Course: STYLISTICS (LANGUAGE & LITERATURE)

Course Credit: 3 Units

Course Content:

Study, description and analysis of various sample literary texts by the principles of

literary criticism as well as the principles of linguistic analysis. 45(T), C

Course Description:

The course focuses on the relationship between style and stylistics, the goal of stylistics

and the implications of context. Literary and linguistic ‘triggers’ for the interpretation of

literary and non-literary texts to be examined include morphology, speech sounds,

graphology, lexis, semantics, syntax, point of view, and pragmatics.

Course Objectives:

The main aim of the course is to make students appreciate and understand the functional

interpretation and construction of texts. At the end of the course, the students will be able

to:

· identify the principles and tools of stylistic analysis;

· describe the principles and tools of stylistic analysis;

· analyse texts beyond its formal features; and

· create various texts using the principles and tools of stylistic analysis.

Course Requirements:

This is a compulsory course for both Language and Literature students:

· Each student is expected to participate in all the course activities.

· A minimum of 75% attendance is required to qualify each student to write the

final examination.

· Students will be expected to answer the study questions and assignments.

LECTURES

Week 1: General introduction and the relationship between style and

stylistics

Objectives: *By the end of the class, students should be able to present an overview of

the field of stylistics

*By the end of the class, students should be able to explain the

relationship between style and stylistics

Description: The evolution of stylistics and its place among other branches of Linguistics

as well as literary criticism will be explained. The relationship between

style and stylistics will also be clarified.

Week 2: Some definitions and goal of stylistics; types of stylistics.

Objective: *By the end of the lesson, students should be able to explain the definitions of

stylistics, its goal and some of the various types of stylistics.

Description: Some of the definitions of stylistics, especially from its root, its goal, to

demonstrate functional interpretation, and some stylistic models will be

highlighted.

Week 3: Implications of context — (i) Dialect, Register and Time

(ii)Domain, Tenor and Mode

Objective: * By the end of the lesson, students should be able to identify language

variation according to user, use and time period as well as register

varieties i.e. domain, tenor and mode.

Description: The way in which language varies from one speaker to another, from one

situation to another and from one period to another will be taught via

extracts from poetry, pose and drama passages.

Week 4: Morphology, speech sounds and graphology in stylistic analysis

Objectives: * By the end of the class, students should be able to discuss the rudiments

of morphology, speech sounds and graphology to the students

* By the end of the class, students should be able to identify these tools in

discourses and be able to work out their functions

Description: Elements of morphology (e.g. coinages, compounding, blending), sound

patterns (e.g. alliteration consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme,

rhythm), Graphology (e.g. punctuation, paragraphing, spacing, size of

print, etc.) will be explained and exemplified via extracts from passages.

Week 5: Lexis and Semantics in stylistic analysis

Objectives: * By the end of the class, students should be able to explain the rudiments

of lexis and semantics,

* Identify lexical and semantic activators in texts and be able to show

their functions.

Description: Lexico-semantic elements i.e. words and their meanings e.g. oxymoron,

reference, lexical ellipses and substitution, conjunction, collocates, synonym, antonym, holonym, hyponym, parts of speech, etc. will be

explained and exemplified via extracts from passages.

Week 6: Lexico-Syntactic Patterns in stylistic analysis

Objectives: * By the end of the class, students should be able to describe words,

phrases, clauses and sentences are used as prompters in stylistic analysis.

* Identify various types of lexico-syntactic

constructions and their functions in stylistic analysis.

Description: Lexico-syntactic constructions to be studied in sample texts

include anaphora, epiphora, symploce, personification, hyperbole, litotes,

irony, paradox, euphemism, asyndeton, polysyndeton.

Week 7: Foregrounding: Deviation and Repetition

Objectives: * By the end of the class, students should be able to explain the

foregrounding i.e. the psychological effect of deviation and repetition

* Emphasise ‘highlighting’ or ‘making prominent’ for specific effects

Description: The two main types of foregrounding i.e. deviation and repetition (e.g.

parallelism, anaphora, alliteration, rhyme, polyptoton) which strike the

reader’s attention as unusual will be studied through textual examples at

the morphological phonological, graphological, lexical, semantic and

syntactic levels.

