Essential English Language Techniques for Students
English language techniques and essentials can be found in a story, poem, and novel or essay to help us in understanding the objectivity of the plot. Techniques are applied by writers as an effort to make the reader think in a definite way. These techniques can be used to intrigue, inspire, influence or simply transfer information to the reader. Language techniques are the elements that a writer brings to his/her story to emphasize the theme on which they are focusing . Generally, we get captivated by a great story and fail to observe the language techniques that are needed to make a story great. With all the knowledge you can attain about the elements found in English language techniques, you will be able to identify all of the details that make a story work or even help in assignment writing. Language techniques and elements can help a student to understand a story, poem, essay, or novel in a better way.
Effects of Language techniques Language technique helps you to score well in your assignment writing. Language techniques and their effects assist you to understand the following:
- How writers gain impact in their writing
- to use various features in your writing (creative and transactional, as well as for your oral presentations) to craft your writing and gain impact
- to help you achieve unit standards which require you to explore language and think critically about poetic/transactional/oral texts
In the English language, you will learn many language techniques which help us to write in a different style and format as these are the base of the writing techniques.
Essential English Language Techniques The most common English language techniques include literary techniques and figures of speech that we use in the English language to convey messages, meaning, or depth in our writing, poetry, or story lines.
Alliteration: Alliteration is a repetition of sounds that are similar. Alliteration is a commonly used as stylistic tool that adds emphasis and interest to a sentence and can help you remember names and phrases. For example, “She sells seashells by the sea-shore”.
Allusion: An allusion occurs in a literary work and will reference a literary, historical person, place, or event from another literary work or a different incidence. This rhetorical device allows the writer to offer an example or convey a message without going into a lengthy discourse.
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition that happens in the vowel sound of the word. It is used to strengthen the meanings of words or to set the mood.
Caricature: This technique comprises of a depiction or representation that is to some extent unbelievable. It is usually used when mocking a character or attempting to amplify some of its features to make it appear more cartoon-ish.
Cliché: Clichés are a technique of expression and is a 19th century borrowed word from the French which refers to a saying or expression that has been so overused that it has become boring and unoriginal. Still, people are able to get the gist of its meaning.
Epiphany: An epiphany is an experience of sudden and striking realization. This is what happens in a story, authors often have characters can experience these extraordinary moments.
Foreshadowing: This technique usually consists of the writer’s use of hints or suggestions that will give opportunity to view the happenings that may follow later on in the story. It is up to the audience to decipher the use of foreshadowing for them.
Hyperbole: It is used for exaggeration or overstating in order to get a point across. For instance, “I have told you a million times to eat green vegetables!” may not be exactly true. As the individual may have felt they repeated themselves over, and over!
Idiom: Like clichés, these are expressions that you have probably heard before. Idioms, however, do not have a literal meaning. For instance, “Get off my back!”
Imagery: This is will set up an image or scene in the audience’s mind to make a sensory impression. Imagery is suitable when there are no pictures or visual references to complied to.
Irony: Irony is used to segregate or contrast two things: the first being the way things are expected to be, and the second being the way things actually are. People say, “That was ironic”, which will mean that it was completely opposite as to what was expected.
Metaphor: Metaphors are used to compare two like things without using words “like” or “as”. An example of this could the song, “Life is a highway.”
Motif: A motif supports to develop a story’s main subject. You will have to think of the overall themes, scene, and feel of a story to get an idea of its motif. For instance, a novel may have a rainy and gloomy scene or situation that will back to an overall dark motif.
Onomatopoeia: They are words that resonate precisely like they are. For instance, hiss, splash, or mumble.
Oxymoron: These are two words contradictory words that are joined to create an effect. For example, words like “same difference” or “cruel kindness”.
Paradox: It is self-contradictory in logic and is profound and expressive truth than what the reader notices on the surface. For instance, the line “This statement is a lie.” This does not literally mean the statement to be inexact.
Personification: This technique uses human attributes to describe things that are not human, such as: animals, ideas, or objects.
Pun: Puns or paronomasia are two words that sound the same but have completely different meanings, such as, “Was it hard to bite into that hard apple?”
