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AS LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SUMMARY: FORM & LANGUAGE


READING AND WRITING SKILLS – Types of questions, language and style
FORM = TYPES OF TEXT – NON-FICTION (facts / data) FICTION (imaginary)
Non-fiction: writing which is rooted in real experiences and which draws on factual information for its
core content.
Fiction: generally, refers to writing that is largely imaginative or invented – new term here yaaa.
Types of Text: Form: text types? -features?
 Biography (written by someone else) & autobiography (self-written) & Personal Memoirs (focus
only on important point of someone’s life)
 Magazine articles: factual, formal, heading & subheading, giving new information, have
educational values
 Newspaper features: style of writing (inverted pyramids, hourglass, chronological), newsworthy
events, witnesses, resource person
 Short stories: plot, setting, characters, conflict, point of view, theme, climax, falling action,
resolution, moral values / coda
 Film review: yin-yang, see from 2 different points of view, end: recommendation
 Podcast (an engaging discussion about a particular topic or a current event): engage audience
in conversation, know your subject matter, avoid information overload, understand your
audience, seek out the best guests, prepare for every interview, set your guests at ease,
encourage respectful debates, create killer episode titles, be authentic.
 Personal Letter; register: informal/friendly tone
 Diaries: chronological, detail, audience: specific
 Advertisement: persuasive, informative, descriptive, pictures, short sentences – selling
products, service,ideas (key verbs: to advertise, to sell so that others are interested to buy)
 Information Leaflets & Travel/holiday brochures
Leaflet is an informative or promotional publication that is made of a single sheet of paper. The key difference between brochure and
leaflet is their purpose; brochures are only used to promote companies, their products and services whereas leaflets can also be used
to inform and educate the general public.

 Novels – lots of literary devices, imaginary, fiction, narrative, long


 Blogs: audience: public, informative, narrative, web-based, tone: formal
 Websites: audience: public, web-based, tone: formal, user-friendly, informative, persuasive,
descriptive, layout: interesting/attractive, lots of pictures, sentence structure: long
 Political or campaigning speeches: persuasive, audience: public, formal, long, spirit inside,
selling ideas, (sometimes) controversial/taking sides/bias, informative

TYPES OF QUESTION (in exam)


 Check your understanding of and commentary on non-fiction passages you read.
 What you take from these passages will also inform your “Directed writing” tasks.
 Questions are fairly open and would expect you to range widely in your response, covering a
number of factors
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 Questions may go further and ask you to address your analysis toward a particular angle like
comments in ways in which language and style are used to:
* present the relationship between …
* persuade the audience to …
* present the writer’s attitude towards …..
----- (ex. in review text, article)

Style and Language – sort of areas you are being expected to comment on
Style: everything that gives a particular text its unique and individual ‘flavour’
The ingredients of style:
Form: the shape, organisation and overall structure of the text
Language:
 the purpose of the texts (which may be explicit or implied)  to persuade, inform, describe
 the audience or the reader at whom the text is aimed (which can be specific or general)
 the context of the text  when, where & how it was produced (setting: time & place)

Language: the vocabulary, grammar, syntax, variety of sentences, choice of tense, register
KEY READING SKILLS FOR RESPONDING TO PASSAGES
How to approach passage-based questions
What should you do if you are asked to analyse a text based on FORM & LANGUAGE? –
IMPORTANT!! – read carefully here!!!
DO:
 read the text at least twice
 list or highlight key words and phrases from the text before you begin to write
 start your commentary with a clear, brief introduction in which you offer an overview or
framework for your interpretation of, commentary on, the set passage.
 Focus on what the writer does (the techniques he/she uses) and the features presented
(refer to language and style above)
 Describe the effects of those techniques and features on the reader (ex. friendly style –
effect to the readers? Involvement/engagement? -close, far, outsider, feeling involved in
the story?)
 Support what you say with well-chosen, selective evidence & apt quotation
 Write in coherent, fluent way which links rather than lists ideas – use connectors based on
their functions yaaaa
 KEEP YOUR FOCUS ON STYLE AND LANGUAGE
 Check your work as you write and tweak or adapt carefully to make sure your expression is
succinct, yet sufficiently detailed

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DON’T
 Start writing before you have read the text properly
 Simply list or highlight everything in the text (!) – be selective
 Assert an idea or opinion without supporting evidence
 Simply ‘feature-spot’ – that is, point out a technique or a language device without
explaining its effect or purpose (for example, mention that the writer has used alliteration
without saying what its effect is)
 Just summarise what happens or paraphrase without offering any commentary or
interpretation
 List points or ideas in an unconnected way
 Drift off into discussing aspects outside the question set

Highlighting or listing key words or phrases


By highlighting or listing key words and phrases you will be able to interact with the text, however dense
and complex it might first appear, and focus on key patterns or features that create the tone or mood.