Week 8: Point of view in discourse

Objective: * By the end of the class, students should be able to explain the concepts

and distinctions of point of view in discourse

Description: Using textual examples, the following will be examined: (i) addresses,

narrator, distance, etc. (ii) some linguistic indicators of point of view:

schema-oriented language, value-laden expressions, Given vs. New

information, deictic expressions, social deixis, indicators of characters’

thoughts or perceptions, event coding (Short, M. 1996)

Week 9: Dialogue and pragmatics

Objective: * By the end of the lesson, students should be able to identify pragmatics

in stylistic analysis

Description: Textual examples of the following elements will be identified and explained

along with their functions: participants and role relation, context, turn-taking, locution,

illocution, perlocutionary effects and non-verbal communication.

Week 10: A detailed look at poems

Objective: *By the end of the class, students should be able to recite, examine and

study some poems in detail

Description: Poems will be studied in relation to their meanings and effects.

Week 11: A detailed look at prose fiction and non-literary texts

Objective: * By the end of the class, students should be able to explain prose fiction

and non-literary texts in detail

Description: Prose fiction and non-literary texts will be studied in relation to their

meanings and effects.

Week 12: A detailed look at prose drama texts

Objective: * By the end of the class, students should be able to demonstrate drama

texts in detail

Description: Drama texts will be studied in relation to their meanings and effects.

Week 13: (a) Class test (b) class presentation (1)

Objective: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to explain the basic concepts

and techniques of stylistics and how to apply then to texts accurately.

Description: The students will be assessed on the topics taught and will

further be expected in groups to look for a poem to which they will apply

methods of stylistic analysis and be able to bring out the functional significance.

Week 14: Class presentation (2)

Objective: * By the end of the class, students should be able to demonstrate the

mastery of the basic concepts and techniques of stylistics and how to apply

then to texts accurately.

Description: The students will be expected in groups to look for a prose

passage or drama text to which they would apply methods of stylistic

analysis and be able to bring out the functional significance.

Beauty

John Masefield

Have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills

Coming in solemn beauty like slow old tunes of Spain:

I have seen the lady April bringing in the daffodils,

Bringing the springing grass and the soft warm April rain.

I have heard the song of the blossoms and the old chant of the sea,

And seen strange lands from under the arched white sails of ships;

But the loveliest things of beauty God ever has showed to me

Are her voice, and her hair, and eyes, and the dear red curve of her lips.

Analysis of Beauty by John Massefield

ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY BY John Masefield

A poem can stir a world of senses together at the same point of time, and the tone of a poem can range from being happy to being sad and so on and so forth. John Masefield’s poem Beauty is one such poem. The poem is an exemplary example of a Romantic poem.’ Beauty’ encompasses a variety of emotions expressed by the poet by the use of a variety of techniques including metaphors, similes and onomatopoeia. The poem follows a rhyme pattern of abab cdcd.However, what marks out the poem is its musical cadence. It is as though the poet is singing out the song to his ladylove in order to woe her.

The gradual ascent in the tone of the poem as well the gradual shift from a formal address to a more personal and romantic appeal also stands out as yet another credential of the poem. The emphasis on the aesthetics of language and the use of techniques such as repetition, meter and rhyme, which commonly distinguish Romantic poetry from Romantic prose, can also be seen in the poem. The poem also makes a heavy use of imagery and word association to convey emotions in an emphatic manner. The structural elements in the poem include the line, couplet, strophe and stanza. The poem combines the use of language and a specific structure to make it an imaginative and expressive enterprise. The fact that the poem has been written in past tense smacks of a nostalgic reminiscence

The poem marks a prominence of the consonants n/s/l/j: nasal, fricative, lateral and semi-vowel. These give the poem a staccato movement. However it is regulated by the other semi-prominent continuants d: plosive, w: semi-vowel and v: fricative. Besides, there are some other plosives and affricates, b/t. In addition, there are a few consonant clusters such as wn and nd, the clusters giving out a nasal movement that makes the movement of the poem slow. The poem also incorporates a number of strong adjectives such as springing, strange, arched, and liveliest, which may be interpreted as the poet’s impassionate assertion to his beloved. The poem has been written in first person narrative (I), thereby, making it a purely personal poem shorn of mundane issues. The poem also highlights some promising but old images. Interestingly, the poem has echoes of some of Masefield’s earlier works too. ("and April's in the West Wind, and daffodils" –‘The West Wind’), the sea and ship imagery from a number of poems. Masefield seems to be at his very best when it comes to borrowing images from nature but ‘Beauty’ being one of his rare love poems, has a strikingly different significance when it comes down to the use of images in the poem. Masefield is deliberately expediting the use of some of the images he has lauded in other poems, in stating that even these fall short of 'her voice, and her hair, and eyes, and the dear red curve of her lips.’