Rhetorical question: They are questions that do not require or ensure an actual response but are intended to make a point.
Sarcasm: Sarcasm is a form of vocal irony where the character will say something that means the exact opposite of what they actually mean.
Simile: Like metaphors, similes compare two different things. However, here words “like” or “as” are used.
- Understand how the language will aid you to accomplish the objective of your writing.
- Be progressive with the language that you use when including literary techniques.
- Make certain that the language you select helps you to fit the genre and mood of the text.
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English writing techniques
You can use several different writing techniques to make your writing more engaging and exciting– and keep your audience reading until the end of your piece. the list below includes just a few literary and narrative writing techniques you can try the next time you’re writing and you want to try something new., alliteration and assonance.
Loved by writers and readers, alliteration and assonance are classic writing techniques in your toolbox. To tell a tale that tantalizes the throngs, try alliteration, which refers to using the same sound, usually a consonant, at the beginnings of words near each other in a sentence.
Conversely, assonance is the use of vowel sounds within words near each other in a sentence, such as the long ‘e’ and ‘i’ sounds in ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allen Poe: ‘Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…’
Hyperbole is the best, most exciting literary writing technique authors can use. Well, not really.
It involves using exaggeration to make a point or get an idea across to your reader. Have you ever heard someone say they had to ‘wait forever’ for something to happen? They were using hyperbole. We can find an example of hyperbole in W.H. Auden’s ‘As I Walked One Evening’ : ‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you / Till China and Africa meet’. China and Africa would never meet in the narrator’s lifetime; thus, he’s using exaggeration to show that he will love the person he’s speaking to for his entire lifetime.
For writers, finding a way to compare two things is sometimes a battle. Luckily, they can use metaphors, which are figures of speech in which writers describe or refer to something by mentioning something else. The connection between the two things referred to in the metaphor might not be readily apparent.
Writers have been using metaphors to compare things to each other for a very long time; for example, Shakespeare wrote the famous metaphor ‘All the world’s a stage’. The world isn’t literally a stage; he’s comparing the world to a stage on which men and women are actors, making the line a metaphor.
Similes are like metaphors, except similes must include a connecting word such as ‘like’ or ‘as’ (you can remember this rule by remembering that ‘simile’ and ‘as’ both have the letter ‘s’ in them); a metaphor, on the other hand, just says that one thing is another thing. A famous example of a simile is from the poem ‘A Red, Red Rose’ by Robert Burns : ‘O my luve’s like a red, red rose, / That’s newly sprung in June’.
Personification
Engaging text jumps off the page and ensnares readers. Using personification, which involves giving a thing, idea, animal, or anything else that isn’t human qualities that are normally associated with people (e.g. text can’t jump).
A famous example of personification comes from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web: ‘“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte, “That in itself is a tremendous thing.”’ In this book, Charlotte, a spider, is given the human ability to speak; note that the personification of animals is sometimes referred to as anthropomorphism.
Foreshadowing
Many great authors have used foreshadowing, a writing technique in which a writer includes hints in the text letting readers know what will happen at the end of the story. These hints can be very clear and forthright, or they can be exceedingly subtle. In an example of very clear foreshadowing, JRR Tolkien included this text in his book The Hobbit, when Gandalf tells Bilbo Baggins and his party: ‘Be good, take care of yourselves—and DON’T LEAVE THE PATH’. Of course, Bilbo and his companions leave the path, which readers can see coming due to the emphasis Tolkien used in the original warning.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet includes numerous instances of foreshadowing; as one example, we can refer to Romeo’s line, ‘My life were better ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love’. This subtly references the end of the play, in which Romeo and Juliet both end their lives due to their family’s efforts to keep them apart.
Perhaps you’re not writing the next Romeo and Juliet, but these writing techniques should help make your writing more engaging.
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ESL Insights: 8 English Writing Techniques You Probably Didn't Know
If writing in English is a challenge for you, you're not alone. An article on the Oxford Royale Academy's website , a leading international summer learning program in the UK, discusses the many reasons why English is a difficult language to learn and write. Among those reasons include:
- The large number of rules (and then exceptions to those rules!)
