Word Choice: Word choice (diction) refers to the speaker’s word choice and vocabulary. We often describe
someone’s diction as colloquial, slang, technical, informal, formal, or elevated.

Imagery: The speaker’s imagery adds to the purpose because of the illustrations he or she uses. Remember, imagery refers to the words and phrases that create a visual for the reader. However, imagery also refers to how the speaker appeals to smell, touch, hearing, and taste.

Language: The speaker often demonstrates one of his or her richest components of a description through language, which includes any literary device you can find. Similes, metaphors, paradoxes, oxymoron, personification, allusions, analogies, and symbols are all important language devices to look for. Remember, though, when you speak of language devices, you must identify them through language that blends analysis as well. Don’t just identify the device in isolation; blend it naturally with your analysis of the piece.

Details: Details are the “objects” that the author encodes in his passage. Keep in mind that often an author will intentionally omit certain objects or facets of the object for effect as well.

Syntax: When an author’s syntax becomes important in understanding the passage, you will look for the effect of the word order, sentence variety, and types of sentences (periodic, imperative, and declarative to name a few), questioning strategies (rhetorical or sincere) and structure of phrases (parallel structure, organization of sentences, repetition).

Connotation/Denotation/Sound

The average word has three components parts: sound, denotation, and connotation.
Denotation is the dictionary meaning(s) of the word; connotations are what it suggests beyond what it expresses: its overtones of meaning. It acquires these connotations by its past history and associations, by the way and the circumstances in which it has been used.