Transcript Textual Analysis revision

+
Textual Analysis
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Analysis and Evaluation Questions
(U)
Textual Analysis NAB

Coming soon to a classroom near you

11TH December Main NAB

Earlier formative

Will be done under exam conditions

Will be either fiction – poetry, prose or drama
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Analysis and Evaluation

Two sides of the same coin

Analysis is technique spotting, naming and
explaining

Evaluation is a personal reaction to how effective it
is.
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Analysis

Explain named features


Explain from a list of possible features

+

“Show how the writer uses imagery to emphasise…”
“Show how the writer’s feelings in line 5-7 are
conveyed. You may refer to tone, onomatopoeia,
imagery ….”
Instructions to look at language of writer

“Show how the writer’s language highlights the
importance…”
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Denotation and Connotation

Known as “Word Choice”

The key to getting analysis right

Denotation = The literal meaning of a word

Connotation = The other ideas associated with this
word.
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Denotation and Connotation
+
Skinny
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Skinny
Denotation and Connotation

The goalkeeper was a cat during the game.
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Denotation and Connotation

The goalkeeper was a cat during the game.

The writer uses a metaphor to compare the
goalkeeper to a cat. This suggests that the
goalkeeper was agile and nimble during the
game.

Name of technique + things being contrasted +
effect
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Evaluation

Look for the E

How effective is this?

Pseudo-personal opinion

BE VERY CAREFUL!!

The writers in the exam are better than you!

The answer is generally “very effective because…”
+  Link your answer to the text – “This is effective
because the word …. Emphasises how…”
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Word Choice

Why does a writer use a specific word?

+
It doesn’t just happen!

Any word will do?

Connotation and denotation:

You know this stuff!

Van Nistelroy danced through the tackle

Why use dance? Would another verb work as well?

Dance suggests elegance, nimbleness, grace, effortless, musical, artistic
Word Choice - practice
I blundered drunkenly down the stairs
1.
•
My guest lay on his back, a long knife skewering him
through the heart
2.
•
•
How does word choice effectively establish the
scene
+ Simon cringed as Mr Shirpe loomed over him
•
5.
How does the word effectively convey the way he
moved?
A lonely boy reading near the feeble fire
3.
4.
How does the word effectively convey the way he
moved?
How does word choice effectively establish the
scene
The figure was shrouded in a garment of deepest
black which masked its face, its head and its form,
leaving nothing visible but its outstretched hand.
Answer
Me
Antelope
Evaluation
“Feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday
night” – Jon Bon Jovi

How effectively does the author convey his mood? (3)
E
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Evaluation
“Feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday
night” – Jon Bon Jovi


+
How effectively does the author convey his mood? (3)
E
The author uses an excellent simile to describe
his current mood. He compares it to a “Monday” –
typically the first day of a long working week and
this has connotations of depression and facing an
uphill task. However, the quote ends on an upbeat
metaphor – “someday I’ll be Saturday night”,
implying one day soon he will metaphorically be
the best part of the week. Therefore he
effectively captures not only his current
depression, but the notion that things will also
improve.
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Evaluation
“Feeling like a Monday but someday I’ll be Saturday
night” – Jon Bon Jovi


+
How effectively does the author convey his mood? (3)
E
The author uses an excellent simile to describe
his current mood. He compares it to a “Monday” –
typically the first day of a long working week and
this has connotations of depression and facing an
uphill task. However, the quote ends on an upbeat
metaphor – “someday I’ll be Saturday night”,
implying one day soon he will metaphorically be
the best part of the week. Therefore he
effectively captures not only his current
depression, but the notion that things will also
improve.
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Techniques
+

Word choice

Metaphor / simile / personification

Alliteration / siblance / assonance / onomatopoeia

Contrast / paradox / juxtaposition / oxymoron

Punctuation

Sentence structure

Word order
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Metaphor / simile /
 Comparing two things using “like” or “as __________
personification
as”





As high as a kite
As cold as ice
A fun as a barrel of monkeys
Like a stocking to a chicken’s lip
Comparing two things by saying one IS the other



The audience were glued to their seats
Juliet is the sun
The Empire State Building, that jumbo-sized dentist’s drill
 Giving human characteristics to non-human things
+



Dawn massed her armies in the east
The sun glowered down on men
The trees grabbed me as I ran past
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Alliteration / siblance /
assonance / onomatopoeia

Repeated sound at beginning of words




Siblance








Repeated “SS” sound
Often hissing or evil
Trust in me, just in me
their faces show surprise, shock…
Assonance