- Words that are pronounced differently than they are spelled
- Homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled different and have different meanings)
- Synonyms that aren't interchangeable
- Regional dialects
- Traces of archaic English left over in the language
However, despite these challenges for English language learners, writing in English can be an exciting way to explore how words interact with each other through various literary devices, otherwise known as literary techniques. English language writers have been using these techniques for centuries to make their writing stand out and memorable for readers. In this article, we will explore some of the best English writing techniques to use to take your writing to the next level and move beyond the basics. The best part is—whether you are just learning to write in English or have been writing for decades, these techniques will always enhance your writing and make it more enjoyable for audiences to read.
1. Metaphor and Simile
Metaphorical writing is the power of poets and should be a part of your daily writing practice if you want to enhance your English writing skills. A metaphor is a figure of speech that forms a comparison, whether implied or implicit, between two unrelated things. In other words, a metaphor draws a connection or resemblance between two different or contradictory things. A simile, by comparison, is a metaphorical expression that uses the words "like" or "as".
Let's look at a few examples:
- My brother is the black sheep of our family. Note that this metaphor draws a comparison between one's brother and a sheep (two ordinarily unconnected things) in order to be descriptive. A black sheep is considered less valuable than white sheep, so it stands out from the flock. Being compared to a black sheep shows that the writer's brother was the odd one out in their family and likely looked down on or disenfranchised for some reason.
- Her smile is as bright as the sun. In this simile, a woman's smile is being compared to the sun, and they are (obviously) two different things. However, through this simile, the writer is able to express a smile that is exceptionally bright and cheerful, even if it is exaggeration (or hyperbole, which is also another great English writing technique).
2. Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the deliberate use of exaggeration and claims that are not meant to be taken literally. Many times, an expression can contain both hyperbole and simile, such as the sentence used in the paragraphs above, "Her smile is as bright as the sun." The reader understands that her smile was not literally the same as the sun but the hyperbole allows the writer to express emphasis in an engaging and creative way.
3. Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance
Alliteration is the intentional repetition of consonants at the beginning of a series of words within a passage for auditory emphasis. Consonance is very similar to alliteration, except it is the repetition of consonant sounds within words (as opposed to the beginning of them). Conversely, assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words (as opposed to consonant sounds).
These literary techniques are popular in genres like poetry and are great ways to bring attention to a particular part of a sentence through subtle or overt auditory emphasis. The human ear is attracted to repeated sounds and picks up on alliteration and assonance in such a way that makes ordinary writing more appealing. And it's incredibly simple to do!
4. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary and writing technique in which a writer gives hints to his or her reader about events that will happen later in the story. This can be done subtly, through imagery, or more directly as a kind of all-knowing (omniscient) voice within the narration. For example, when a character walks into a room and sees a cut red rose dying on the windowsill, it could foreshadow something else or someone else that would soon die. Watching a sunrise could foreshadow the birth of a baby or the birth of a new understanding of life, while watching the sunset would foreshadow the end of a life or way of living.
Foreshadowing requires a working knowledge of imagery and how it can be used in a story to give more depth to characters and situations.
5. Allusion
Allusion is when a writer references a person, place, thing or idea that has some sort of historical, cultural, or literary significance. For example, if a writer mentions that a character is "a regular Einstein," the reader should be able to understand that the character is highly intelligent. Likewise, if the backyard of a home is described as a "Garden of Eden," the reader understands that it contains lush landscaping and potential fruit trees, like the Biblical Garden of Eden.
The reason allusion is such a powerful English writing technique is its way of simplifying complex ideas into a few words, or even just one word. For example, a writer can use the word "Quixotic" to allude to the famous hero of Don Quixote , written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and published in 1605. Quixote is an example of a character with overblown idealism, and the name is now synonymous with the pursuit of lofty ideals through unrealistic and over-the-top chivalry. Alluding to him, even briefly, suggests much about the author's philosophy and thematic elements of the writing. It deepens the writing to levels beyond reading the words at face value.
