Analysing texts, Year 8: more practice

The point

HintIt makes a claim; no quotation has appeared yet.

The whyThe opening move states your idea. The evidence and the zoom come after it.

The second

HintWhich one looks closely at what a single word suggests?

The whyThe zoom picks out one word from the quotation and explains its effect. The first sentence only gives the evidence.

Stingy

HintOne is a compliment and the other is a criticism.

The whyBoth describe careful spending, but 'stingy' suggests meanness. The feeling a word carries is its connotation.

Speeds it up

HintCount how little time each takes to read.

The whyShort, sharp sentences make the action feel quick and breathless.

Minor sentences

HintThey are the opposite of a full-sized sentence.

The whyWriters use them for quick snapshots or sudden emphasis, even though they break the usual rules.

To hook the reader straight away

HintThink about what makes someone keep turning pages.

The whyStarting with something happening makes the reader curious and eager to read on.

Has

HintThink of the verb 'to have' with 'he' or 'she'.

The why'Hath' is the old third-person form of 'have', so the line means 'Has he come?'

Words spoken to the audience that the other characters on stage do not hear

HintWho else is in the room, besides the actors?

The whyAn aside lets a character share a secret thought. It often creates dramatic irony.

We know the cup is poisoned but the character does not

HintCompare what we have seen with what she has seen.

The whyThe gap between what the audience knows and what the character knows creates tension.

Verbal irony

HintIs anyone in the dark about the truth?

The whyThe speaker says the opposite of what they mean. No one is kept ignorant of the facts, so it is not dramatic irony.