What makes a writer’s style
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Two Writers on Mountains (Washington Irving (1819) and John Muir (1894), with our notes)
Background: [1] Washington Irving opened his story “Rip Van Winkle”, published in The Sketch Book in 1819, with this view of the Catskill Mountains of New York, which he spells “Kaatskill”. [2] John Muir, a Scottish-born naturalist, wrote Excerpt B about the Sierra Nevada in The Mountains of California, published in 1894.
Excerpt A, Irving: [3] Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. [4] They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. … [5] When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; [6] but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
Excerpt B, Muir: [7] Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. [8] … Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. [9] And after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, …
Word notes: [10] “Dismembered” means broken off from a larger body, as a limb is from a tree. [11] “Lording it over” means behaving like a powerful lord who looks down on everyone nearby. [12] The alpenglow is the rosy light on high peaks at sunrise or sunset, and “irised” means showing rainbow colors. [13] The cuts in Excerpt B remove a sentence about the view from a mountain pass and a closing phrase. [14] Irving printed “WHOEVER” in capital letters, which is given here in ordinary type.
Ari has a margin column for each writer. How do Irving and Muir differ in style when they describe mountains?
- Irving playfully personifies the hills from outside; Muir writes as an awed eyewitness.
- Both write in the same plain, factual style, like guidebooks listing what a traveler will see.
- Irving writes as an awed eyewitness in the first person; Muir playfully personifies the hills from outside.
- Irving gives the mountains human manners, saying they are “lording it over the surrounding country”.
Bo is marking figures in Excerpt A. The mountains “gather a hood of gray vapors” that will “glow and light up like a crown of glory.” What do these figures do?
- They warn the reader that a dangerous storm is about to break over the mountains.
- They dress the mountains like people, first a hood, then a crown, so the hills seem to have moods.
- They are long sentences with many clauses, which slows the whole description down.
- They describe gray clouds and sunset light on the peaks, which are simply ordinary weather.
Two Writers on Prairie Towns (Willa Cather (1913) and Sinclair Lewis (1920), with our notes)
Background: [1] Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! (1913) opens in Hanover, an invented prairie town in Nebraska, about thirty years before the book was written. [2] Sinclair Lewis’s novel Main Street (1920) follows Carol, a young woman from the city who has just married and moved to Gopher Prairie, an invented Minnesota town, and Excerpt B is her first walk through it.
Excerpt A, Cather: [3] One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. [4] A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. [5] The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. [6] None of them had any appearance of permanence, and the howling wind blew under them as well as over them.
Excerpt B, Lewis: [7] When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south; and she stood at the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue and despaired. [8] Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy expanse from concrete walk to walk, … was too small to absorb her. [9] The broad, straight, unenticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. … [10] She told herself that down the street the leaves were a splendor. [11] The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry. … [12] But the thought would not hold.
Word notes: [13] A tableland is a high, flat plain, “eddying” means swirling in circles, and “haphazard” means placed by chance, without any plan. [14] “Unenticing” means unattractive or uninviting, “absorb” here means to occupy and satisfy completely, and the cuts in Excerpt B remove a few phrases and sentences.
Esme has a margin column for each writer. How do Cather and Lewis differ in the feeling their styles give each prairie town?
- Cather’s town is a brave creature fighting the wind; Lewis’s is seen through a disappointed newcomer.
- Lewis shows the town through Carol, who stands on a street corner and “despaired”.
- Cather’s town is seen through a disappointed newcomer; Lewis’s is a brave creature fighting the wind.
- Both towns feel cheerful and welcoming, because both writers clearly love the open prairie.
Jun compares two figures: Cather’s town “was trying not to be blown away,” and Lewis’s streets “let in the grasping prairie on every side.” What do they share, and how do they differ?
- Both make the prairie a force pressing on the town, but Cather’s town resists while Lewis’s lies open.
- Both give the prairie a will, but Cather’s town lies open to it while Lewis’s town resists it.
- Both are long sentences joined by semicolons, which is a matter of syntax rather than of figures.
- Both simply describe the weather and the shape of the streets in two small prairie towns.
Two Writers on Mountains (Washington Irving (1819) and John Muir (1894), with our notes)
Background: [1] Washington Irving opened his story “Rip Van Winkle”, published in The Sketch Book in 1819, with this view of the Catskill Mountains of New York, which he spells “Kaatskill”. [2] John Muir, a Scottish-born naturalist, wrote Excerpt B about the Sierra Nevada in The Mountains of California, published in 1894.