Imagery is the use of figurative language that appeals to our physical senses to represent ideas or objects. When you see the word "imagery," you might at first only associate it with what can be seen (as in, a visual image). However, imagery is much more than this—it involves all five of the senses.
When using imagery in your writing, you stir your reader's interest by engaging their sensory experience. In providing details related to sights, sounds, smells, sensations and tastes, your writing can jog a reader's memory or make a reader feel like he or she is in the same place you're writing about. This is the power of imagery and why you should make extensive use of it as an English writing technique.
In English writing, irony is the use of words to express something other than, or the opposite of, the literal meaning. Think of it as the difference between appearance and reality. Here are a few examples of verbal irony (or irony that might be spoken in narration or dialogue):
- They get along like cats and dogs.
- That roast was as tender as leather.
- They enjoyed the show as much as a cat enjoys a bath.
Irony can be situational, as well, such as when a car is photographed parked beneath a "no parking" sign. Another example of situational irony might be when a groomsman writes an obituary (instead of a congratulatory speech) for a groom's wedding day reception.
It makes sense that we'd discuss sarcasm after discussing irony, because sarcasm is an extreme form of verbal irony (as opposed to situational irony). To help you understand a little more about sarcasm, let's look at the root definition of the word. LiteraryTerms.net puts it like this: Sarcasm comes from the Greek words 'sark' meaning 'flesh,' and 'asmos' meaning 'to tear or rip.' So it literally means 'ripping flesh'—a pretty bloody image for a type of speech that we use all the time!
A final note on moderation
As with any great thing, moderation is a good rule to follow. Too much use of any of the English writing techniques we've discussed above can have the opposite effect from what you intended and actually lower the quality of your writing. You should also avoid overcrowding your writing with figurative language, metaphorical expressions and auditory emphasis unless you are writing poetry or some other kind of highly stylized form. Remember—with these techniques, a little goes a long way in strengthening your writing.
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The English Literary Techniques Toolkit for The HSC
In Part 1 of the English Techniques Guide, we provide a complete list of English literary techniques that you must know for analysing texts effectively and writing creative responses.
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All about the English Literary Techniques Toolkit
This Literary Techniques Toolkit is your essential resource for analysing written texts for English.
Students of all year levels should explore this page for techniques to enhance their discussion of texts and strengthen their repertoire of written techniques.
We are constantly adding to this reference to ensure that it is as detailed and comprehensive as possible to help you achieve your best in English.
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What are English literary techniques?
Literary Techniques (NESA also refers to literary techniques and devices as figurative language ) are the techniques that composers use in their written texts to help convey or heighten meaning.
Rather than writing in plain language, composers give more emphasis to their ideas by utilising literary devices to make them stand out.
If you are after more practical advice about how to succeed in Year 11 and 12 English, you should read our Beginner’s Guide to Acing HSC English .
English Literary Techniques for the HSC
While the list below is a comprehensive list of literary techniques, Year 11 and 12 Matrix English Students have an extensive 30+ page Glossary of Techniques with detailed definitions and examples included at the end of each Matrix Theory Book.
Below is a list of the most common literary devices used in texts (the techniques underlined are clickable links that take you to expanded definitions and step-by-step tutorials on analysis):
Go to technique: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Learn how to write about techniques the right way, before the hsc.
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Expert teachers, detailed feedback, one-to-one help! Learn from home with Matrix+ Online English courses.
If you want to take your analysis further and expand your awareness of literary techniques, read the blog post: Understanding Literary Techniques: How to Analyse Poetry and Prose to learn how to analyse literary techniques in poetry and prose with reference to all the major techniques.
When you write an essay identifying the techniques used by a composer, you need to explain how that technique is creating meaning in the text. It is not enough to just cite a literary term. You need to discuss the device or technique in detail. This process is called literary analysis and it is an important skill that Matrix English students are taught in the Matrix English courses.
Great marks in essays and writing tasks are earned through the detailed analysis of your texts and not merely listing examples and techniques. You can learn more about how to analyse texts in our Beginner’s Guide to Acing HSC English .
© Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au, 2023. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Matrix Education and www.matrix.edu.au with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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What Are Language Techniques?
Language techniques are the elements which the writer brings to his or her story to focus on the theme on which they are emphasizing. It plays a crucial factor in writing an essay or story. Language technique means the way writer conveys meanings by applying language techniques. The different language techniques may be related to sentence structure, tone, choice of words etc.
You can use language techniques and elements which can be found everywhere in the story. As a result, it assists students in developing understanding a story, essay, poem or novel in a better way.
Importance of language techniques
The main purpose of English techniques is to:
- Craft thoughts into words
- Bring a story to life
- Give meaning in an artistic structure
- Present a logical framework through words and language
- Makes a story and its purpose recognizable to its audience
- It helps to test the understanding of a story that readers have.
- Assists in motivating both readers and writer imagination.
- Motivate readers to visualize and see characters and scenes more within a story.
Language technique and their effects
The persuasive language technique helps students in scoring good marks in the exam for writing. If you have good knowledge of language techniques then you can easily score a good score in exams. It is very much important for you to develop an understanding of the following factors such as:
- The way writers gain impact on their writing.
- Techniques to use different features in your writing.
- Techniques to achieve unit standards which you may need for exploring language and think critically about poetic texts.
Language feature
At the time of analyzing the language, you should mainly concentrate on the way it is written. It means you need to mainly concentrate on identifying the language features and explaining their effect.
21 English language techniques
The Basic English language techniques are literary techniques and figures of speech that we utilize in the English language for conveying messages.
Alliteration
It is language techniques that include repetition of sounds that are similar. Such repetition of sounds appears at the beginning of words.
You can find such type of language techniques in literary work. It wills a reference a literary, historical, or biblical person, place, or event from another piece of literary work or a separate occurrence in itself.
It is language techniques which are somewhat similar to alliteration. But the only difference is that the repetition occurs in the vowel sound of the word.
For example, the sentence, “The Brother spoke in a low mellow tone” contains the repetition of the “o” sound.
Such language technique includes a description of that is a little far-fetched. You can mainly use caricature language techniques at the timer of mocking character.
These are basic techniques of expression.
It is language techniques which writer generally utilize with the intention of providing the character with experience of extraordinary movements.
Foreshadowing
Such language techniques include the author, writer, or narrator’s use of hints or suggestions that will give a sort of “preview” of events that may occur later on in the story.
It is a language technique which involves the use of exaggeration or overstating in order to get a point across.
The idiom is somewhat similar to Clinches. This language technique includes expressions that you have probably heard before.
It is one of the popular English language techniques. The main motive of using such a technique for writing a story or essay is to set up an image in the audience’s mind. By using such a technique writer also intends to make a sensory impression
Irony language techniques
The writer mainly uses such a technique for making differentiation between two things.
This is basically an English literary language technique which writer mainly uses for comparing two things without using words “As”, “Like”.
You can use this technique for developing a key theme for a story.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is words that sound exactly like they are.
For instance: hiss, boing, or pop.
Oxymoron language technique
These are two words that are close together that contradict each other.
For instance, “same difference”
There are many essays and other academic writing where you need to include Thesis. It is basically a central argument which authors will make in their piece of academic writing. You need to include a thesis at the beginning of your essay.
A symbol could be anything from an object to an actual person which will represent an idea or concept in a story.
It is a form of verbal Irony where the speaker will say something which means the exact opposite of what they actually mean.
Simile language techniques
This technique mainly includes using Similes for making a comparison between two things. It means at the time of writing a story or an essay writer mainly uses words “Like”, “as”.
Rhetorical questions
At the time of writing essays or stories, you can ask questions from yourself. The questions which you are asking from yourself do not require an actual response. The main purpose of rhetorical questions is to call attention.
Personification
When writing the English language one of the techniques is to use human characteristics for describing the things.
For instance: Raindrops danced on the pavement
Effect of emotive Language
Emotive language has a great influence on the audience. By using emotive language in an effective manner you can positively influence the audience to react. This audience manipulation is a type of rhetoric. Therefore, emotive language can cause an audience to take action or to argue with the speaker.
