Language techniques arе thе deliberate and stratеgic choicеs writers makе to convеy their ideas, create specific effects and engage thе rеadеr. Understanding and idеntifying thеsе tеchniquеs arе important skills when analysing and intеrprеting any text.
- Once you have considered the writer’s viewpoint in a text, you can begin to explore the ways in which the writer communicates this to the reader
- This is where you will begin to examine the specific language choices which the writer has made in order to convey their message
- To do this, you might wish to focus on particular words and phrases and their intended connotations
Once you are able to identify particular words and phrases within a text, you need to develop this skill further by considering why the writer has chosen to include these within their writing. You can do this by selecting a word from a text and exploring some of the connotations associated with this word. For example, here is a short extract from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens which makes repeated reference to the word “home”. The quotation below is stated by Scrooge’s sister Fan, after she visits him at his boarding school:
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“I have come to bring you home, dear Brother! … Home, for good and all. Home, for ever and ever. Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like Heaven!”
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Here are some connotations of this word:
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“home”
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warmth
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safety
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belonging
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identity
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nostalgia
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protection
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comfort
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idyll
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Having considered the possible connotations of this word, you could start to extend some of these ideas into a paragraph. By extending your analysis of words and phrases in the text, you are ensuring that your response is both detailed and analytical:
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The word “home” is synonymous with a place where one belongs and Dickens’s repetition of this word evokes a sense of warmth and comfort. The prospect of Scrooge returning to his familial home at Christmas offers him emotional solace and security. Fan’s comparison of home being “like Heaven” conjures an idealised and idyllic image of Scrooge’s home.
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We will now consider a longer extract and examine some other language features and techniques that Dickens employs in this text:
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“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.”
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Below is an example of a language feature from this extract:
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Quotation
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Language technique
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“as solitary as an oyster”
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simile
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Whenever you comment on a language feature, you must always explain the intended effect on the reader. It is not enough to simply list examples of different word types, or techniques, in your answer, so exploring the intended effect is always crucial. Having identified a language technique above - a simile - we will now explore the possible intended effects on the reader:
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Quotation + technique + intended effect on the reader
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Dickens uses the simile “as solitary as an oyster” to depict Scrooge as an isolated character and this image conveys Scrooge’s loneliness and estrangement from those around him. Dickens could also be suggesting that, like an oyster, Scrooge has a hard exterior though on the inside there is a much more vulnerable entity, shielding itself from the outside world. This creates some empathy for him as a character. In the same way that oysters must be prised open, so too must the spirits force Scrooge to reveal his inner humanity. Furthermore, as only some oysters produce pearls (which are viewed as very precious), by the end of the novel Scrooge is finally revealed to the reader as a precious and valuable individual within his society. The contrast between the solitary oyster and the potential for something precious alludes to Scrooge’s potential for transformation and redemption.
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