ACTIVITY # 5

TEXT A

a. The conversation begins with an encounter between Jerry, and Peter. The dialogues suggest that Jerry came from the zoo, and he lost his way as he was walking, and did not notice where he was going.

b. In a normal conversation, this event happens, when someone is not sure whether he is the one being addressed like in the case of Peter. His response was not wrong technically because he simply clarified if Jerry was talking to him. In another perspective Peter would have responded “ So what if you went to the zoo?” and then he would follow up by asking “who are you?” it can be concluded from the dialogue that the two people conversing does not know each other.

c. Other phrases that would give the similar meaning in Peter’s line is “Probably you have been”. In the particular line it can be concluded that Peter is somewhat unsure if he was answering Jerry’s question correctly, and it also shows a feeling of annoyance between Peter and Jerry. In the description of the line it is stated that Peter, was anxious to get back on his reading and so it would probably be the reason why he is annoyed of Jerry because he didn’t want any distractions while he was doing something.

d. The phrase “good old” refers to an expression which implies that something memorable or important reminds him of the thing he mentions as “good old”. In this context it is quite obscure what Jerry is reminded of the “good old north”.

e. The word “boy” is commonly used when a person is talking to a younger person who is a male. From the scenario we can conclude that Jerry is an older man than Peter is. Another detail in the lines support this, the detail that says Jerry “gets his pipe” means that Jerry is a smoker and he is of old age or perhaps legal age.

f. In my opinion, what will happen next is that Peter is going to help Jerry find his way back to the zoo and because Jerry was thankful because Peter helped him, he will be giving Peter a gift, or something and they will become friends.

TEXT B

a. In the old English, the word “Pray” does not necessarily mean “Worship-Pray, or God-Pray”, but it is equivalent to the word “please” a common word used to be more polite to a person, especially to a stranger. In the dialogue, the use of the word pray, is “Please” or for politeness which is intended to be used especially if you are talking to a stranger.

b. There is nothing wrong with the use of such adjectives in the first meeting because these are also used to show politeness. It also shows that the conversation is somewhat formal because there is a bit of exaggeration with the use of adjectives, but in another perspective it is just right to use them because Gwendolen is stating her observations, and her expectations. These are basically just first impressions.

c. The lines directly expose that the two conversing people are trying to make acquaintances of each other. The lines also show that they are trying to impress each other and trying to be close to one another by being kind and polite towards each other.

d. In my opinion, Gwendolen was not yet sitting down because she still wanted to ask something from Cecily and it would be more polite if she asked her while they are not sitting yet.

e. The saying “if you wish” is equivalent to “yes you may”. It is implied that Cecily will always be calling Gwendolyn by her first name.

f. Gwendolen means that everything is okay between the two of them, and by this she means that they are now friends because they are on a first name basis already and they have introduced themselves to each other.

g. In my opinion, they might not really like each other and the scene seems a bit “plastic”, and by plastic I mean “fake” because it is not really that fast to be on a first name basis and get too many praises at a short span of time. But this may be the opposite.

h. I think that the two will be business partners or they will be best friends.

ACTIVITY # 6

	TEXT A	TEXT B
Setting	At A Street	At A Restaurant/ at A Ball/Party
Period	20th Century	18th or 19th Century
Relationship Between the characters	Strangers	Strangers
Type of language used	Modern English w/ a bit of Slang	Old English

Activity

ACTIVITY # 5

TEXT A

a. The conversation begins with an encounter between Jerry, and Peter. The dialogues suggest that Jerry came from the zoo, and he lost his way as he was walking, and did not notice where he was going.

b. In a normal conversation, this event happens, when someone is not sure whether he is the one being addressed like in the case of Peter. His response was not wrong technically because he simply clarified if Jerry was talking to him. In another perspective Peter would have responded “ So what if you went to the zoo?” and then he would follow up by asking “who are you?” it can be concluded from the dialogue that the two people conversing does not know each other.

