Use This in Revision

"The poet uses…"

A challenge: Try to rewrite sentences without the word "uses." The poet doesn't really "use" diction and syntax or even imagery. Rather, the poet writes a poem and these elements help us to uncover the poem's meaning. The choice of "uses" or “utilizes” (as in "Dickinson's use of imagery" or "these poets use structure") is clunky at best and self-evident at worst ("uses diction”—we all do that). Think about the hundreds of papers AP readers read that begin with some variation of: "These poems use imagery, structure, and syntax to." BORING and not really an effective way to describe what poets do.

What to say instead?
"Dickinson's use of structure suggests that…" becomes "Dickinson's structure suggests…"
"These poets use point of view, imagery, and structure," can become "Through contrasts in point of view, these poets demonstrate..."

As you revise for the portfolio and prepare for the AP test, I challenge you to take every sentence containing "use" and re-craft it. Your writing will become sharper, stronger, more focused.