From A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat Flashcards
How is a comic tone created?
All of the English devices are designed to make a light-hearted humorous read
“Emma Levine travelled through Asia”
Travel writing
‘Wacky races’
This is an allusion to a cartoon and as it was from the late 1960s which shows that the author is clearly assuming that the people reading her passage are adults.
The speech in the first part of the account is not paragraphed.
Fast paced, humorous conversation
“Two lads”
-slang
-cocky people
INFORMAL
“Fired up”
Metaphor
“We waited for eternity”
Metaphor and a hyperbole
“Feel rather silly”
INFORMAL
“Nearly one hour later’
Juxtaposes an eternity
“Wobbly bicycle”
Anti-climax, nothing happens!
Doesn’t have to be true but it makes the story more interesting.
“Coming, coming”
Repetition
“Lads” para 2
Provides cohesion
“Race had been cancelled, we spotted two approaching donkey-carts”
Climax
“Roaring up in their wake”
Metaphor and personification
“Perched” in para 2,4,5
Cohesion - not entirely stable
“Horns tooting, bells ringing and the special rattles”
Onomatopoeia and descriptions to create imagery (rule of 3)
(Like maracas, a metal container filled with dried beans)
Inserted information (authoritative )
“Vehicles Jostled”
Personification
“Swerve in front of the nearest car”
Chaos/panic
“Formula one without rules”
Metaphor
“City-centre rush hour gone anarchic”
Choice of analogies is very descriptive
“It was survival of the fittest”
Allusion to Charles Darwin
“Nerves of steel”
Metaphor
“Yaqoob loved it”
Short sentence build up with chaos and then a simple sentence about emotions.
“Language growing more colourful”
Euphemism for swearing - this lightens the mood.
In what style is the piece?
It is autobiographical because they were there.
“Hospital gate”
Dangerous sport- ironically appropriate.
“The race was over.”
“And then the trouble began.”
We think it’s the end of the story, but then our expectations are inverted with this conjunction.
“I assumed”
Thinks that everyone thought the same.
“Punters who had all staked money on the race, and therefore had strong opinions.”
If you are financially involved in something your mind is affected.
“Swallowed up by the crowd”
Personification - the crowd is big and potentially dangerous.
“More sedate pace”
He was driving faster than he should of before.
“I’m underage!”
Makes it emphatic - PROUD?
“But I was glad”
She was isolated - they all had different opinions.
“Pile-up”
Informal
“Could have caused problems”
Understatement - could have been much more than a problem.
“dwarfed”
metaphor
“a couple of seconds; nerves of steel, and an effective horn.”
List of 3
“Voices were raised, fists were out, and tempers rising”
Abstract noun followed by a concrete noun, then another abstract noun
Possible questions
How is a comic tone created ?
How does the author use language to create a sense of danger/tension ?