c. Other phrases that would give the similar meaning in Peter’s line is “Probably you have been”. In the particular line it can be concluded that Peter is somewhat unsure if he was answering Jerry’s question correctly, and it also shows a feeling of annoyance between Peter and Jerry. In the description of the line it is stated that Peter, was anxious to get back on his reading and so it would probably be the reason why he is annoyed of Jerry because he didn’t want any distractions while he was doing something.

d. The phrase “good old” refers to an expression which implies that something memorable or important reminds him of the thing he mentions as “good old”. In this context it is quite obscure what Jerry is reminded of the “good old north”.

e. The word “boy” is commonly used when a person is talking to a younger person who is a male. From the scenario we can conclude that Jerry is an older man than Peter is. Another detail in the lines support this, the detail that says Jerry “gets his pipe” means that Jerry is a smoker and he is of old age or perhaps legal age.

f. In my opinion, what will happen next is that Peter is going to help Jerry find his way back to the zoo and because Jerry was thankful because Peter helped him, he will be giving Peter a gift, or something and they will become friends.

TEXT B

a. In the old English, the word “Pray” does not necessarily mean “Worship-Pray, or God-Pray”, but it is equivalent to the word “please” a common word used to be more polite to a person, especially to a stranger. In the dialogue, the use of the word pray, is “Please” or for politeness which is intended to be used especially if you are talking to a stranger.

b. There is nothing wrong with the use of such adjectives in the first meeting because these are also used to show politeness. It also shows that the conversation is somewhat formal because there is a bit of exaggeration with the use of adjectives, but in another perspective it is just right to use them because Gwendolen is stating her observations, and her expectations. These are basically just first impressions.

c. The lines directly expose that the two conversing people are trying to make acquaintances of each other. The lines also show that they are trying to impress each other and trying to be close to one another by being kind and polite towards each other.

d. In my opinion, Gwendolen was not yet sitting down because she still wanted to ask something from Cecily and it would be more polite if she asked her while they are not sitting yet.

e. The saying “if you wish” is equivalent to “yes you may”. It is implied that Cecily will always be calling Gwendolyn by her first name.

f. Gwendolen means that everything is okay between the two of them, and by this she means that they are now friends because they are on a first name basis already and they have introduced themselves to each other.

g. In my opinion, they might not really like each other and the scene seems a bit “plastic”, and by plastic I mean “fake” because it is not really that fast to be on a first name basis and get too many praises at a short span of time. But this may be the opposite.

h. I think that the two will be business partners or they will be best friends.

ACTIVITY # 6

	TEXT A	TEXT B
Setting	At A Street	At A Restaurant/ at A Ball/Party
Period	20th Century	18th or 19th Century
Relationship Between the characters	Strangers	Strangers
Type of language used	Modern English w/ a bit of Slang	Old English

ACTIVITY # 5

TEXT A

a. The conversation begins with an encounter between Jerry, and Peter. The dialogues suggest that Jerry came from the zoo, and he lost his way as he was walking, and did not notice where he was going.

b. In a normal conversation, this event happens, when someone is not sure whether he is the one being addressed like in the case of Peter. His response was not wrong technically because he simply clarified if Jerry was talking to him. In another perspective Peter would have responded “ So what if you went to the zoo?” and then he would follow up by asking “who are you?” it can be concluded from the dialogue that the two people conversing does not know each other.

c. Other phrases that would give the similar meaning in Peter’s line is “Probably you have been”. In the particular line it can be concluded that Peter is somewhat unsure if he was answering Jerry’s question correctly, and it also shows a feeling of annoyance between Peter and Jerry. In the description of the line it is stated that Peter, was anxious to get back on his reading and so it would probably be the reason why he is annoyed of Jerry because he didn’t want any distractions while he was doing something.

d. The phrase “good old” refers to an expression which implies that something memorable or important reminds him of the thing he mentions as “good old”. In this context it is quite obscure what Jerry is reminded of the “good old north”.

e. The word “boy” is commonly used when a person is talking to a younger person who is a male. From the scenario we can conclude that Jerry is an older man than Peter is. Another detail in the lines support this, the detail that says Jerry “gets his pipe” means that Jerry is a smoker and he is of old age or perhaps legal age.

f. In my opinion, what will happen next is that Peter is going to help Jerry find his way back to the zoo and because Jerry was thankful because Peter helped him, he will be giving Peter a gift, or something and they will become friends.

