Language and Structure

• In prose fiction, language can be used in various ways, including literary techniques like similes and metaphors, emotive language, hyperbole, and terms of address.
• Word choices can reveal more about characters through dialect, and the types of words used in the text can be understood in different ways.
• Words can reveal themes like death or love, create moods, or suggest deeper meanings.
• It's important to look for patterns in the chosen language to understand the story's overall meaning.
• • denotations - their dictionary meaning
• • connotations - the ideas they link to
• • connotations - the ideas they link to
• • denotations - their dictionary meaning
• Metaphor is a comparison made without using 'like' or 'as'.
• The metaphor 'His home was his castle' presents his home as a secure and safe place to be.
• Simile is a comparison made using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to create a vivid image.
• The simile 'She had a smile like the sunrise' makes her smile seem bright and full of hope.
• Personification is a type of imagery in which non-human objects, animals or ideas are given human characteristics.
• The motif of the 'screaming' wind creates an uneasy atmosphere.
• Repetition is when words, phrases or ideas are repeated for effect.
• The repetition of 'tried' emphasises the effort exerted and Stephen’s desperation at his failed attempts.
• Listing is when a number of connected items are written one after the other.
• Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds (mainly consonants) usually at the beginning of words.
• The onomatopoeia 'Howling, the cat ran through the house' gives a sense of the cat’s terror.
• What is “His home was his castle” an example of?

  Metaphor
• What is "She had a smile like the sunrise” an example of?

  Simile
• What is "The wind screamed through the trees“ an example of?

  Personification
• What is "Stephen tried and tried and tried to get the ball in the net" an example of ?

  Repitition
• What is "Swirling suffocating steam filled the room” an example of ?

  Alliteration
• What is “Bang” an example of ?

  Onomatopoeia
• Key fact When you identify a literary technique or other language devices in a text, think about how they might be linked to a theme, setting or character.
• Fiction texts' structure refers to the order of words and ideas within sentences, paragraphs, extracts, and whole texts.
• The structure of fiction texts manipulates the reader's response and the writer's response.
• Some structural devices in prose fiction include repetition, connections, sentence types, sentence length, paragraph length, and change of tense.
• Narrative structure follows an overall structure, which may fit broadly into stages such as introduction, climax, and resolution.
• What is the term for the way a text is put together and the ideas within it are ordered?

  Language
• What parts of the text should we focus on when thinking about structure?

  Sentences, paragraphs and the whole text
• What is the most exciting or tense part of a text?

  The climax
• What sort of language is particularly intended to make a reader feel a certain way?

  Emotive language
• Where would you find the denotation of a word?

  Dictionary
• What literary device is used in 'the wind screamed through the trees'?

  Personification
• What is a likely effect of repetition in a fictional text?

  The most likely effect of repetition is that it will emphasise a mood, image or idea.