Richard Lederer's Essays: The Power Of Words

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1. I believe the author’s purpose in employing so many polysyllabic words in paragraphs 5 through 11, was to show the reader how his writing style can change so seamlessly. At the start of this essay, he was writing using only one syllable words, but it didn’t limit or weaken the message he was trying to get across. By making this transition without any type of notice, it allows the reader to see how both styles of writing can be effective despite being fundamentally different. The author allows the writing piece itself, to be an example of the point he’s trying to make for the reader.

2. I think the variety of Richard Ledeter’s illustrations, help show the reader that using short words in many different styles of writing can work successfully. When examining how famous writers like Shakespeare used small words and became …show more content…

When examining this example of figurative language, my understanding is that Lederer is saying that small words can shine through a piece of writing, and completely captivate the piece. Think about when you see a spark at night, it’s usually the only thing you can see in the sky and it immediately grabs your attention. I thought this simile was really strong, it helped me understand the author’s perspective on the topic with ease. Earlier in the essay, there was a metaphor in paragraph two, in which Lederer explained “Small words are the ones we seem to have known from the time we were born (159). I thought this metaphor really painted a nice picture for the audience. It describes small words as one of the things that we’re most comfortable with, because we’ve been around them for what seems like forever. Making the comparison between our connection to small words and our connections with childhood friends, makes it easy to see the correlation between the two. Figurative language like this, adds some spice to the reading and helps the reader stay a bit more engaged throughout the entire

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