What makes a writer’s style
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Walden, from “The Ponds” (Henry David Thoreau, 1854, with our notes)
Background: [1] Henry David Thoreau lived beside Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, from 1845 to 1847, and published Walden, his book about those years, in 1854. [2] In this chapter he describes the pond’s depth, its shores and the colors of its water with the patience of a naturalist.
The excerpt: [3] All our Concord waters have two colors at least; one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand. … [4] In clear weather, in summer, they appear blue at a little distance, especially if agitated, and at a great distance all appear alike. … [5] But, looking directly down into our waters from a boat, they are seen to be of very different colors. [6] Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. [7] Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both. [8] Viewed from a hill-top it reflects the color of the sky; but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint next the shore where you can see the sand, then a light green, which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond. … [9] Like the rest of our waters, when much agitated, in clear weather, so that the surface of the waves may reflect the sky at the right angle, or because there is more light mixed with it, it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself; … [10] It is a vitreous greenish blue, as I remember it, like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas in the west before sundown. [11] Yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air.
Word notes: [12] “Agitated” means stirred up by wind, and “partakes of” means shares in or takes part of. [13] “Vitreous” means glassy, like glass, and “vistas” are long views seen through an opening. [14] Style has four parts: diction (word choice), syntax (sentence shape), grammar (such as person, voice and verb forms) and figurative language.
Ari is filling in the margin for part 7: “Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both.” Which part of style does the opening phrase mainly show?
- Syntax: an opening participle phrase puts the pond’s position before the claim about its color.
- Description: the sentence explains that the pond takes its color from both the sky and the ground.
- Diction: the formal word “heavens” makes the plain pond sound grand, important and almost holy.
- Grammar: part 14 lists grammar as one of the four parts of style, so this sentence mainly shows grammar.
Bo is writing the effect of one word in the margin. Thoreau calls the water “a vitreous greenish blue” in part 10. What does the word “vitreous” add?
- It means glassy, a word that simply names the color without adding any feeling or tone to it.
- It makes the water sound cloudy and dirty, like a pane of old glass that badly needs cleaning.
- It is a simile, comparing the water to the winter sky “seen through cloud vistas” at sundown.
- Exactness: a scientist’s word for glassy shows how precisely Thoreau looked at the water.
Esme is marking the shape of part 8, which moves from “a yellowish tint” to “a light green” to “a uniform dark green.” How does this sentence shape work?
- It lists the colors in order from the shore outward, so the reader’s eye travels across the pond.
- It slows down to show that Thoreau was bored by watching the same water for far too long.
- It jumps between the colors in no particular order, so the reader feels how confusing the water is.
- It tells us that the shallow water near the shore looks yellow because of the sand underneath.
Life on the Mississippi, from Chapter 4 (Mark Twain, 1883, with our notes)
Background: [1] Mark Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a small Mississippi River town, and this memoir of 1883 remembers the steamboats of the 1840s; its long middle sentence is numbered in parts at its semicolons.
The excerpt: [2] Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. … [3] After all these years I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning; [4] the streets empty, or pretty nearly so; one or two clerks sitting in front of the Water Street stores, with their splint-bottomed chairs tilted back against the wall, chins on breasts, hats slouched over their faces, asleep—with shingle-shavings enough around to show what broke them down; [5] a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk, doing a good business in watermelon rinds and seeds; … [6] the great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun; the dense forest away on the other side; [7] the ‘point’ above the town, and the ‘point’ below, bounding the river-glimpse and turning it into a sort of sea, and withal a very still and brilliant and lonely one. [8] Presently a film of dark smoke appears above one of those remote ‘points;’ instantly a … drayman, famous for his quick eye and prodigious voice, lifts up the cry, ‘S-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin’!’ and the scene changes! [9] … the clerks wake up, a furious clatter of drays follows, every house and store pours out a human contribution, and all in a twinkling the dead town is alive and moving.
Word notes: [10] A packet was a passenger and mail boat that ran on a regular schedule, and “gaudy” means showy and brightly decorated. [11] Shingle-shavings are thin curls of wood whittled from a shingle by idle hands. [12] A dray is a low, heavy cart for freight, so a drayman drives one, and “prodigious” means enormous. [13] “Withal” means besides, and river “points” are spits of land jutting into the water. [14] Two short phrases are cut, marked with ellipses.
Kira is writing the effect of a phrase in the margin. Twain says pigs were “doing a good business in watermelon rinds and seeds.” What does this word choice add?
- It is syntax: a long sentence with many parts divided from each other by semicolons.
- It shows that the town was wealthy and that its shops were busy with customers that morning.
- It tells us that the pigs were selling watermelon rinds and seeds to the people of the town.
- Humor: business language for pigs eating scraps makes the sleepy town comic.
Luz notices that one sentence runs from part 3 to part 7 as a long list of sleepy sights, and part 8 is short and sudden. What does this shape do?
- It tells how a steamboat arrived once each day, either from St. Louis or from Keokuk.
- The long, slow list builds the sleepy calm, so the sudden cry in part 8 breaks it.
- The long list shows that Twain could not decide which of the many details to describe first.
