Language features in written texts

Question 1

Antonym

Answer 1

Word meaning opposite. Used for contrast and for irony or sarcasm.

Question 2

Balance

Answer 2

Repeated pattern in the wording, often with some repitition, e.g. ‘Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime’. Used for impact and memorability.

Question 3

Cliché

Answer 3

Familiar phrase. Used to get an idea across quickly or to create a feeling of ordinariness or to hint that the thinking behind the words is insincere or unoriginal.

Question 4

Colloquial language

Answer 4

Words and sentences that are more normal in spoken English than in writing, e.g. slang and incomplete sentences.

Question 5

Complex sentence

Answer 5

Sentence made up of a combination of short sentences. Used to develop the main idea by adding descriptions or explanations to it. NB (nota bene/note well) if the sentences are joined by the words ‘and’/’but’/’then’ they are called compound sentences.

Question 6

Contraction

Answer 6

Shortened form of a word, e.g. ‘I’m’, ‘don’t’. Used to create informal tone.

Question 7

Direct address

Answer 7

Sentences written straight to the reader. They are orders or questions or they use the word ‘you’. Used to make the reader feel involved.

Question 8

Direct speech

Answer 8

The actual spoken words are written down. Used to make storytelling more dramatic or to show something about the speaker, e.g their emotions.

Question 9

Emotive words

Answer 9

Words which convey the writer’s emotions, or create the emotions in the reader that the writer wants in order to achieve their purpose.

Question 10

Exaggeration

Answer 10

Saying something by expressing it in a much more extreme way, e.g. ‘She talks a lot’ becomes ‘She could talk the leg off an iron pot’. Used for emphasis and to show feeling.

Question 11

Grammar

Answer 11

The way words are used in sentences. Good grammar (following the traditional rules) in a test shows knowledge and seriousness. Bad grammar shows ignorance or informality.

Question 12

Hyperbole

Answer 12

A big exaggeration. See ‘Exaggeration’.

Question 13

Imagery

Answer 13

A general term. Use ‘literal imagery’, ‘metaphor’, ‘simile’, ‘personification’ instead.

Question 14

Imperative

Answer 14

A command. Used to make the reader feel involved and to plant the command in the reader’s mind so that they will at least think about following the instruction.

Question 15

Incomplete sentence

Answer 15

Sentence with the end missing because of a pause or an interruption. ‘Pause’ is used to show hesitation, puzzlement, embarrassment or a sudden new thought. ‘Interruption’ is used to show impatience or urgency or a wish to help on the part of the listener.

Question 16

Innuendo

Answer 16

A statement that hints at something bad about another person, e.g. ‘That’s a nice car you’re driving; someone leave the keys in the ignition?’ hints that the car is stolen. Used to make an accusation without getting into too much trouble for doing so.

Question 17

Irony

Answer 17

Saying something different from what you really mean. Usually this means saying the opposite of what you mean. Used to amuse and to create a closer relationship with the reader (because irony is a kind of shared joke). Also used to suggest someone is blind to the truth or hiding it.

Question 18

Jargon

Answer 18

Words used by experts that people who are not experts usually don’t understand. Used properly by experts to be clear and exact with each other. Used badly by people who want to show off rather than communicate.

Question 19

Literal imagery

Answer 19

the things and actions that are literally (really) there in the scene being described, e.g. ‘a heron standing motionless at the edge of the rising tide’.

Question 20

Literal language

Answer 20

Words which are used in their simplest, most basic meaning. The literal meaning of ‘over the moon’ is ‘above the moon’. The non-literal meaning is ‘really happy’. Used to make the message absolutely clear.

Question 21

Metaphor

Answer 21

Comparing one thing (person, object or action) to another by saying it IS the other. “The rain hammered on the roof” compares the loud, thudding of rain to the blows of a hammer. Used to add imaginative and emotional interest to the statement.

Question 22

Minor sentence

Answer 22

A sentence which is presented like a normal sentence, but has its subject or its verb missing. ‘See you later’ has both its subject (I) and one of its verbs (will) missing. Used to convey speed or suddenness and to create a casual, chatty tone in the writing.

Question 23

Paradox

Answer 23

A statement that puts together two ideas that seem to be opposite in meaning, but which makes sense if you think about it. When Hamlet says that he will be cruel to be kind, the ideas seem opposite, but he is going to torture his mother’s conscience so she will give up her wickedness and be saved. Used to startle the reader into thinking harder.

Question 24

Parody

Answer 24

A ridiculous imitation. Used to make the person or thing you are imitating look silly.

Question 25

Personal pronouns

Answer 25

Words used to name the writer and reader. ‘I/We’ is sued to add personal interest or the support of the personal knowledge and experience of the writer to make the writing more convincing. If ‘we’ includes the reader, it creates a feeling of unity between writer and reader. ‘You’ is used to make the readers feel that the message is about them, so they pay attention to it.

Question 26

Personification

Answer 26

Comparing something which is not human to something human. ‘The wind whispered in the trees’ compares the wind sound to a human whisper. Used to make an idea seem fresh and striking.

Question 27

Proverb

Answer 27

Wise old saying. Used to make the text seem wise yet still have an ordinary feel.

Question 28

Pun

Answer 28

Joke based on using two meanings of a word at the same time. Used to make the writer seem witty and the tone light. Also used to draw attention to the pun word, e.g. ‘Dead on time’ in the road safety messages.

Question 29

Repetition

Answer 29

Using the same word(s) more than once within a sentence or two. Used to emphasize the word (i.e. the idea) that is repeated.

Question 30

Sarcasm

Answer 30

Using irony as a kind of attack. It is more hostile than funny.

Question 31

Simile

Answer 31

Comparing one thing to another. Unlike metaphor, which is also comparison, a simile says that it is a comparison by using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. Used to add imaginative and emotional interest to the statement.

Question 32

Simple sentence

Answer 32

Sentence with only one verb. Because of this, a simple sentence is usually a short sentence and vice versa. Use to give an impression of speed. Also used to make blunt statements that put the big idea clearly and ‘in a nutshell’.

Question 33

Spelling

Answer 33

Only deliberately incorrect spelling counts. Special spelling can suggest different times and places, e.g. ‘Ye Olde Tea Shoppe’, and it can suggest something unusual about how the word was said, e.g. ‘Paree’, to show that the word ‘Paris’ was pronounced in the French, not the English, way.

Question 34

Vocabulary

Answer 34

Vocabulary means words. To use it as a language feature, you need to say what kind of words, e.g. formal or informal, plain or uncommon, literal or metaphorical, neutral or emotive. The choice of words can show you the writer’s attitude and purpose: perhaps to explain clearly, perhaps to create vivid pictures of action or places, perhaps to show sympathy, perhaps to poke fun, perhaps to prod the reader into action.