Evaluating commentary skills


Success criteria: - refer to the DO & DON’T
Highly depended on someone’s interpretation and ‘take’ from the text. (take – new word yaaaa)
Support your points with evidence then provide some sort of comment or further explanation of the
point you have made.

Summary from this section:


 Non-fiction writing shares many similarities with fiction writing.
 The reading and analysis skills you develop for commentary will help your own writing.
 Highlighting, listing or annotating key words and phrases in a text is an essential part of
commentary.
 The best responses to texts always support the points made with apt, direct quotations.
 These should always be explained in terms of their effect on tone, mood or the perspective of
the writer.

Planning and structuring a commentary


Follow this guidance:
1. Read the passage at least twice.
2. Divide the passage into equal sections  you will give equal attention to the different sections.
3. Divide the time you have to write about the extract  often, candidate write impressive
material about certain part(s) of the passage – not at the same depth for all section.

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4. Make a list of key words and phrases  you need some particularly powerful, vivid or
meaningful words or phrases to hang your key ideas around.
5. Plan your response  you need to consider the structure of your response  to show the
progression of the passage  the way to develop and unfold your writing  comment on
similarities and contrasts within the passage, show how attitudes develop or change & explain
how focuses shift from one thing, person or place to another.

What kind of words or phrases should you list?


The ones that:
 Suggest a particular mood or attitude of the writer at that point in the passage
 Seem to suggest certain qualities or ideas
 Seem to echo others in the extract
 Seem to contrast with others in the extract
 You can use for your introduction
How should you use the words and phrases you have listed?
 What voice or perspective is exemplified through these selected words?
 What is the passage or writer implying or what kind of message is being given?
 What relationships and/or social positions in the passage are presented and how do they
change or develop, if at all?
 What contexts are shown? Are they, for example, cultural, social, economic, geographical
or historical?
Introduction to commentaries
1. Start your response with brief introduction to the passage so that an overview or framework is
established.
2. It is the framework outlined in this introduction which shapes the analysis of the piece.
3. The words and phrases you select when planning will help shape your overall interpretation of
the passage and can help shape your introduction.
Using evidence and quotations
DO:
 Make a POINT
 Support it with QUOTATION
 Explain or develop it with a COMMENT, usually on the effect created or the meaning
suggested
 Connect or link your point with other points or observations you make
DON’T:
 Use quotations as a substitute for your own words re-state with your own words
 Rely on phrases such as this means, the writer explains or this tells us
 Comments which rely on vague generalisation

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Phrases to introduce ideas:
 This suggests ….
 This evokes a sense of ….
 This conveys ….
 This implies ….
 This conjures up …
 This establishes a sense of …

DESCRIPTIVE WRITING  REMEMBER: D – D = DESCRIPTIVE – DETAILED


Found in: newspaper reports, imaginative narratives
Often:
1. Tries to create a very particular or vivid mood or atmosphere
2. Conveys a strong sense of individual settings, people, events or experiences
3. Focuses in on detail but can also ‘zoom out’ to over-views or panoramas
4. Draws on a range of sensory experiences, such as taste, sight, sound, touch and smell.