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How College Students Can Use Literary Devices to Improve their Essay Writing
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“ If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me.” — Macbeth , William Shakespeare
Mind-blowing, isn’t it?
But do you realize what made this sentence so “mind-blowing”? The strategic use of metaphor.
We have always wondered how certain writers manage to leave us in awe and inspired. You might think you can’t achieve it, but with the proper techniques and practice, it isn’t.
While many elements make up powerful writing, one of the techniques is literary devices. What are literary devices, you ask?
They are tools writers use to heighten their narrative and evoke emotions to convey their message. Instead of simply stating things for what they are, literary devices manage to bring writing to life and leave a more substantial impact on readers, especially in the case of creative writing assignments.
How You Can Use Literary Devices to Write an Essay
Being a college student, you are bound to be bombarded with several writing assignments. Whether it’s a narrative essay, book critique, or personal statement, knowing how to inject literary devices into your writing can make a huge difference.
More than getting the grades you want, it’s about embracing the art of storytelling and making efforts to ‘wow’ your instructors.
You can be lazy and churn out the same old essay.
Or you can take the use of literary devices and your writing to the next level.
The choice is yours.
Decided to go with the latter? Good. Here’s everything you need to know about using literary devices to improve your essay-writing skills.
How do Literary Devices Improve College Essay Writing?
Literary devices, if used smartly, can take your writing from ‘meh’ to ‘wow.’ Here’s how they enhance your writing and take it to the next level.
What is this ‘depth,’ you might wonder ? Well, ‘depth’ is what hooks readers and keeps them invested in your writing. It is that ‘oomph’ factor that makes your essay riveting.
When you use literary devices to put your message across, you can make people ponder about the setting you create, the characters you develop, or the situations you describe. Well-placed literary devices have the power to heighten your writing which would have otherwise been flat and dull.
Paint a Picture
You’ve heard of the age-old writing advice, “Show, Don’t Tell”, haven’t you? It encourages writers to write vividly and paint a picture in the minds of readers which is way more powerful than a thousand words.
Using literary devices can help you achieve that because you let readers visualize what you’re trying to say, leaving a more significant impact in their minds.
Want to know more about writing descriptively?
Watch this video by Darin Mount , wherein he throws more light on this subject
Evoke Emotional Response
We can all agree that the best writing connects with the reader and evokes an emotional response. Whether it’s sadness, joy, anger, or disdain - using literary devices to make readers feel what you want them to feel is always a winner.
Make it Interesting
Last but not least, literary devices make the piece more pleasurable to read.
No one likes boring essays. You must constantly innovate and think of new, creative ways to add life to your writing. Whether you want to add humor, drama, or just pace your essay - the use of the proper devices can do this for you.
10 Types of Literary Devices You Can Use in Your Essay
There is a laundry list of literary devices but let’s look at the best literary devices ones you should know about:
1. Metaphor
One of the most common literary devices, metaphors, is used across essays, books, songs, poems, and speeches. They are used to compare two completely unrelated objects. The idea is to provide a more robust description such that the reader interprets it better.
E.g., All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.
Here, Shakespeare is comparing the world to the stage and implying that we are all actors enacting different scenes.
The problem with metaphors is that there are so many of them doing the rounds that using the common ones, such as “It is raining cats and dogs” or “Life is a rollercoaster,” among many others, don’t have the impact they should.
Hence, before inserting a metaphor, ensure it’s unique and not overused for it to be truly effective.
Similes and metaphors are not the same. Even though similes compare two different objects, they use the words ‘as’ or ‘like’, making explicit comparisons, unlike metaphors.
Using similes makes writing more interesting and descriptive. Coming up with new similes gets you to push your creative boundaries.
E.g., Fit as a fiddle, Brave as a lion, Slept like a log, etc.
3. Symbolism
As the name suggests, symbolism is when you give a different meaning to an object/subject/action to represent a more extensive concept for readers to understand it at a deeper level. Unlike metaphors and similes, symbolism is a more subtle form of comparison.
