Editing Stylistic device (section)

== Register ==

===Diction===
[[Diction]] is the choice of specific words to communicate not only meaning, but emotion as well. Authors writing their texts consider not only a word's denotation but also its connotation. For example, a person may be described as stubborn or tenacious, both of which have the same basic meaning but are opposite in terms of their emotional background (the first is an insult, while the second is a compliment). Similarly, a bargain-seeker may be described as either thrifty (compliment) or stingy (insult). An author's diction is extremely important in discovering the narrator's tone, or attitude.

===Syntax===
{{main article|Syntax}}
Sentences can be long or short, written in the [[active voice]] or [[passive voice]], composed as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. They may also include such techniques as inversion or such structures as appositive phrases, verbal phrases (gerund, participle, and infinitive), and subordinate clauses (noun, adjective, and adverb). These tools can be highly effective in achieving an author's purpose.

'''Example''': The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion. (from ''[[Night (memoir)|Night]]'', by [[Elie Wiesel]])

In this sentence, [[Elie Wiesel|Wiesel]] uses two parallel independent clauses written in the passive voice. The first clause establishes suspense about who rules the ghetto, and then the first few words of the second clause set up the reader with the expectation of an answer, which is metaphorically revealed only in the final word of the sentence.

===Voice===
In [[grammar]], there are two [[Voice (grammar)|voices]]: active and passive. These terms can be applied to whole sentences or verbs.
Verbs also have tense, aspect and mode.
There are three tenses: past, present, and future.
There are two main aspects: perfect and progressive. Some grammarians refer to aspects as tenses, but this is not strictly correct, as the perfect and progressive aspects convey information other than time.
There are many modes (also called moods). Some important ones are: declarative, affirmative, negative, emphatic, conditional, imperative, interrogative and subjunctive. 

===Tone===
[[Tone (literature)|Tone]] expresses the writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the reader, or herself or himself.<ref>A{{harvp|Arp|Johnson|2009|p=800}}</ref>