Language

Style of language

The short story “May the Best Man Win” by Kit de Waal is written in a formal style. There are no contractions and the vocabulary is sometimes advanced: “It took all the King’s men to lodge the television safely on its stubby legs and manoeuvre its huge grey face towards its audience. Only then did the King deign to notice Fitz” (ll. 44-46). Here, advanced words such as ‘manoeuvre’ and ‘deign’ make the language sound especially formal. 

However, the language used in the dialogue is informal and contains both slang and contractions: “ ‘Don’t just bloody stand there, you lot. Get it working. The fight’s about to start!’ ” (ll. 60-61). The use of informal language helps show the working-class background of most of the characters.

Simile

Eddie looks at Patt...