Question 2
Close Language Analysis
Key points
- 10 marks
-Spend approximately 20 mins on this question -Two parts (part A and part B). Part B asks you to analyse a section from passage A, and part A asks you to analyse a section from passage B. SNEAKY...don't let them catch you out. -All the marks are for READING -This is the only question you directly use quotations in -Analyse the quotations - say a lot about a little Steps to success
1. Read and highlight key words in the question
2. Number the paragraphs 3. Find the paragraph(s) you will analyse 4. Double check you have the right paragraph 5. Highlight key phrases (BE SELECTIVE - no more than 3/4 words for each quotation) that link to the key words in the question. 6. Write your close analysis, showing a clear understanding of how language works and writer purpose. 7. Always finish with a comment on the overall effect. |
What should I be looking for when I am close reading?
Language techniques:
Alliteration Simile Metaphor Personification Juxtaposition Short sentences/Long sentences Effective punctuation Pathetic Fallacy Patterns in verbs Patterns in adjectives Sibilance (alliteration with an 's' soft sand sinking) MAKE SURE YOU COMMENT ON THE EFFECT OF THE LANGUAGE. WHY HAS THE WRITER CHOSEN A CERTAIN WORD/PHRASE? WHY HAVE THEY PUT THEM IN THAT ORDER? |
Candidate A (7/10 BAND 2)
The first words used to describe AP (Aunt Pegg) are, “Vile Aunt Pegg!” This show the reader that the children do not like her – this has the effect of making the reader also not like her. The use of the exclamation mark show the reader that the children really mean this statement. Another phrase used is, “leering, sneering, peering.” By using a list that rhymes, it sounds like a spell – like she is a witch. Another word used is, “snarl” – this is the noise an angry animal makes – making us think she is not human. Another technique used is the metaphor, “eyes on sticks” – this makes her scary, like she can see everything going on like a ghost. The writer uses the simile, “like an upside-down moon.” This has the effect of showing the reader that she never smiles and her mouth is always shaped downwards. Overall, these two paragraphs make the reader feel like AP is a scary lady and we are scared that she will upset the children and make their two weeks hell. |
Candidate B (10/10)
The writer presents Aunt Pegg as ruthless and inhumane. She is an animal; she ‘snarls’ rather than talks, and she ‘pounces…like a cat’. The word ‘pounces’ presents her as a predator to be feared. Note is also made of her ‘great muscular strength’, the second adjective particularly being more appropriate for an animal than an Aunt. The description of her physical power also reinforces the sense of her mental power over the children. This is emphasised in the repetition in both paragraphs of Aunt Pegg ‘on top of us’ and ‘on us’. This reminds the reader of the constant, overbearing presence of the writer’s aunt. The slow rhyming incantation ‘leering, sneering, peering Aunt Pegg’ with its long dipthongs reflects the slow torture the writer feels in being in her care. The rhyme makes it sound almost like a witches’ chant – linking to the later comparison of her mouth to the ‘upside-down new moon’ - the image of an inverted moon suggesting something supernatural at the witching hour. Altogether, the passage attempts to paint Aunt Pegg as inhumanly as possible, framing her as a classic villain to be feared - a blend between witch and beast. The reader therefore wants to take the ‘side’ of the writer. |