- Each part is a short, separate sentence, so the scene moves quickly from one sight to the next.
Walden, from “The Ponds” (Henry David Thoreau, 1854, with our notes)
Background: [1] Henry David Thoreau lived beside Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, from 1845 to 1847, and published Walden, his book about those years, in 1854. [2] In this chapter he describes the pond’s depth, its shores and the colors of its water with the patience of a naturalist.
The excerpt: [3] All our Concord waters have two colors at least; one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand. … [4] In clear weather, in summer, they appear blue at a little distance, especially if agitated, and at a great distance all appear alike. … [5] But, looking directly down into our waters from a boat, they are seen to be of very different colors. [6] Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. [7] Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both. [8] Viewed from a hill-top it reflects the color of the sky; but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint next the shore where you can see the sand, then a light green, which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond. … [9] Like the rest of our waters, when much agitated, in clear weather, so that the surface of the waves may reflect the sky at the right angle, or because there is more light mixed with it, it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself; … [10] It is a vitreous greenish blue, as I remember it, like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas in the west before sundown. [11] Yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air.
Word notes: [12] “Agitated” means stirred up by wind, and “partakes of” means shares in or takes part of. [13] “Vitreous” means glassy, like glass, and “vistas” are long views seen through an opening. [14] Style has four parts: diction (word choice), syntax (sentence shape), grammar (such as person, voice and verb forms) and figurative language.
Milo is filling in the margin for part 10. Which part of style creates the picture in the phrase “like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas”?
- Grammar: part 14 says that grammar includes verb forms, and “is” is the sentence’s main verb.
- Figurative language: a simile compares the water’s color to winter sky glimpsed through clouds.
- Diction: the rare word “vistas” is a formal choice that makes the sky sound grand and distant.
- Memory: Thoreau says “as I remember it”, so this part records a color he recalls from an earlier day.
Noah notices that part 6, “Walden is blue at one time and green at another,” uses very plain words. Why might Thoreau choose plain words here?
- The plain words show that Thoreau did not really care very much about the color of the pond.
- Part 2 says Thoreau writes with the patience of a naturalist, so he prefers plain words.
- The simple words state the puzzle clearly before the long, exact sentences explain it.
- Blue and green are color words that tell what the pond looks like, and nothing more than that.
Pia is marking the shape of part 3: “one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand.” What does this balanced shape do?
- It makes the sentence hard to follow, so the reader becomes as puzzled about the pond as Thoreau.
- It tells us that the lakes and rivers around Concord have at least two different colors.
- It sets far against near in matching halves, preparing the two views the paragraph explores.
- It is a long list of many different colors, each separated from the next by a comma.
Life on the Mississippi, from Chapter 4 (Mark Twain, 1883, with our notes)
Background: [1] Mark Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, a small Mississippi River town, and this memoir of 1883 remembers the steamboats of the 1840s; its long middle sentence is numbered in parts at its semicolons.
The excerpt: [2] Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. … [3] After all these years I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning; [4] the streets empty, or pretty nearly so; one or two clerks sitting in front of the Water Street stores, with their splint-bottomed chairs tilted back against the wall, chins on breasts, hats slouched over their faces, asleep—with shingle-shavings enough around to show what broke them down; [5] a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk, doing a good business in watermelon rinds and seeds; … [6] the great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun; the dense forest away on the other side; [7] the ‘point’ above the town, and the ‘point’ below, bounding the river-glimpse and turning it into a sort of sea, and withal a very still and brilliant and lonely one. [8] Presently a film of dark smoke appears above one of those remote ‘points;’ instantly a … drayman, famous for his quick eye and prodigious voice, lifts up the cry, ‘S-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin’!’ and the scene changes! [9] … the clerks wake up, a furious clatter of drays follows, every house and store pours out a human contribution, and all in a twinkling the dead town is alive and moving.
Word notes: [10] A packet was a passenger and mail boat that ran on a regular schedule, and “gaudy” means showy and brightly decorated. [11] Shingle-shavings are thin curls of wood whittled from a shingle by idle hands. [12] A dray is a low, heavy cart for freight, so a drayman drives one, and “prodigious” means enormous. [13] “Withal” means besides, and river “points” are spits of land jutting into the water. [14] Two short phrases are cut, marked with ellipses.
Tala is writing the effect of two words in the margin. Twain calls the packet “cheap, gaudy” in part 2. What do these words add?
- They show that Twain was ashamed of his hometown and of the boats that stopped there.
- They tell us the price of a ticket on the boat and the colors of paint that were used on it.
- They are syntax, because two adjectives stand side by side in front of the noun they describe.
- A fond, teasing tone: the boats were showy and second-rate, yet they were the town’s great event.
Zee is marking the shape of part 9, which joins four quick actions with commas: clerks wake, drays clatter, houses empty, the town comes alive. What does this shape do?
- It tells us that each house and store emptied out when the steamboat finally arrived.
- The rapid string of clauses copies the sudden rush, the opposite of the slow list before it.
- It is one slow, balanced sentence with two halves, like the calm description that comes before it.
- It shows that the people of the town were angry at being woken up so suddenly.