Word: dictional
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Mamet's fictive world was distinctive from the get-go. His plays, beginning with the 1974 Sexual Perversity in Chicago, wrapped Pinteresque menace in comically precise diction, like a gamier Damon Runyon. It was Jewish guys talking like Italian guys about life, death and, always, a poignant memory of the perfect woman, long ago or never. ("Bobby," says the dying cop in Homicide, "you remember that girl that time?") But at 50, Mamet has other concerns. The overtly serious work tends to be about Jewishness (in his play The Old Neighborhood and novel The Old Religion); the nastily comic, about...
Kohl's most endearing trait is his straight-forward, bluntly honest voice--one might surmise that after thirty years experience with school-age children, the author's gift for clearing out needless discourse has been honed to a razor's edge. Simple diction, while vital for pedantry, has its drawbacks in the modern non-fiction market: every once in a while Kohl's hand can be felt patting the reader on the head, as if recruiting another kindergartner into his throngs of supporters. This is not to say that condescension (if it can be called such) is not totally displeasing...
...notebooks, journals and letters; Opus Posthumous contains all but these last three. The few additional verses in Collected Poetry and Prose originate from Stevens' Harvard years, when he served as president of the Advocate. Several florid sonnets, one explicitly in "Imitation of Sidney," lack the tautness and precision of diction characterizing his later style. They scan too well, betraying too much of youthful impression-ability. Stevens endured nine barren years after graduation before, happily, returning to poetry...
...potato latkes, but she's also worldly-wise--a popular characterization of a Jewish mother. Austin Pendleton makes Mr. Dussel both droll and sympathetic. As Otto Frank, George Hearn does come across as a caring and protective father figure, but one oddly formal with his family: his diction is too consistently calm and collected, in a situation of such tremendous pressure, to be convincing. Sophie Hayden, as Mrs. Frank, also lacks emotional variation. Nevertheless, the principal actors work well together, especially in complementing Anne's many-sided personality...
...there is one problem with using dictation instead of a keyboard, it's the effect it may have on your writing style. I tried writing a paper for a seminar with the program, only to find that my diction and phraseology when I speak is apparently nothing like my style of writing...