Diction Worksheet

1.     “I climbed over the spare spar and leaned over the rail as far as I could, to bring my eyes nearer to that mystery floating alongside.”

2.     Cadaverous- resembling a corpse in being very pale, thin, or bony;

… a wide back submerged right up to the neck in a greenish pale glow.

Elongated- unusually long in relation to its width;

But I saw at once something long and pale floating near the ladder.

Elusive- difficult to find, catch, or achieve;

…flickered in the sleeping water with the obscure, silent play of summer lightning in a night sky.

Opaque- not able to be seen through; not transparent;

The side of the ship made a cloudy belt of shadow on the shimmer of the sea.

Phosphorescent- light emitted by a substance without combustion or perceptible heat;

Before I could form a guess a faint flash of light…flickered in the sleeping water.

3.     The use of elevated language contributes to the tone by creating a more detailed image of what’s happening. Paraphrasing the passage affects the tone by taking away that imagery and creating a less suspenseful tone.

4.     Four Examples of Concrete Diction: “something elongated and pale”; “a pair of feet”; “a headless corpse”; “my gaping mouth”

5.     The author would choose do leave the characters nameless to create a mysterious mood.

6.     The denotative meaning of The Secret Sharer is someone who secretly shares something.

Word	Denotation	Connotation
Cadaverous	resembling a corpse in being very pale, thin, or bony	intimidating figure that’s skeleton like
Darkling	of or relating to growing darkness	somber
Pale	light in color or having little color	unnaturally light
Phosphorescence	light emitted by a substance without combustion or perceptible heat	a mysterious glow
Ghastly	extremely unwell	horrific
Headless	without a head	decapitated
Fishlike	quality of a fish	resembling a fish