Analysing texts, Year 7: more practice

Sight

HintThink about which feature of the market the words pick out.

The whyColour words build a picture in the mind's eye. Imagery can also call on sound, smell, taste and touch.

Onomatopoeia

HintSay the word aloud: it is an echo of the thing itself.

The whyWriters use these words to let the reader hear a scene, so a description feels immediate.

Simile

HintLook for a signpost word joining the two things.

The whyThe word 'like' signals the comparison. A metaphor would say her laugh WAS a bell.

Personification

HintA hidden word inside it names what the thing is made to resemble.

The whyThe wind cannot whisper, but the phrase makes it seem to. It helps the reader hear the sound of the wind.

swallowed

HintWhich word is something only a creature with a mouth does?

The whySwallowing is something living things do, so the verb makes the sea seem hungry and dangerous.

B

HintCount the full stops.

The whyB weaves the quotation into the writer's own grammar, so it reads as one smooth sentence. A leaves it hanging as a separate sentence.

It only repeats the quotation instead of explaining it

HintHas anything new been said?

The whyGood analysis says what the words suggest, such as that the room feels unwelcoming, not just that they say it again.

Lines 2 and 4

HintSay the last word of each line aloud.

The why'Door' and 'floor' share their ending sound. 'Mat' and 'attic' do not rhyme with anything.

Speech

HintLook at what is inside the inverted commas.

The whyWhat a character says reveals their personality, here someone aggressive and threatening.

'A grey drizzle clung to the empty street'

HintLook at the weather and the colour words.

The whyGrey, drizzle and empty all build a dull, lonely mood. 'Danced' and 'sunlight' make the first sound cheerful.