[Music] there are lots of ways to write about diction so you want to be sure that you go about describing this rhetorical device in a way that will help your essay score not hurt it don't just say that the author uses a lot of diction you might as well be saying that the author uses a bunch of words instead you should identify the kind of diction that the author is using if the author uses a lot of words that emphasize reason and logic you could say that he uses objective or scientific diction or if the words emphasize emotion and experience you could describe the text as subjective if the author uses diction that is based on literary comparisons or philosophical ideas you could say that figurative and abstract language is used whatever you have to say about diction be very specific and make your analysis relevant to what the author is accomplishing with words speaking of words let's not forget that every word has two inherent meanings denotation and connotation denotation is the dictionary definition of a word whereas connotation is the feeling of the word it's actually influenced by culture the difference is important and you need to understand it for both multiple choice and free response sections of the AP exam now let's look at a few key words in a news headline outrage students riot against dress code policies now technically outraged means the same thing as anger in the dictionary so they have the same tea notation but what makes them different is the cultural intention the connotation of the word is how we feel about the word how we interpret it when we hear it anger is strong but outrage is reckless angry students can be pacified outraged students require grand acts for appeasement the same could be said of riot versus protests same denotation but starkly different connotations connotations can be hard to pin down but they impact how we understand and experience the words that we read just think of the difference between frugal and cheap they mean the same thing but they feel completely different when they're being used to describe somebody's coupon mom connotation is significant because it could reveal the author's attitude toward the subject and it impacts how the audience responds to the message there are several ways the diction can be manipulated once introduced out use words like could may might perhaps hope or sometimes I might go watch hilarious videos online instead of studying that's called qualifying language want to instill confidence use absolute language first only never always must you must never cheat on exams feeling critical prove it using diction when your friend's version of what happened last Friday night is hard to believe you could describe it as dubious or fantastical so when an author says that London is an unexceptional city then you know you have something meaningful to say about our diction you