Language

Style of language

The language of the short story “Pill Pusher” by Carolyn A. Drake is generally easy to follow and understand.

The choice of words indicates an informal style of writing. Certain informal expressions are used, such as “milling around” (l. 30) or “go for it” (l. 64). Contractions such as “shouldn’t”, “she’s”, “didn’t”, etc. are present throughout the text. The text also makes use of slang terms such as “nice guy” (l. 21) or “soccer mom” (l. 39). However, these terms are not used in dialogue to show a more formal relationship between the characters, as of that between customer and employee.

The text widely employs medical jargon to give it authenticity and to make the narrator seem knowledgeable in the field. Names of medicines such as Amoxicillin (l. 45) or Zoloft (l. 13), and names of illnesses and disorders such as leukemia (l. 92) or ulcer (l. 102) are used. Abbreviations such as PTA (l. 8) and ADHD (l. 11) are also used.

Certain words are written in italics to show emphasis: “ ‘I have been waiting!’ (…) ‘You haven’t been paying attention!’ ” (ll. 28-29). Italics ...