Key aspects of Descriptive Writing


 Vivid visual detail
 Sense of sound adds to the overall picture
 Close detail of individual items and events draws all the senses together
 Filmic sense of ‘cutting’ from an interior to exterior shot
 Writer’s own imagination sense
 Geographical, factual detail adds up to the whole picture being built up
 Long noun phrase uses several adjectives to convey the scene

Key technique: lists of three


lists or patterns of three ideas or items in texts are often used for rhetorical impact  help to build
and emphasise an idea

Key technique: simile & metaphor  evocative imagery


Key technique: understanding voice  The distinctive tone and perspective of the writer
Key technique: connotations – often linked to positive or negative view. Connotative and denotative
meanings. Connotation is the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word. Denotation is
the strict dictionary meaning of a word.
Key technique: describing an internal location
Key technique: using the senses

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Key technique: verbs, adjectives & similes
KEY TERMS
Register The type of language used for a particular purpose, or in a particular setting
Context The background, setting, form or culture in which the text was written or is set
Voice The distinctive tone and perspective of the writer
Tone the ‘feel’, mood or emotion present in a text
Formality language which observes agreed conventions, which would be used in business
or professional context, particularly in less personal context
Informality language best suited to close or personal contexts, in which accepted rules or
conventions can be adapted, abbreviated or otherwise altered, for example, in
writing that sounds more like speaking.
Symbol a word or phrase that can represent an idea
Imagery language that draws on visual depictions to suggest ideas, for example, The road
through the mountains was a necklace of lights that shimmered and twinkled.
Assert state something as a fact with no real support or proof
Juxtapose to place ideas or words/phrases in close proximity to each other to convey an
idea, or to balance contrasting points
Figurative language language such as imagery, in which the literal meaning is less relevant than what
the word/phrase suggests or symbolises. For example, My heart was stone does
not that the writer’s heart was literally made of stone, but perhaps that it was
unfeeling.
Stream of consciousness how words reflect the way in which a narrator’s or speaker’s mind is actually
working at a given point
Metaphor a direct comparison between two things which is not literally true
Alliteration the repetition of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words (e.g. Sea
shells on the sea shore)
Anaphoric a reference which depend on, or connects back to, a previous, related word or
phrase
First person the mode of narration in which the writer uses the ‘I’ form
Simile a comparison between two things which uses like or as
Mood atmosphere, feeling
Perspective the viewpoint of ‘angle’ the writer has on a situation, person or experience
Contrast: opposites or differences between things, such as contrast in characters or places
(either within a character – here the writer himself; or between different characters
– here the writer and the crowd)
External or exterior location: a place or setting outside

List of three a sequence of three items, one after the other, often used to create a particular
effect

Personification giving human characters to animals, object and so on

Unexpected Something which surprises the reader or comes as a shock


Qualification Casting some uncertainty on an initial statement or a way of undermining what is
apparently being said
Ambivalent Being undecided or having contrasting feelings about something
Verb A word hat conveys an action, a state of being or a happening
Internal Inside a particular location
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Present tense Form of the verb describing current actions such as I go, he lives, we like
Direct statement Something stated as a definite fact, opinion or truth, with no sense of doubt
Syntax The order of words and phrases in a sentence
Narrative The development or unfolding of a plot, account or story
Repeated syntactical or The use of the same types of wood or phrase order
patterning
Inner thoughts Ideas in the mind of a character or narrator
Third person singular She or he
Dialogue Speech or conversation of, or between, characters
Actions Things done or decisions taken
Imperative Order or command
Understatement Phrasing ideas so that they do not sound as impressive as they might appear;
offering faint praise or a sense of disapproval
Hyperbole Exaggeration
Anecdotal Relating to minor personal events or moments
Persuasive Trying to convince others about a particular idea, viewpoint or product
Review A critical assessment of something – such as a film, book, television or radio
programme
Ironic Suggesting the opposite to what is expected
Sarcastic Sharp and mocking
Question tag A verbal addition to statements to add rhetorical emphasis or to elicit a reaction
(e.g. We’ll be home by tea, won’t we, Mum? It’s a terrible indictment of our
government, isn’t it?)
Expert A person who is a great authority on a subject
Modal A form or type of verb that modifies the meaning of another one (e.g. I might go
alters or modifies the meaning of the verb to go so that it suggest possibility;
another modal, will, when added to go modifies the meaning again, so that it
expresses certainty)
Adverb A word which tells us more about a verb
Word associations Ideas suggested by particular words or phrases
Syntactical patterning The use and order of similar words and structures
Ideal A vision of something perfect, a desire to aim for
Future tense As if happening later in time
Extended image A comparison of two things which is returned to throughout the text
Parallel structures Words and phrases that are similar in length and order
Mode of address The way in which the reader is ‘spoken to’ by the writer

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