TEXT B

a. In the old English, the word “Pray” does not necessarily mean “Worship-Pray, or God-Pray”, but it is equivalent to the word “please” a common word used to be more polite to a person, especially to a stranger. In the dialogue, the use of the word pray, is “Please” or for politeness which is intended to be used especially if you are talking to a stranger.

b. There is nothing wrong with the use of such adjectives in the first meeting because these are also used to show politeness. It also shows that the conversation is somewhat formal because there is a bit of exaggeration with the use of adjectives, but in another perspective it is just right to use them because Gwendolen is stating her observations, and her expectations. These are basically just first impressions.

c. The lines directly expose that the two conversing people are trying to make acquaintances of each other. The lines also show that they are trying to impress each other and trying to be close to one another by being kind and polite towards each other.

d. In my opinion, Gwendolen was not yet sitting down because she still wanted to ask something from Cecily and it would be more polite if she asked her while they are not sitting yet.

e. The saying “if you wish” is equivalent to “yes you may”. It is implied that Cecily will always be calling Gwendolyn by her first name.

f. Gwendolen means that everything is okay between the two of them, and by this she means that they are now friends because they are on a first name basis already and they have introduced themselves to each other.

g. In my opinion, they might not really like each other and the scene seems a bit “plastic”, and by plastic I mean “fake” because it is not really that fast to be on a first name basis and get too many praises at a short span of time. But this may be the opposite.

h. I think that the two will be business partners or they will be best friends.

ACTIVITY # 6

	TEXT A	TEXT B
Setting	At A Street	At A Restaurant/ at A Ball/Party
Period	20th Century	18th or 19th Century
Relationship Between the characters	Strangers	Strangers
Type of language used	Modern English w/ a bit of Slang	Old English

Stylistic Analysis of I have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr.

