Mise en Relief is a French grammar technique that can help you elevate your writing by emphasizing certain words or phrases. This tool can make your writing more clear, effective, and give it a bit more of an engaging side to it. We’ll help you understand all the information so you can use this to elevate your writing skills.
What is Mise en Relief?
This is a technique used to emphasize certain words or expressions in a sentence. You use it to draw attention to an element in your sentence or speech making it more clear and more effective.
You can achieve this by employing a certain word order, typography, or even punctuation. Word order can be used to rearrange word order to give one element in the sentence more emphasis. And as for punctuation, you can use it to separate a word from the others to draw the eye to the word, it works almost the same way with typography, you employ it to make something stand out.
Mise en Relief is a tool you use in writing form to draw attention and highlight the most important information by focusing on key points to make sure that your message is received the right way. You put emphasis or transmit your emotions in writing to make your text more engaging.
How to use this tool in writing?
There are several ways to use this tool to elevate your writing and emphasize different elements in your sentences:
- Change word order in your sentences: the placement of words in your sentence can be rearranged to place emphasis on a specific part of your sentence. For example, instead of using:
C’est une option jouer au foot.
It is an option to play football.
You can actually use this instead to put emphasis on the word “foot“.
Jouer au foot est une option.
Playing soccer is an option.
- Use punctuation to emphasize certain things: this can be used to separate a word or a phrase from the rest of the sentence, making it stand out.
Tout va bien, même l’école.
Everything is fine, even school.
In this example, you’re separating the school situation, you’re giving a little more weight than any other situation.
- Typography can be very useful: in writing form, one of the most used elements to emphasize a certain word or expression in a sentence, is to use a different font, bold the element, use italics or underline it.
Je pense que c’est très important que tu fasses la paix avec ton père.
I think it’s very important that you make peace with your father.
- You can use the subjunctive mood: this mood can be used to express a lot of strong emotions, and with mise en relief you’re adding even more emphasis on those emotions to your speech.
Il est possible que je mange de la pizza.
I may eat pizza.
You’re ready to use this tool to elevate your French writing skills
When you’re trying to give emphasis to a word or phrase in a sentence, this is the tool you need to use, so you really want to keep this in mind as you start writing in French. While you use this, you might start to see that your writing comes across more clearly and effectively and engages audiences way more. Remember that practice makes perfect so, start using this in small sentences, and as you get comfortable with it, start using it in your texts.
Learn more about French writing styles and examples to write like a native