Language and style

Style

“More Than Coffee: New York’s Vanishing Diner Culture” by George Blecher is written using formal English but with a personal tone. The language is occasionally complex, but the topic and message of the article are easy to understand.

The style is given a personal note by the use of the first person perspective and personal anecdotes (stories with a message). From the beginning of the article, the writer explores the topic using the first person (“I”, “my”): “For the past 25 years – since the divorce – I’ve lived a good part of my life in diners. Without them I might be slimmer, but also crazier and more unhappy” (ll. 1-2). This suggests that he assumes and argues directly for his views. The article is not a news report or an objective analysis, but a personal take on the development and decline of the New York diner.

Nevertheless, the article’s style is not casual or informal. On the contrary, the writer is quite eloquent and formal on many occasions. For example, he cites poetry: “…to quote Robert Frost, the place ‘where, when you have to go there/ They have to take you in’ ” (ll. 5-6). He also includes sociological terms and the opinions of experts: “The sociologist Ray Oldenburg, in The Great Good Place, a book about diners and taverns, suggests that the past is an essential element of all third places, which are usually in older sections of cities” (ll. 39-40). These examples suggest Blecher wants to appeal to educated audiences, and he uses a more for...

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