

Many writers use their style of writing to greater influence their message over to the reader. They may use a strange word choice or give comedic examples to get the reader to notice the meaning of the story. In "This is Water", the author, David Foster Wallace, uses a distinct style of writing and syntax to prove that people should not just focus on the personal gains of themselves but focus on the benefit of people in general.

The level of vocabulary can be used to give the reader a sense of what the author is like in person and provide a mood of the story. Foster Wallace tends to include some rigorous vocabulary into his speech while using some very informal words as well. He uses the words "bullshitty" (Wallace, X) and "hell" (Wallace, X) to create a more personalized tone to his speech but uses words like "skepticism" (Wallace, XI) and "epigrams" (Wallace, XVI) that make him seem like a well-educated man. His vocabulary gives him a tone that one would use to converse with a close friend yet still sound collegiate. The audience will feel more relaxed due to his face-to-face tone but will still have to think deeply about what he is saying about selflessness.

Some words that stick out as oddly used are "YOUR" (Foster, XII), "MY" (Foster, XIV) and "NOT" (Foster, XVI). These words are written in all capital letters to show that the words need to be spoken louder during the speech. The purpose behind the capitalization of the words "YOUR" and "MY" is to show the self-centeredness of people. Then the purpose of the "NOT" is to tell people that being selfish is not the way to act. When the audience hears him raise his voice to a louder pitch they will be more likely to take notice of what he is saying.

Word choice can be used to point something out. The author may include an uncommon word or phrase to draw the audience's attention. Foster Wallace uses rarely used words like "banal platitude"(Wallace, XI), "dogmatists"(Wallace, XII), and "fingerwagging"(Wallace, XVI). These words could easily be replaced by simpler words like saying a "stubborn person" rather than a "dogmatist". The author implements these uncommonly known words to make the audience stop and ponder about whether they consider the thoughts of others in their decision making process.

The author's word choice does well to promote the meaning of his speech. He makes his tone very direct, yet educated since the audience is made up of college graduates. Wallace used "YOUR" and "MY" to prove his main that everyone cares mostly about themselves only and that should be reversed through communication with others. The title, "This Is Water", even helps to set up the point that people get so caught up with their personal lives they don't stop to notice what is around them, like the fish not realizing that it is in water from the story on page X.

Foster Wallace words his sentences in a distinct way where he tends to start off by saying the topic of his sentence then announcing his point after the topic. For example in "So let's talk about the single most pervasive cliché in the commencement speech genre, which is that a liberal arts education is not so much about filling you up with knowledge as it is about quote teaching you how to think" (Wallace, XI) he begins with the topic of the sentence then finishes it with the main point of the sentence. The sentence structure could be considered inverted to give the audience a general idea of what his speech is about before pointing out his purpose. Most of his syntactic structures would be considered passive with the subject goes through the action of the verb. This is repeated throughout the text.

The sentences tend to be long and flowy rather than short and choppy unless Wallace is using dialogue to tell a story. He includes lots of commas within his sentences to build upon his ideas. He builds his story by giving examples of how not to act then finally at the end he finishes off the story by stating his main points. He provides many examples to further his point and make it easier for most people to eventually comprehend. The style of his sentences tend to be very straightforward throughout the text since the usual purpose of a speech is to inspire a crowd. 

For punctuation, a comma is used in almost every sentence whether he is providing examples or completing his opinion about the outlook people should have about life. Some parentheses can be found within the text to add an observation inside of a sentence like in "(may be happening right now)" (Wallace, XII) to add his spur of the moment thoughts. Semicolons can also be found as a method to provide examples to his statements to relate his observations to his main purpose.

Foster Wallace uses many types of writing in "This is Water". He uses dialogue in his stories about people's self-perceptions. He provides descriptive text like "crowded, hot, slow, consumer hell type situation" (Wallace, XV). Then on the last page, he gives a summary to his whole speech and tells his main point "to stay conscious and alive" (Wallace, XVII).

The target audience is defined in the speech as "Kenyon's graduating class of 2005" (Wallace, X). Wallace includes some rigorous vocabulary words since he expects grad students to already know the words. He provides the graduating students with life advice before the kids start their new independent lives. Since most students are only focused about their success in college Wallace tries to open their eyes and make them realize there is more to life than just personal gain.

In "This is Water" the style and syntactic structures contribute to the overall meaning by using informal diction, long and flowy sentences that build upon his ideas and creating a sense of connection with the audience through word choice. The main point that the author wanted to tell the grad students is to not live life thinking only about yourself which he built upon throughout the text with numerous examples and stories that were summarized in the end. "This is Water" has a distinct style and syntax that work together to give a life lesson. 