Choice and Arrangement of Words for Achieving Emphasis
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Summary:
This handout provides information on visual and textual devices for adding emphasis to your writing including textual formatting, punctuation, sentence structure, and the arrangement of words.
The simplest way to emphasize something is to tell readers directly that what follows is important by using such words and phrases as especially, particularly, crucially, most importantly, and above all.
Emphasis by repetition of key words can be especially effective in a series, as in the following example.
See your good times come to color in minutes: pictures protected by an elegant finish, pictures you can take with an instant flash, pictures that can be made into beautiful enlargements.
When a pattern is established through repetition and then broken, the varied part will be emphasized, as in the following example.
Murtz Rent-a-car is first in reliability, first in service, and last in customer complaints.
Besides disrupting an expectation set up by the context, you can also emphasize part of a sentence by departing from the basic structural patterns of the language. The inversion of the standard subject-verb-object pattern in the first sentence below into an object-subject-verb pattern in the second places emphasis on the out-of-sequence term, fifty dollars.
I'd make fifty dollars in just two hours on a busy night at the restaurant.
Fifty dollars I'd make in just two hours on a busy night at the restaurant.
The initial and terminal positions of sentences are inherently more emphatic than the middle segment. Likewise, the main clause of a complex sentence receives more emphasis than subordinate clauses. Therefore, you should put words that you wish to emphasize near the beginnings and endings of sentences and should never bury important elements in subordinate clauses. Consider the following example.
No one can deny that the computer has had a great effect upon the business world.
Undeniably, the effect of the computer upon the business world has been great.
In the first version of this sentence, "No one can deny" and "on the business world" are in the most emphasized positions. In addition, the writer has embedded the most important ideas in a subordinate clause: "that the computer has had a great effect." The edited version places the most important ideas in the main clause and in the initial and terminal slots of the sentence, creating a more engaging prose style.
Rhythm– Thepattern of soundin a speech created by the choice and arrangement of words.Example: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sunParallelism– Thesimilar arrangement ofa pair or series of relatedwords, phrases, or sentences.Example: Like father, like son.Repetition–Reiteration of the same wordor set of words at the beginning or end of successive clauses orsentences.Example: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.Alliteration– Repetition of theinitial consonantsound of close or adjoining words.Example: She sells sea shells by the seashore.Antithesis– Thejuxtaposition of contrasting ideas, usually in the parallel structure.Example: To err is human; to forgive divine.Cliché– A trite or overused expression.Inclusive Language– Language that does not stereotype, demean, or patronize people on the basis ofgender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or other factors.Generic “he”– The use of “he” to refer to both women and men.
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