on a farm to represent the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW II. Orwell uses allegory to expose the greed and corruption of the Revolution.

Daily Devices: Personification.

Personification: is often used and a commonly recognized literary device used in a third grade classroom. It refers to the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics to an inanimate object, phenomena or animal.

When employing personification, the writer should keep a few things in mind in order to convey the message that they want without confusing their readers. A writer needs to think about what kind of emotions and meanings they want to convey when using personification and whether or not those thoughts are appropriate to the description of the object. There is no point referring to an owl as wise unless it is going to do something intelligent. Without the follow up actions that the personification conveys the statement, “the wise owl” is simply a cliché. Good writers use personification to give their writing life and to connect with their readers. Personification helps to relate ideas by giving inanimate objects human qualities, allowing an author to convey his meaning more effectively.

Example: “The Captain recalled that the winds were angry that day, the storm had murderous intentions.”

Daily Devices: Diction.

Diction: the term used to describe a distinctive tone or mood set by an author’s writing techniques. Diction is not just a writer's choice of words but can include the atmosphere, assertiveness, dialogue and style of writing. Diction is the mark of quality writing, usually judged by the prevailing standards of proper writing and speech of current trends. It is also understood as the selection of certain words or phrases that become standard features employed by a particular writer.

Example: Writers working in the fantasy genre may employ archaic terms such as ‘thy’, ‘thee’ and ‘wherefore’ to imbue a Shakespearean mood to their story. George R. R. Martin creates his own terms like ‘Ser’ and ‘Maester’ that allude to fantasy origans but hold a unique place in his world.

Daily Devices: Cacophony.

Cacophony: is a device that uses words and phrases that suggest tough, coarse sounds within the phrase. These words give sentences a jarring and harsh sound that can create a disturbing off-putting atmosphere. It can also be used to imply a sudden or abrupt halt in your story.

Example: Her fingers rapped and pounded the counter, and her foot thumped against the floor in frustration.

Daily Devices: Hyperbaton.

Hyperbaton: a literary device employed by writers who alter the regular positioning of words and phrases in order to create a inversely structured sentence that conveys the same meaning. Through the use of hyperbaton, words or phrases transgress their conventional placements and result in a more complex or intriguing sentence structure. This literary device can be used to add more complexity and flare to your sentence structure. Hyperbaton is what makes Yoda’s deep philosophical quotes so memorable and it can be used to create your own quirky characters.

Example: “Together they drove along the dusty, outback roads”. This sentence is a variation of the more conventional, “They drove along on the dusty, outback roads”. In the example, we see how the first sentences sounds more interesting compared to the standard second sentences.

Daily Devices: Alliteration.

Alliteration: a literary device where carefully selected words beginning with letters of the same sound group are chained together in a sentence. This can be either a specific vowel group or a consonant sound. A successful alliteration is achieved by creating a repetition of similar sounds in your sentence. The most common recognised example of alliterations is when the words all begin with the same letter. Alliterations can be used to add character to your writing, to give speed or flare to a particular sentence and often to bolster a spirit of ‘fun’ for the reader. Alliteration can help you invent wonderful and exciting character names; from Peter Pan to the Wicked Witch of the West.

 

Example: Daniel’s dog dove deep in the dam, drinking dirty water as he ducked below.