English Language - Key Points

English Language - Key Points

1. SETTING

   • In the past, present day or the future?
   • A time of day?
   • A particular time of year?
   • A specific geographical location - such as a named city or country?
   • A type of place or event - like a school or a wedding?
   • Questions to focus on for Setting
     • What does the reader learn about this place and time?
     • How is this place and time important to theme and character?
     • What techniques does the writer use to create atmosphere?
     • How does the language influence the reader’s response to this setting?

2. THEME

   • Common Themes
     • Power
     • Love
     • Money
     • Death
     • Friendhip
     • Heroism
     • Appearance
     • Conflict
     • Family
     • Nature
   • Questions to think about THEMES
     • How does the language choice suggest a theme?
     • Are there any patterns in the language that give emphasis to a theme?
     • Do particular images suggest a theme?
     • How does the description of the setting suggest the theme?
     • Which events help to develop the themes in the extract?
     • How do the characters in the extract represent the theme?
     • Are there any language choices that suggest a clash, opposites or conflict of themes?

3. NARRATIVE VOICE

   • Who is speaking?
     • What is their perspective?
     • Do we trust them?
     • What do we learn about them?
     • Their relationship with the character?

4. LITERARY TECHNIQUES

   • Metaphor
   • Similie
   • Personifaction
   • Motif
   • Repition
   • Listing
   • Alliteration
   • Onomatopoeia
   • Assonance
   • Colloquial
   • Dialect
   • Dissonance
   • Hyperbole
   • Imagery
   • Irony
   • Monolouge
   • Oxymoron
   • Pathos
   • Anaphora
   • Antithesis
   • Siblinance

5. STRUCTURE

   • Where does this extract fit into the longer text – is it an opening or ending?
   • Why are the paragraphs ordered in the way they are?
   • How does the focus of each paragraph change?
   • Is it important for the reader to know certain bits of information before they get to the next part of the text?
   • Are there any links between the beginning and the end of the text?
   • Are there any repeated images?
   • Is there a significant change in an attitude, character or setting?
   • Is there a change of perspective?
   • Sentence Types?
   • Change of tense?