Writing techniques — write about how, why it has been used

THE literature texts you have to write about in the examinations will use lots of different language techniques to make them more effective. You need to be able to recognise the techniques and say why they are used. For example descriptive language makes text interesting.

For example, descriptive language includes imagery such as metaphors, similes and personification. Writers often give descriptions based on their five senses — what they see, what they can smell, what they can hear, what they can feel or touch and what they can taste. Another sign of descriptive language is when the writer uses lots of adjectives — describing words like “mammoth, massive” or fiery. Descriptive language creates a picture in the reader’s mind. It also makes the text more interesting, dramatic and real.

Example of a sentence showing descriptive language taken from a text I read: “After the dreary, grey sheet of rain had swept over the land, the parched, sun baked fields transformed into a fertile, emerald-green valley.” What follows next is what examination candidates need to write about descriptive language to score high marks:

“The writer uses descriptive language to describe the effect of the rains on the African landscape. He uses adjectives such as “parched” and “sun-baked,” to describe the dry fields before the rain and contrasts them with the bright “emerald-green valley” after the rain. This allows the reader to picture how dramatic the changes that the rains bring are”.

Learners are told not to do it like this: “The writer uses lots of descriptive language which makes it more interesting.” This type of writing is meaningless and does not add more marks to the learner who uses this approach to describe language. The approach like the one above is used when describing other types of imagery like metaphors, similes and personification. These are comparisons and describe one thing by comparing it to something else.

Here are brief descriptions of these figures of speech. Metaphors describe something by saying that it is something else or a metaphor is a way of describing something by saying that it is something else, to create a strong image. For example: “His eyes were deep, black, oily pools.” Similes describe something by saying that it is like something else. They usually use the words as or like. A simile is a way of describing something by comparing it to something else.

Example: “Her hair was like a bird’s nest.” Personification means describing something as if it is a person or an animal or it is a special kind of description where you write about something as if it is a person or animal with thoughts or feelings. Example: “The tree looked threateningly.” As always stated in previous discussions knowing these definitions without explaining their effect on the writer’s work is meaningless. Explain what effect these images have on the writer’s work.

Write about a simile like this: By using the simile “like a bird’s nest” to describe the girl’s hair the reader can really see the untidiness of the girl’s hair, the hair is unkempt. The girl looks scruffy. Alliteration and onomatopoeia are used as sound effects in writing to keep readers interested. Alliteration means repeating the same sound. It is when words that are close together begin with the same sound. It makes the sentence seem more interesting to the reader. It is often found in headlines.

Alliteration can also be described as where words in a phrase have the same sound repeated. It is often used to make a phrase stand out. Let us borrow an example from one writer which shows us how we can write about alliteration. The alliteration of “Magic Murray Marches On” attracts the reader’s attention to the article on Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Alliteration emphasises the headline and gives the article a sharp opening which adds to the reader’s interest.

In the examination you will need to identify alliteration just like other figures of speech and write about how and why it has been used.

Onomatopoeia means words that imitate noises. It means words that sound like the noises being described. This makes the description of the sounds more effective. Here are some examples: thud, slurp, crackle, and smash, tinkle, screech, hiss, buzz, squish, bang, pop, ding and crunch to mention but a few. Write about onomatopoeia like this: “The car screeched to a halt before it could hit a pedestrian.”

The onomatopoeia of “screech” makes the reader visualise the car coming to a sudden stop trying to avoid an accident. This makes the reader feel the sound of tyres when the car grinds to a sudden stop. If the reader was absent minded she or he is brought to reality of almost witnessing an accident which could have been fatal.

e whole of this exercise has been to show learners that the texts they will write about in the examination especially in Literature will use lots of different language techniques to make them more effective. They need to be able to recognise the techniques and say why they are used. They should be able to state the effect of the techniques used. As stated earlier it is not enough to identify the descriptive language and leave it there.

They should go on and write about how and why it has been used. Explain the effect of those terms and expressions on the reader.

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