Excerpt A, Irving: [3] Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. [4] They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. … [5] When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; [6] but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
Excerpt B, Muir: [7] Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. [8] … Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. [9] And after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, …
Word notes: [10] “Dismembered” means broken off from a larger body, as a limb is from a tree. [11] “Lording it over” means behaving like a powerful lord who looks down on everyone nearby. [12] The alpenglow is the rosy light on high peaks at sunrise or sunset, and “irised” means showing rainbow colors. [13] The cuts in Excerpt B remove a sentence about the view from a mountain pass and a closing phrase. [14] Irving printed “WHOEVER” in capital letters, which is given here in ordinary type.
Kira notices that Irving and Muir both describe light on mountains. What different effect does each writer create?
- Both use light to make the mountains seem dangerous, distant and impossible to reach.
- Both create the same effect, a quiet scientific record of how light changes on the mountains.
- Muir’s light creates wonder, as the mountains become “the Range of Light”.
- Irving’s light makes a charming storybook scene; Muir’s creates wonder at a real place.
Two Writers on Prairie Towns (Willa Cather (1913) and Sinclair Lewis (1920), with our notes)
Background: [1] Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! (1913) opens in Hanover, an invented prairie town in Nebraska, about thirty years before the book was written. [2] Sinclair Lewis’s novel Main Street (1920) follows Carol, a young woman from the city who has just married and moved to Gopher Prairie, an invented Minnesota town, and Excerpt B is her first walk through it.
Excerpt A, Cather: [3] One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. [4] A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. [5] The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. [6] None of them had any appearance of permanence, and the howling wind blew under them as well as over them.
Excerpt B, Lewis: [7] When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south; and she stood at the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue and despaired. [8] Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy expanse from concrete walk to walk, … was too small to absorb her. [9] The broad, straight, unenticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. … [10] She told herself that down the street the leaves were a splendor. [11] The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry. … [12] But the thought would not hold.
Word notes: [13] A tableland is a high, flat plain, “eddying” means swirling in circles, and “haphazard” means placed by chance, without any plan. [14] “Unenticing” means unattractive or uninviting, “absorb” here means to occupy and satisfy completely, and the cuts in Excerpt B remove a few phrases and sentences.
Luz notices that both excerpts describe a town’s buildings. What different effect does each writer create?
- Both make the buildings seem grand and welcoming, like the picture on a postcard of a town.
- Both make the buildings frightening, as if they were watching each visitor with suspicion.
- Cather’s houses seem restless and unrooted; Lewis’s plain buildings feel too small for Carol’s hopes.
- Cather’s buildings feel too small for a newcomer’s hopes; Lewis’s seem restless and ready to wander off.
Two Writers on Mountains (Washington Irving (1819) and John Muir (1894), with our notes)
Background: [1] Washington Irving opened his story “Rip Van Winkle”, published in The Sketch Book in 1819, with this view of the Catskill Mountains of New York, which he spells “Kaatskill”. [2] John Muir, a Scottish-born naturalist, wrote Excerpt B about the Sierra Nevada in The Mountains of California, published in 1894.
Excerpt A, Irving: [3] Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. [4] They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. … [5] When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; [6] but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
Excerpt B, Muir: [7] Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. [8] … Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. [9] And after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, …
Word notes: [10] “Dismembered” means broken off from a larger body, as a limb is from a tree. [11] “Lording it over” means behaving like a powerful lord who looks down on everyone nearby. [12] The alpenglow is the rosy light on high peaks at sunrise or sunset, and “irised” means showing rainbow colors. [13] The cuts in Excerpt B remove a sentence about the view from a mountain pass and a closing phrase. [14] Irving printed “WHOEVER” in capital letters, which is given here in ordinary type.
Milo compares grammar. Irving writes “Whoever has made a voyage… must remember”; Muir writes “it seemed to me.” How does this choice of grammatical person differ?
- Irving uses longer words than Muir does, which is a difference in their diction.
- Irving speaks for himself in the first person; Muir addresses any traveler in general.
- Both write in the first person, so each passage is a personal memory of a journey.
- Irving addresses any traveler in general; Muir speaks for himself, which makes his praise personal.
Two Writers on Prairie Towns (Willa Cather (1913) and Sinclair Lewis (1920), with our notes)
Background: [1] Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! (1913) opens in Hanover, an invented prairie town in Nebraska, about thirty years before the book was written. [2] Sinclair Lewis’s novel Main Street (1920) follows Carol, a young woman from the city who has just married and moved to Gopher Prairie, an invented Minnesota town, and Excerpt B is her first walk through it.
Excerpt A, Cather: [3] One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. [4] A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. [5] The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. [6] None of them had any appearance of permanence, and the howling wind blew under them as well as over them.
