Writers' Tools Flashcards
Asking a question in a text, without providing the answer, so that the reader has to think deeply about the question.
Example: How will you succeed without a good education?
What technique is this?
Rhetorical Question
Using the same word, or group of words, more than once, to emphasize something important.
Example: The wind, swirling in the trees, swirling around the paths of the city.
What technique is this?
Repetition
When you say something is either like something else or is as ______ as something else, to make the reader think about all the things these two ideas have in common.
Example: The gates were like prison bars, and he was trapped inside looking out.
What technique is this?
Simile
When you say something is something else, to make the reader think about all the things these two ideas have in common.
Example: His rage was a hurricane, as he swooped down upon me. It often left destruction in its path.
What technique is this?
Metaphor
When something physical that you can touch (like a skull) stands for a ‘big idea’ (like death)
Example: The rose is often used to represent love.
What technique is this?
Symbol
When you describe an object or animal as looking or behaving like a human.
Example: The trees danced a deathly waltz in the fading moonlight.
What technique is this?
Personification
Words that sound like the noise they describe.
Example: The doors flew open, echoing through the entrance hall with a boom.
What technique is this?
Onomatopoeia
Their banner displayed a white dove, representing peace.
What technique is this?
Symbol
The white dove is a symbol of peace. It is a physical thing that you can touch, which represents an idea (peace) that you can’t touch.
What technique is this?
Her face became as pale as the exam paper she had just opened.
Simile
The exam compares two things, using ‘as white as’
What technique is this?
The noise was incredible - the roar of the crowd, the thumping of their feet.
Onomatopoeia
The words ‘roar’ and ‘thump’ are sound words, that sound like the sounds they describe
What technique is this?
The chair legs seemed to reach out and trip her up; the posters on the walls stared down at her, unimpressed.
Personification
The chair legs and the posters are behaving as if they are people
What technique is this?
It was endless: writing in English, writing in History, writing in Science.
Repetition
The word ‘writing’ is repeated three times.
What technique is this?
He shouted: ‘have you learned nothing?’
Rhetorical Question
The person shouting is asking the question to make the other person think.
What technique is this?
The school was a ship, which could sail all the students to a better country, if they worked hard enough.
Metaphor
The school is not a ship: the writer wants you to think about all the things that the school has in common with a ship