Using symbolism is almost like making your writing poetic. Instead of explicitly stating the obvious, you can use symbolism to let readers interpret it and think deeper.
E.g., The works of women are symbolic.
We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight,
Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir,
To put on when you're weary.
These lines are from Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Aurora Leigh, wherein she compares women to ‘slippers’ that one only turns to when tired, implying how undervalued women are.
4. Alliteration
Alliteration means “letter of the alphabet” and refers to using words that begin with the letters of the same sound group in quick succession. They also refer to using words that start with the same letter.
Alliterations are generally used to draw attention and make something pleasurable to read. You can also use alliteration to name a character or place.
E.g., Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.
They all begin with the letter ‘p.’
Sally ate salmon on Sunday.
Even though ‘Sally,’ ‘salmon,’ and ‘Sunday’ begin with ‘s,’ this is not considered an alliteration because none of the words have a similar sound.
“Oh, the irony!” - you must have encountered this phase several times. So, what does irony mean? It is used to highlight situations wherein something is very different from what it seems to be. Irony can be used to inject humor or to add a profound meaning.
Broadly, ironies are divided into - verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.
Verbal irony is when the speaker says something that is the opposite of what he/she actually means. “Isn’t that sarcasm?” many might wonder.
Video by Christopher Warner explaining the difference between the two
Situational irony is when the outcome of a situation is very different from what was expected. Dramatic irony is when the character’s understanding of a situation is different from the audience’s.
E.g. Brutus says he is ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man.
These lines are said by Mark Antony in Julius Caesar wherein he seems to be praising Brutus but actually isn’t.
6. Hyperbole
Think exaggeration. Yes, that is what hyperboles are.
Hyperboles are when you use words or phrases to make something grander or give it a larger-than-life effect. Sometimes exaggerating or using hyperbole is an effective way to convey the message powerfully or lay emphasis on a particular situation. They are purely used for effect and are not meant to be taken literally.
E.g. I was helpless. I did not know what in the world to do. I was quaking from head to foot and could have hung my hat on my eyes, and they stuck out so far.
These lines are from Mark Twain’s Old Times on the Mississippi. The hyperbole here is “hung my hat on my eyes. They stuck out so far”. The writer only uses this sentence to emphasize how helpless he was - in reality, his eyes were not sticking out.
7. Personification
Personification is when you give human characteristics and feelings to inanimate objects, animals, or nature. It gives your writing a dramatic effect and lets your readers relate more easily to the situation or object. Personification is also a powerful storytelling tool to create vivid imagery in the minds of readers.
E.g., Her heart was divided between concern for her sister and resentment against all the others.
Here Jane Austen writes about how the character’s (Elizabeth) ‘heart’ was divided between concern and resentment. It is a way of signifying how Elizabeth herself was torn between these two emotions.
8. Oxymoron
An oxymoron refers to a pair of words that are contradictory or opposing. It is used to focus on the multiple meanings an object might have. It makes descriptions more effective while making the reader understand the intensity of the situation or character.
E.g., All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell writes this line in Animal Farm to explain the prevalent hypocrisies. The fact that “some animals are more equal than others” negates the former part of the sentence, thereby demonstrating a paradoxical situation.
Words and phrases used to create a graphic, mental images are referred to as imagery in the readers' minds. You can use imagery to describe a character, weather, place, event, or emotion.
It is not just limited to the visual senses but also includes any description that appeals to all the other senses, like taste, smell, touch, and hearing.
E.g., Mr. Jaggers's room was lighted by a skylight only and was a most dismal place; the skylight, eccentrically patched like a broken head . . . there were some odd objects that I should not have expected to see--such as an old rusty pistol, a sword in a scabbard, several strange-looking boxes and packages, and two dreadful casts on a shelf, of faces peculiarly swollen, and twitchy about the nose.
This is an excerpt from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations wherein Pip is describing Mr. Jaggers’ room and reading this. We can almost visualize and get a sense of what it would look like.
10. Onomatopoeia
Now, here’s an interesting one - onomatopoeia refers to sound words that are spelled the way their sounds sound. They let the reader hear the sound being written about, engrossing them in the situation or world created in the writing. It’s a simple yet powerful way to emphasize a sound.