Stylistic Analysis of “ I Have A Dream”
“All the fun is in how you say a thing.” Robert Frost’s words give us a perfect explanation about why the style is so important in an article. According to Alan Warner, style is a way of writing, a manner of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings in words. A same meaning can have different effects on its readers by being put in different ways. This article is to take the famous speech of Martin Luther King as an example to analyze and discuss its stylistic characteristics. It is not only the spirit of equality and liberty advocated in the speech but also its impressive style that contribute to its great success.
Style—Author
Brooks and Warren, in an excellent book, Fundamental of Good Writing, have compared style to the grain in wood. “ The style of a work is not a sort of veneer glued over the outside. On the contrary, it is like the pattern of the grain in a piece of wood.” It is a pattern that goes all the way through: a manifestation of the growth and development of the stricture of the tree itself. As a man thinks and feels, so will he write. If his thoughts are muddled, his style will be muddled. If his thoughts are clear and sharp, his writing will be clear and sharp. “A man’s style,” wrote Emerson, “is his mind’s voice.” And he added: “ Wooden minds, wooden voices.” Since style is something ingrained in writing and not stuck on top like a veneer, it follows that a man’s way of wring will be an expression of his personality and his way of looking at life.
Martin Luther King, the follower of the nonviolent principles of Mahatma Grandhi, conveyed his belief to the audience through the whole speech. All he said about the poor living conditions of Negro and the discrimination against the black people was nothing but fact. That is, he didn’t say anything exaggerative or sensational to turn the listeners into riot. On the contrary, he stated clearly that they should “ struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline” instead of “degenerating into physical violence.” In addition, the author was also a supporter of eliminating the racial discrimination in society. In the speech, he formed a beautiful blue print of white and black people living equally and happily together.
I ‘d like to use the sentence given by Buffon, a French writer and naturalist of 18th century to sum up my idea: “ Le style, c’est l’homme meme.” (Style, it is the man himself.)
Clean English
In another sense, the word “style” is often used to mean good, clean English. Raymond Chapman, the author of A Short Way to Better English, states: “ Bad writing is caused not so much by mistakes in grammar as by weakness in style.” Weakness in style here means clumsiness of expression, lack of precision and accuracy, obscurity and ambiguity, and anything that hinders the writer from conveying his meaning clearly and vividly to the reader. In my opinion, the best way of describing English that is clear and vigorous, free from verbiage and affectations, and doing its job of conveying meaning cleanly to the readers. The following paragraphs will discuss the point of “clean English” from 4 aspects.
The Arrangement
This speech aims to call the attention of the whole society to the poor condition the blacks and the Negro were still in and highlight the urgent need to change it. The author didn’t state it immediately at the beginning of his speech. Instead, he started by mentioning the history. In this way, the author convinced his listeners that they had the right and obligation to make equality come true in the society because it was handed down from their ancestors. The author then brought out the discrimination and segregation black people were suffering in reality and further demonstrated the black people’s firm determination to overthrow the present world. If the author had kept on in this direction, the audience, especially those who had been long oppressed, would have raised a riot since the speech was emotion-stirring and to-the-bottom-of –the-heart. At this very moment, the author shifted from “ sensitivity” to “sense”. He made it very clear that nonviolent resistance was the best and only means for them to achieve their aim. They should “forever conduct the struggle on the high plan of dignity and discipline.” In the last part, he formed the blueprint of a peaceful happy world in which life and opportunity are equal to every person. He then again called for the audience to fight for the wonderful bright future life.
The arrangement of the whole speech is full of logical thinking. The author led the audience into his mind step by step. He finally succeeded in persuading them to be on his side and march ahead with him hand in hand.
The Figure of Speech
One of the main rhetoric means in the speech is metaphor. It is the author’s appropriate use of metaphor that makes abstract things concrete and sharps the audience’s mind. In short, it just hits the nail on the head.
Example 1: the black people: creditor
the government: debtor
The author compared the relationship between black people and the government to that of a creditor and a debtor. In this way, the author dramatized the fact that the black people had contributed a lot to the construction and prosperity of the society and it was time for them to be paid and get what they deserved because the black people had provided their service in advance. What’s more, the government had promised to improve the living conditions and eliminate discrimination in the society where colored people were concerned. It was their obligation to bring out equality in the true sense of the word.
Example 2: the urgent need for freedom: thirst for water
As is known to all that any being will surely die without water. In the author’s mind, freedom and justice was as important as water to him. Life would be meaningless and also impossible without them. The black people’s act of fighting for a better life and freedom was driven by their instincts. Freedom and justice are fundamental to a person’s life.
Except for the above, the author also described the persecution and police brutality as storms and winds, implying that though they seemed powerful, they would surely pass by and be replaced by a sunny day; the injustice which the Negro slaves were treated with as flames, reminding the audience of the unimaginable, horrible sufferings the Negro slaves went through; segregation and discrimination as manacles and chains, highlighting the fact that the black were crippled both physically and mentally.
Contract Contrast & Metaphor:
Example 1: The rest of the American society is “a vast ocean of material prosperity” while “the Negro live on a lonely island.” I like this sentence very much because it gives us the sense that the Negro, the blacks were completely isolated. Island and ocean are two quite different things. The space of the ocean is much larger than that of the island. People on the oceans can “swim” freely and enjoy abundant resources while the island’s inhabitants are restricted within it, a solid earth. It can be inferred from here that the whites lived a much better life than the blacks and they all enjoyed the social welfare while the blacks were totally neglected.
Example 2: the quicksand of racial injustice V.S the solid rock of brotherhood
This use of contract contrast and metaphor conveys the meaning that racial injustice was just like quicksand----it was weak and bound to vanish. The brotherhood was like the solid rock----it would stand firmly and last forever.
Parallelism
It’s a common practice to use the method of parallelism in speeches on the grounds that it can easily catch the attention of the listeners, arouse their awareness, and make them join hand in hand with the speech. This speech is no exception.
Example: “Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
The four sentences together start with the same phrase “Now is the time…” to make the listeners realize the urgent need to change the reality. The listeners have the sense of being driven to the edge by a kind of growing power----they must take action at once!
In conclusion, the stylistic characteristics of an article can reveal to readers some information about the author. What’s more, an article with strong style can impress its readers by its good, clean English.


References:
Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, Fundamental of Good Writing (Dobson, 1952)
Alan Warner, A Shout Guide to English Style (London, Oxford University Press, 1961)


020214216
Since “style” is the way of using language to express one’s thoughts and feelings, the most suitable pre-modifier to it is “appropriate” or “inappropriate” rather than “good”, “bad”, “strong” or “weak”.
In some sense, style is a person, or everyone has his style.
There is no person who has no style in the world.
That is why our study of one’s style starts with the choice of words, namely lexical level, and then turns to the choice of sentence structure, namely syntactic level, before discussing the use of figure of speech, namely semantic level. Besides, what is most likely to be neglected is the use of sound patterns, namely phonological level.

So much the better if you could follow the format of the thesis writing as shown in the PowerPoint of this course.