commenting on word-choice and unpacking metaphors

Commenting on Word-Choice

and

Unpacking Metaphors

Higher English Survival Guide

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Click to advance presentation


Slide 3

Commenting on Word-Choice

In close reading, or textual analysis, if asked to comment on word-choice, you have to pick out key words

Next you have to say what effect they have

This means talking about connotations


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For example

“The little girl was only three. She was thin and waif-like; her eyes were very large and blue; and her skin was waxy and pale.”

What impression of the little girl is given by the word-choice?


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First - state general impression

The little girl seems frail and vulnerable.


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Next - explain how the word-choice creates this impression.

The word ‘only’ emphasises her youth. “thin and waif-like” sounds very

vulnerable. The word ‘waif-like’ has connotations with (or is associated with) starving children.

“waxy and pale” suggests a person who is ill, perhaps even a dead person.


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What are connotations?

They are ideas or images which a particular word calls to mind

A word can have positive or negative connotations

Connotations can be odd, or threatening, or even amusing


Slide 8

Try commenting on the impression given by the word choice below “He was not a tall man - no, quite small

- with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”


Slide 9

First pick out the words you might choose to comment on

“He was not a tall man - no, quite small - with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”


Slide 10

Write down your own comments, before comparing them with mine on the next slide. They shouldn’t be identical - but along similar lines.

“He was not a tall man - no, quite small - with a wispy moustache and curiously slender wrists. But he had a sense of strength about him, something firm and unresisting, a toughness that was hard to pin down but impossible to mistake.”


Slide 11

What impression is given?

The writer is at some pains to stress the man is “not a tall man”. He is “quite small”. Other words also emphasise his vulnerability - “wispy” suggests this and so does “curiously slender wrists.” But then his “strength” is emphasised with words like “firm and unresisting” and “toughness”. Here the combination implies a really determined character.


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Where imagery is used, it gets slightly more complicated

By ‘imagery’ I mean Simile (NB spelled like SMILE but with

an extra i at the front) Metaphor Personification ( a kind of metaphor)


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Quick reminder: what is a simile? When two things are compared using the

words ‘like’ or ‘as’ (or sometimes ‘than’) For example: She was as pleased as

punch. Or: The girl ran faster than the wind to

find her master. Or: The food tasted like heaven


Slide 14

Quick reminder: what is a metaphor? When the writer says one thing IS

another (but really it is just a comparison)

For example: She was his willing slave.

Or: The girl ran on winged feet to find her master.

Or: The bread was food of the gods.


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Quick reminder: what is personification?

When the writer describes a thing (or an animal) as if it’s a person

For example: The wind whispered sweet nothings in her ears.

Or: The ocean opened its huge mouth and swallowed him forever.

Or: The car’s engine coughed at her reproachfully.


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How to comment on imagery

First work out what is really being compared with what

Identify the image - metaphor, simile or personification

Note any other language effects present (e.g. alliteration, onomatopoeia)

Think about the effect of the whole thing [The word choice may have connotations you

should mention too]


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Here’s an example. A simile.

He ate like a mad-man, tearing off huge crusts with bared teeth.

Comment? This simile compares him to a mad

person. This suggests he is frantic and strange. The ‘bared teeth’ sound aggressive and intimidating.


Slide 18

Here’s an example of a metaphor.

The woman slithered across the floor, her snake-eyes bright with intent.

Comment? Comparing the woman metaphorically

to a snake has a sinister effect. “Snake-eyes” have unpleasant, dangerous connotations.


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And personification?

The lift groaned under the weight. Comment? Using the word ‘groaned’ personifies the

lift and makes the reader feel almost sorry for it.


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Now some for you to try

She was like a huge lorry, bearing down on them at 100 miles per hour.

Comment?


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And another

The tyres on the car screeched misery as the brakes screamed their last

Comment?


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And another

The house eyed them malevolently, its windows glinting.

Comment?


Slide 23

If still unsure

go back to the examples and look again or talk through the examples with a

friend Good luck!

commenting on word-choice and unpacking metaphors

Documents

presentation slide

amusing slide

wordchoice n

n waxy

n metaphor n personification

example n

complicated n

kind of metaphor slide