Diction

Diction:

Different levels of diction exist in writing, some of the most common being slang, colloquial, standard, and formal English. Most people speak in colloquial, with some slang thrown in for good measure. So the English that we are most familiar with, and that we use the most, can actually hamper our writing when applied to research writing -- which uses standard English.

Contractions:

The most common difference between standard, written English and colloquial spoken and written English, is that standard English uses no contractions. Even though people speak and write conversationally using contractions, when writing reports and research papers, the words should be spelled out correctly.

Example:
won't = will notcan't = can not they're = they arecouldn't = could not

Use of Pronouns:

Another difference is in the use of pronouns.  To use "you," "we," "us," etc. indefinitely (meaning the pronoun does not have a specific noun to stand for, just a general or indefinite group) is common in spoken, colloquial English . In standard English (especially written), this practice is unacceptable. Each pronoun used must refer to a specific noun. The very definition of a pronoun is a word that stands for a noun, and a pronoun that is used that does not refer clearly to a specific noun in a sentence is called a pronoun with no antecedent (noun), a hanging pronoun, an indefinite pronoun. For instance, below is a sentence from a student's research paper:

"We are surrounded by a blanket of gases which only allows so much of the thermal radiation from the sun to penetrate."

We is an indefinite pronoun. Who is "we?" The people of the United States? The people of the world? The reader and the writer? So this reference is considered poor diction. Here is another way to state the same information:

"A blanket of gases surrounds the earth, allowing only so much of the thermal radiation from the sun to penetrate."

This eliminates the indefinite pronoun and makes the sentence clear.

NOTE:  Starting a sentence with the subject being written about is usually better, followed by a verb that describes the action of that subject. The BLANKET OF GASES is DOING the surrounding--it is doing the action. When the subject of the sentence does the action of the verb, the sentence structure is called active voice structure. When the subject is not doing the action of the verb, as in "we are surrounded by a blanket of gases," the subject is passive (the action is being done to it) and this is called passive voice. Compare the two sentences stated above. The active voice sentence sounds better than the passive one! So your writing will sound better in active voice than passive voice.

Here is another example:

"When we use electricity, carbon dioxide is emitted from power plants."

Once again, who is "we?" --the people of Mesa, of the U.S., of the world?

Other, better ways to state the sentence:

The use of "you":

The use of the indefinite "you" is never acceptable in research writing, or any expository writing. Sometimes it is hard for inexperienced writers to kick the habit of using "you" in writing, for it is common in spoken English. But to stick a "you" in a sentence does one of two things:  1.  refers to the reader (which should not be done), or 2.  uses it indefinitely (who is "you?"). Any sentence in your papers that contain a "you" need to be restated. Word processors can help in discovering these "yous" that slip in unnoticed. The use of the search command will help you find and eliminate them.

Also be aware of the imperative understood "you". An imperative sentence makes a command, i.e. "Go get some pizza for the study group." The subject of that sentence is the understood "you": "You go get some pizza for the study group."

Opening Sentence Structure:

Sentences in writing that continually begin with IT IS (WAS), HERE IS (WAS), THERE IS (WAS), and WHERE IS (WAS), etc., become monotonous, wordy, and signal a reader (and English teacher) of hurried, sloppy writing structure. This structure is sometimes referred to as an "Inverted sentence," for the subject of the sentence is placed in the predicate, and replaced with a "Here is" or "There was."  Again, the search command of a word processor can highlight these structures in your writing so you can change them. Example:

Poor:

Better:

Poor:

Better:

Lazy choice of words:

Choose the correct word for the meaning of your sentence, not a vague, lazy word that you use in conversation. MICROSOFT WORD has an excellent thesaurus under the Tools menu. Highlight the word you want to look up, then choose the thesaurus to give you other words that may fit your sentence and meaning more COMPLETELY (pun).