Excerpt B, Lewis: [7] When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south; and she stood at the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue and despaired. [8] Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy expanse from concrete walk to walk, … was too small to absorb her. [9] The broad, straight, unenticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. … [10] She told herself that down the street the leaves were a splendor. [11] The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry. … [12] But the thought would not hold.
Word notes: [13] A tableland is a high, flat plain, “eddying” means swirling in circles, and “haphazard” means placed by chance, without any plan. [14] “Unenticing” means unattractive or uninviting, “absorb” here means to occupy and satisfy completely, and the cuts in Excerpt B remove a few phrases and sentences.
Pia compares openings. Cather begins “One January day, thirty years ago…”; Lewis begins “When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes…”. How do they differ?
- Cather opens with short, blunt sentences, while Lewis opens with a short list of buildings.
- Cather puts us inside one newcomer’s half hour; Lewis looks back like a storyteller over many years.
- Both open with a storyteller remembering the distant past from many years later.
- Cather looks back like a storyteller over years; Lewis puts us inside one newcomer’s half hour.
Two Writers on Mountains (Washington Irving (1819) and John Muir (1894), with our notes)
Background: [1] Washington Irving opened his story “Rip Van Winkle”, published in The Sketch Book in 1819, with this view of the Catskill Mountains of New York, which he spells “Kaatskill”. [2] John Muir, a Scottish-born naturalist, wrote Excerpt B about the Sierra Nevada in The Mountains of California, published in 1894.
Excerpt A, Irving: [3] Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. [4] They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. … [5] When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; [6] but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
Excerpt B, Muir: [7] Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape. [8] … Then it seemed to me the Sierra should be called not the Nevada, or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. [9] And after ten years spent in the heart of it, rejoicing and wondering, bathing in its glorious floods of light, seeing the sunbursts of morning among the icy peaks, the noonday radiance on the trees and rocks and snow, the flush of the alpenglow, and a thousand dashing waterfalls with their marvelous abundance of irised spray, it still seems to me above all others the Range of Light, …
Word notes: [10] “Dismembered” means broken off from a larger body, as a limb is from a tree. [11] “Lording it over” means behaving like a powerful lord who looks down on everyone nearby. [12] The alpenglow is the rosy light on high peaks at sunrise or sunset, and “irised” means showing rainbow colors. [13] The cuts in Excerpt B remove a sentence about the view from a mountain pass and a closing phrase. [14] Irving printed “WHOEVER” in capital letters, which is given here in ordinary type.
Tala compares sentence shapes: Muir’s last sentence piles up phrases before its main clause, while Irving’s sentences are shorter and balanced. What different effects result?
- Muir’s long build-up feels like overflowing wonder; Irving’s balanced sentences feel calm.
- Both styles make the mountains seem tiring, as if the writers were worn out from climbing.
- Muir writes short, separate sentences, while Irving writes one very long sentence after another.
- Irving’s long build-up feels like overflowing wonder; Muir’s balanced sentences feel calm and storybook-like.
Two Writers on Prairie Towns (Willa Cather (1913) and Sinclair Lewis (1920), with our notes)
Background: [1] Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! (1913) opens in Hanover, an invented prairie town in Nebraska, about thirty years before the book was written. [2] Sinclair Lewis’s novel Main Street (1920) follows Carol, a young woman from the city who has just married and moved to Gopher Prairie, an invented Minnesota town, and Excerpt B is her first walk through it.
Excerpt A, Cather: [3] One January day, thirty years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. [4] A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. [5] The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. [6] None of them had any appearance of permanence, and the howling wind blew under them as well as over them.
Excerpt B, Lewis: [7] When Carol had walked for thirty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south; and she stood at the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue and despaired. [8] Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy expanse from concrete walk to walk, … was too small to absorb her. [9] The broad, straight, unenticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. … [10] She told herself that down the street the leaves were a splendor. [11] The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry. … [12] But the thought would not hold.
Word notes: [13] A tableland is a high, flat plain, “eddying” means swirling in circles, and “haphazard” means placed by chance, without any plan. [14] “Unenticing” means unattractive or uninviting, “absorb” here means to occupy and satisfy completely, and the cuts in Excerpt B remove a few phrases and sentences.
Zee compares color words: Cather’s town is “gray” under “a gray sky,” while Lewis writes “The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry,” then “But the thought would not hold.” What different effect results?
- Cather repeats the word “gray” to make the prairie town seem bleak and colorless.
- Cather’s gray states the town’s bleakness; Lewis’s bright colors are a comfort Carol cannot keep.
- Both towns seem colorful and cheerful, full of bright trees and freshly painted houses.
- Both use long sentences with many commas, so the difference between them is one of syntax.
