Essay writing help:

If you find discussing language in detail difficult, use the sentence starters below. They are designed
to help you to formulate your analysis and pick up the marks.

● The simile/metaphor compares … to … . The connotations of this image are … , reinforced by the
use of the word ‘…’, which makes the audience think…
● The metaphor evokes an image of… as the verb/adjective/noun/adverb has connotations of … .
This illustrates…
● The imagery evokes a picture of… and has connotations of... . This conveys to the audience
that…
● The noun/verb/adjective/adverb ‘…’ has connotations of… which conveys that …
● The semantic field of… exemplified by the word ‘…’, foregrounds the idea of… because it has
connotations of…, indicating that…
● The alliteration of the words ‘…’ creates a soft/harsh tone which emphasises that…
● The use of the sibilance/plosive consonants create a soft/harsh tone which puts forward the
idea that… as it mirrors the content of the line.
● The assonance creates elongated(long)/short abrupt sounds, which create a soft/harsh tone.
This suggests that… as the sounds mirror the content of the line/paragraph/piece.
● The use of the short line ‘…’ breaks the flow and pace of the paragraph and thus emphasises the
idea that… (look at what the line is saying).
● The pathetic fallacy creates a … tone because the diction (verbs, adjectives, adverbs) ‘…’ have
connotations of… which indicates to the reader that…
● The personification gives the … human qualities and makes it sound like a … . This exaggerates
the idea of… which conveys to the audience that…
● The hyperbole exaggerates the idea of… , which emphasises that… giving the audience the
impression that…
● The juxtaposition compares the image of… which has connotations of… with the image of…
which has connotations of… . By placing these two images side by side, the writer emphasises
the idea that…
● The allusion calls to mind the idea of… which is important because… . Therefore, the writer
wants us to think about…
● The oxymoron compares the idea of… as the word ‘…’ has connotations of… and the word … has
connotations of… . By placing these two ideas next to each other, the writer suggests that…
● The use of the rhetorical question leads the reader to think about the idea of… which
foregrounds it in the audience’s mind.
● The emotive language plays on the reader’s sense of fear/guilt/happiness/shame because the
words ‘…’ have connotations of… which puts forward the idea that…
● The parallel structures help to emphasise the idea of… because…
● The repetition of the word ‘…’ emphasises the idea that… and foregrounds it in the audience’s
mind, making them think/feel…
● The caesura, in the form a … creates a pause in the line and thus interrupts the pace of the line.
This puts emphasis on the line/word ‘…’ which conveys the idea that…
● The enjambment at the end of the line/stanza creates a sense of… /lack of structure/sense of
loss/[link to meaning of the poem]…
● Shakespeare’s decision to have the character of … deviate from how they have been previously
characterised typifies…
● The deviation from the regular metre in the form of a trochee emphasises the word/line… to
convey how…
● The soliloquy/monologue is sequenced in terms of several ideas, the first being… followed by…
and ending with… .
● The use of the end-stopped lines…
● The stage directions creates the emblem of … on stage for the audience…
emphasising/depicting…
● In terms of metre, …’s line completes …’s lines to form one line of iambic pentameter. This
creates a symbolic relationship between the two as Shakespeare wants to portray that…