1. Close Reading Revision

2. Word Choice and Imagery
Learning Intentions
To understand literary techniques.
To identify strategies to answer close reading questions.
Starter
Write down as many different words as you can for ‘said’.
Commanded, exclaimed, shouted, demanded…

3. Hell into Heaven…
“I don’t believe this,” she screeched as she stormed into the room, clearly furious.
The ruined cottage could only be reached through a dark wood everyone thought was haunted.
The exam was a disaster. The questions were horrible and it felt like it would never end.
Extension: Write your own short, hellish description for someone to make heavenly. Swap jotters.

4. Example: “What are you doing?” he exploded.
Word Choice in the Exam
Key Question: Why does the writer choose a specific word?
Strategy
Identify and quote key word.
State what the word literally means.
Explain the idea / effect the writer achieves through this.
Example: “What are you doing?” he exploded.

5. How does the writer use word choice to create a particular effect? (2)
“Bolt rocketed round the track in his latest sprint relay.”
Strategy – The `just as, so too` technique.
Identify and quote key word. “Rocketed”
State what the word literally means.
Just as `rocketed` describes an object moving at incredible speeds,
Explain the idea / effect the writer achieves through this.
so too does it give the reader a sense of Bolt’s speed as he runs, suggesting it’s almost super- human.

6. How does the writer use word choice to create a particular effect?
The teacher stared around the room, hawk- eyed.
Calderwood was on the touchline throughout, roaring at the Hibs players.
Accusations flew about the room wildly.
Gary Barlow’s eyes sparkled with delight as he announced the latest tour had sold out in a matter of hours.
5. With leaden feet, the Cholera victims trudged the last mile to their nearest hospital.
Extension: Find four interesting words in the dictionary. Write your own sentences. If possible, link to news stories you’ve heard / read recently
Strategy
Identify and quote key word.
State what the word literally means.
Explain the idea / effect the writer achieves through this.

7. Imagery IMAGERY Imagery is literally pictures created with words.
Many techniques come under the umbrella of imagery, but there are three main ones.
IMAGERY
SIMILE
METAPHOR
PERSONIFICATION

8. Similes Similes are comparisons using like or as.
You are expected to comment on both the literal meaning and the effect.
The cat was prowling round the garden like the lord of the manor.
Lord of the manor
Literal meaning =
Effect =

9. Metaphors
Metaphors are also a comparison but they are less obvious than similes.
Metaphors describe something or someone as if it actually is something else.
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. (Shakespeare)
Sun
Literal meaning =
Effect =

10. Personification
Personification is a type of metaphor where an inanimate object is described as if it has human qualities.
You must comment on the effect of the personification.
The straw breathed as the lion slept beneath.
Breathed
Literal meaning =
Effect =

11. What is the effect of the writer’s use of imagery?
“The cottage he lived in was nested high on the Randerston cliffs, from where he could watch how the mouth of the tide spoke to the shore.”
Strategy
Identify the image
Explain the literal meaning
Link this to the writer’s ideas

12. What is the effect of the writer’s use of imagery?
I slept like a log.
In the storm, the ship rolled about like a bobbing cork.
The lightning ripped the sky in two.
The fields were covered in a blanket of snow.
The flames danced in the night sky.
Extension: Create your own images to describe a classroom.
Strategy
Identify the image
Explain the literal meaning
Link this to the writer’s ideas

13. Plenary Explain in your own words:
The key steps to answer a word choice question.
The key steps to answer an imagery question.
Remember: The more you read (newspapers, novels, poems, magazines, blogs…) the more words you’ll know and the easier close reading will be 