Question 3: Language and Structure Flashcards
All 51 cards in this deck
What is a connotation?
The ideas and feelings a word suggests beyond its literal meaning. A lair and a home are both places to live, but lair suggests a hidden, dangerous animal.
What effect can a precise verb have?
It shows how an action is done, revealing mood or character: 'She crept downstairs' suggests secrecy or fear.
What does an adjective typically do in description?
It shapes our impression of a noun and builds mood. 'A brittle laugh' suggests nervousness, as if the laugh might snap.
What does an adverb typically add?
It changes how we read a verb, often showing attitude. 'He smiled thinly' suggests the smile is forced or insincere.
What is the effect of repetition?
It draws attention to a word and can suggest emphasis or obsession: 'Cold hands, cold tea, cold bed'.
What is an oxymoron, and what is its effect?
Two contradictory words placed together, such as 'a cheerful funeral'. It surprises the reader and suggests mixed or uneasy feelings.
What is a simile?
A comparison using like or as, which makes something vivid: 'Fog lay on the town like a wet blanket' makes the fog seem smothering.
What is a metaphor?
Saying one thing is another, with no like or as; often more forceful than a simile: 'The exam hall was a pressure cooker'.
What is an extended metaphor?
A metaphor developed over several phrases or sentences, so the reader keeps seeing the subject through that comparison.
What is personification?
Giving human qualities to something non-human. 'The house watched them leave' makes the house seem aware and unsettling.
What is pathetic fallacy?
When weather or setting reflects a character's mood or the atmosphere of a scene. It can also foreshadow events.
What is a semantic field?
A group of words from the same area of meaning. 'Ambush', 'retreat' and 'ceasefire' used about a family dinner present it as a battle.
What is symbolism?
When an object, colour or setting stands for a bigger idea, e.g. a stopped clock symbolising a life frozen in the past.
What is alliteration?
Repeating the same consonant sound at the start of nearby words. It draws attention to a phrase: 'the bitter, biting breeze'.
What is sibilance, and what effects can it create?
Repeated s and sh sounds. They can sound soft and hushed ('the sea sighed in its sleep') or sinister and hissing, depending on the words around them.
What is onomatopoeia, and what does it do?
A word that sounds like the noise it describes, such as crackle, thud or hiss. It makes a scene audible and immediate for the reader.
What is assonance, and what effect can it have?
Repeated vowel sounds in nearby words. Long vowels can slow the pace and create a mournful or calm mood, as in 'the low moan of the old road'.
What is sensory language?
Description that appeals to sight, sound, smell, taste or touch. It immerses the reader in the scene.
What is a simple sentence, and what effect can it have?
One main clause: 'The door opened.' It can create clarity, emphasis or shock, especially after longer sentences.
What is a compound sentence, and what can it do?
Two main clauses joined by and, but, or or so. It can show a sequence of events, balance two ideas, or set up a contrast with but.
What is a complex sentence, and what can it do?
A main clause with at least one subordinate clause. It can delay key information to build suspense: 'Although the lights were off, someone was in the kitchen.'
What is a minor sentence, and what effect does it have?
A sentence without a main verb, such as 'Silence.' or 'Not again.' It isolates a moment or feeling, gives emphasis, or imitates a character's thoughts.
What is polysyndeton, and what is its effect?
Joining the items in a list with many ands. It can make the list feel breathless, endless or overwhelming.
What is the effect of a short sentence straight after a long one?
The contrast stops the rhythm suddenly, so the short sentence lands with force, often marking a shock or turning point.
What is tone in a piece of writing?
The attitude the writer or narrator shows towards the subject, for example affectionate, bitter, mocking or wistful. It is created through word choice.
What is atmosphere (or mood)?
The feeling a scene creates for the reader, such as tense, eerie, peaceful or oppressive. It is usually built by many choices working together.
What is a narrative hook?
An opening line or detail designed to grab attention, often by being surprising or leaving something unexplained.
What is opening in medias res?
Starting in the middle of the action, without build-up. It throws the reader into drama and raises questions about how the characters got there.
What is an enigma in a story opening?
A puzzle the writer deliberately leaves unexplained, such as an unopened letter, creating curiosity and suspense.
What is a cyclical structure?
The ending returns to an image, place or line from the opening, showing how much has changed or that a character is trapped.
What is a cliffhanger?
Ending at a moment of suspense with the outcome unknown, leaving tension unresolved.
What is a shift in focus?
A change in what the text is looking at: a place, person, object, time or idea. It directs the reader's attention.
What is the effect of zooming in?
Moving from a wide view to a small detail narrows the reader's attention, making the detail feel important or intimate.
What is the pivotal point (turning point) of a text?
The moment where the direction changes: a discovery, a decision or an interruption.
What is a motif?
An image, object or sound that recurs through a text; each return can show how a situation has developed.
What is the effect of first-person narration?
The reader shares the narrator's thoughts directly, creating closeness, but only knows what the narrator knows.
What is third-person limited narration?
The narrator uses 'he' or 'she' but follows one character's thoughts.
What is an omniscient narrator?
A third-person narrator who knows everything and can move between several characters' thoughts.
What is an unreliable narrator?
A narrator whose account the reader can't fully trust, because they are lying, mistaken or hiding their feelings.
What is dramatic irony?
When the reader knows something a character doesn't, often because the narrative shows another viewpoint. It creates suspense.
What is a flashback?
A move back in time to an earlier event, giving backstory. At a tense moment it also delays the action.
What is foreshadowing?
A hint early in a text about something that will happen later, creating unease and suspense.
What is the effect of slowing the pace on a single moment?
Stretching a few seconds across many lines makes the moment feel important and holds the reader in suspense.
What is the difference between scene and summary in fiction?
A scene shows events moment by moment, often with dialogue. A summary compresses events into a sentence or two.
How does withholding information build tension?
The writer keeps something back, such as who is at the door, so the reader's need to know creates suspense.
What is a climax?
The point of highest tension, where the conflict comes to a head; often placed late in an extract.
What is an anticlimax?
Tension builds towards something dramatic, then the outcome is ordinary, suddenly releasing the tension.
What is juxtaposition?
Placing two contrasting things directly side by side, such as two scenes or moods, which sharpens the difference.
What counts as structure in Paper 1 Question 3?
How the extract is organised: where it starts and stops, shifts in focus, time or tense, multi-clause and short sentences, colons and dashes.
What is the historic present?
Switching from the past tense into the present to tell a remembered moment, making it feel as if it is happening now.
What is an asyndetic list?
A list without conjunctions: 'Horns, shouts, brakes, a dropped tray.' It suggests abundance, speed or being overwhelmed.