+
Caws his carol
run red river
He who hates the Hun
Repeating the same sound within words in the sentence
Doomed youth
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the
floor.
Onomatopoeia
A descriptive word that mimics the noise it is representing
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
 The saw buzzed and rattled, buzzed and rattled

Contrast / paradox /
juxtaposition / oxymoron

Contrast is using opposites to highlight difference



Paradox

Contradictions – two or more statements that seem cancel
each other out

“I can resist anything except temptation” (Wilde)

“spies do not look like spies” (Chesterton)
Juxtaposition


+

The mirror flat lake was ruined by the riotous jetski
Contrasting ideas or images placed together
The finger of the twisted corpse on the barbed wire pointed to
tree branch where a blackbird sang.
Oxymoron




Opposite words placed next to each other
Sweet and sour
Bitter sweet
Shameful joy
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Punctuation

Blackboard exercise
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Sentence Structure Questions
+

Ahhh, the joys of grammar.

No, not grandma, grammar.

Sentence structure questions are about

Sentence structure

Punctuation
Sentence Structure Questions
Different Types
 Statements
 Questions
 Commands
 Exclamations
 Minor
+
sentences
Statements
+

Most sentences are statements.

Tell the reader something

Statements are generally neutral – you are most
likely to be asked to comment on other types of
sentence
Questions

Do they end in a question mark?

Ask the reader something

Questions either show uncertainty in the writer, or
challenge the reader

Look for rhetorical questions – that don’t expect
an answer (what kind of question is that?)
+  Often questions stir up emotions
Commands
+

May end with an exclamation mark

Tell the reader to do something

Generally used either persuasively or to address
the reader directly.
Exclamations
+

May end with an exclamation mark

Express excitement or surprise

Generally used to create an emotive or dramatic effect
Minor sentences
+

Short, surprising, odd or incomplete sentences

May not contain either a verb or a noun

Used to create a sense of pace, drama, excitement

Also informal or diary entries

Time for a rest. / Running home, tail between legs. /
The money, now.
Sentence Structure Test
+

Time for a rest.

Think of a number

How beautiful that was!

What a place!

Do you want your life to turn out like this?

Goodness me!

This is not a statement

Running home, tail between legs.

The money, now.
Answer
Me
Antelope
Sentence Structure Test
+

Time for a rest. (minor sentence)

Think of a number (command)

How beautiful that was! (exclamation)

What a place! (exclamation)

Do you want your life to turn out like this? (question)

Goodness me! (exclamation)

This is not a statement (statement)

Running home, tail between legs. (minor sentence)

The money, now. (minor sentence/command)
Answer
Me
Antelope
Word Order
+

Words: in the right sequence, always?

Changing sequences can change effects or meanings

Anything unusual deserves a comment

Typical types:

List

Repetition

Climax
List
+

The lardy pig put in the trolley in front of me: three pork
pies, two tubs of ice cream, a king size mars bar and a
whole pre-roasted chicken. I wondered how she’d
make it to the car

Used to create an impression of “lots of something”


List of verbs = action

List of nouns = size or volume
Often used for comic effect
Repetition

We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and
oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and
growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island,
whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills;

Used to create a rhythm

Usually tries to emphasise a key concept:

+
The above example also creates a sense of community
and togetherness by stressing “We”
Climax
+

Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours

Usually creates sense of increasing action

Normally grouped into sets of three similar verbs
with increasing impact
Word order
- what kind of sentences are
these?
 With a ragged diamond on shattered plate glass
Hungry, are you? – reverse/inverted word order,
start with adjective

Exhausted, he fell to the floor
She was dancing. I mean she was doing things and
dancing at the same time. She’d go and put on a
new cassette, or find a better track on the old one or
just look through what was there, then she’d go over
+ and pinch a fag


They’ll come marching through here burning your
houses, killing your children, and yes, violating your
women

Signed, sealed, delivered I’m yours
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Answer
Me
Antelope
Word order

With a ragged diamond on shattered plate glass –
starting sentence with preposition (with)

Hungry, are you? – reverse/inverted word order, start
with adjective

Exhausted, he fell to the floor – reverse/inverted word
order, start with adjective

She was dancing. I mean she was doing things and
dancing at the same time. She’d go and put on a new
cassette, or find a better track on the old one or just look
through what was there, then she’d go over and pinch a
fag - list of verbs to create action
+

They’ll come marching through here burning your
houses, killing your children, and yes, violating your
women - climactic sentence
Signed, sealed, delivered I’m yours – climatic sentence
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com
Answer
Me
Antelope
Key learning

You need as big a vocabulary as you can get over
the next year

You get this from reading widely
+
© www.mrsharpetheteacher.com