Biased Diction and Strong Language

Now let's step into the more challenging territory that words create. Look at two different ways a news organization might report an event.

• The jailer freed the prisoner.
• The guard released the inmate.

Discuss:

1. How would you characterize the differences between jailer and guard?
2. Between freed and released?
3. Whose side, or what side, does each sentence seem to be representing?
4. Are some words more negative than others?

See your mentor for the analysis, available at Lesson 2 of the Mentor Guidelines Web site.

Strong Language

Have your parents or guardians ever cautioned you against "strong language"? What words are off limits, and why?

Love and hate are often cited as examples of strong language. To say you have fallen in love with someone is quite a declaration, as is a declaration of hatred. Yet do you hear people say every day:

• "I love spaghetti!"
• "I hate him!"

Then, they turn around and declare newfound love or hatred for something or someone else.

What other synonyms might a speaker or writer use instead? Discuss with your mentor why such words fit that description.

• Create sentence pairs about two of any of the following topics:
• pets
• siblings
• school
• safe food
• the environment
• international diplomacy

Experiment with general versus specific diction, biased versus more neutral diction, or stronger versus tamer language.

• Then write an explanatory sentence to indicate why one type of diction is either more general or specific, more biased or neutral, or stronger or tamer than the other.
• Then, test your language out on an audience. Find three adults you trust and interview them. Read them the sentence pairs, and record their reactions.
• Reflect. What did you learn about general versus specific diction, biased versus neutral, and stronger versus tamer?
• Share your discoveries with your mentor.

Head to the next page to see how Huck Finn is full of contentious language from another era that raises some readers' hackles. Note also that there are many readers who believe such language is crucial to the book's status as a classic.

 

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