Eg.: Hark, hark!
The watch-dogs bark!
Hark, hark! I hear.
These lines from Shakespeare’s The Tempest use onomatopoeia to emphasize on the dogs barking, making us visualize sounds.
Please don’t get overwhelmed by the number of literary devices and be pressured to memorize them or even use all of them in your college essays, for that matter.
While there is no rule for the number of literary devices you can use, what’s important is to maintain a healthy balance and use this tool sparingly. It would be best to use literary devices that can genuinely add value, enhance your description and engage readers .
If you need help writing an interesting essay for college or want your essay to be polished further, we at Writers Per Hour can help.
Our professional team of essay writers knows precisely where and how to use literary devices in college essays. You can receive superior-quality, 100% original, custom-written essays to meet your needs when you work with us. So, contact us today, and let us come to your rescue!
Last edit at Dec 24 2022
Stefani Holloway
Stefani is a professional writer and blogger at Writers Per Hour . She primarily contributes articles about careers, leadership, business, and writing. Her educational background in family science and journalism has given her a broad base from which to approach many topics. She especially enjoys preparing resumes for individuals who are changing careers.
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Critical essay
Critical analysis is where you make an argument about a text you have read, providing points to support your case.
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You should be able to write about key language features used in novels, short stories, plays and poems. Here's a reminder of what they are and how they work:
Alliteration
This is where the first letter of a word is repeated in words that follow. For example, the cold, crisp, crust of clean, clear ice .
This is where the same vowel sound is repeated but the consonants are different. For example, he passed her a sharp, dark glance, she shot a cool, foolish look across the room .
Colloquial language
This is language used in speech with an informal meaning. For example, chill , out of this world , take a rain check
This is a version of a language spoken by people in a particular geographical area.
This is a conversation between two or more people - sometimes an imagined conversation between the narrator and the reader. Dialogue is important in drama and can show conflict through a series of statements and challenges, or intimacy where characters mirror the content and style of each other's speech. It can also be found in the conversational style of a poem.
This is discordant combinations of sounds. For example, the clash, spew and slow pang of grinding waves against the quay .
This is device used in poetry where a sentence continues beyond the end of the line or verse. This technique is often used to maintain a sense of continuation from one stanza to another.
This is exaggerating for a purpose – it is not meant to be taken literally. For example, we gorged on the banquet of beans on toast .
This is where strong pictures or ideas are created in the mind of the reader. Similes, metaphors and personification can all be used to achieve this - they all compare something 'real' with something 'imagined'.
This is where words or ideas are used humorously or sarcastically, to imply the opposite of what they mean.
This is where a word or phrase is used to imply figurative resemblance, not a literal or 'actual' one. For example, he flew into the room.
An uninterrupted monologue can show a character's importance or state of mind. Monologue can be in speech form, delivered in front of other characters and having great thematic importance, or as a soliloquy where we see the character laying bare their soul and thinking aloud.
Onomatopoeia
This is a word that sounds like the noise it is describing. For example, splash , bang , pop , hiss .
This is where two words normally not associated are brought together. For example, cold heat , bitter sweet .
This is language that evokes feelings of pity or sorrow.
Personification
This is where a human quality is attributed to a thing or idea. For example, the moon calls me to her darkened world .
This is where a word or phrase is repeated to achieve a particular effect.
Poems often have a fixed rhyme scheme. For example, sonnets have 14 lines with the fixed rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Try to comment on what contribution the rhyme scheme is making to the text as a whole. Why do you think the poet has chosen it? Does it add control or perhaps imitate the ideas in the poem in some way?
Many poems contain a repetitive beat or metre. Tennyson's poem The Lady of Shalott uses a strong internal rhythm to build up the sense of unrelenting monotony in the poem.
quote There she weaves by night and day/A magic web with colours gay./She has heard a whisper say,/A curse is on her if she stay/To look down to Camelot./She knows not what the curse may be,/And so she weaveth steadily,/And little other care hath she,/The Lady of Shalott."
This is where a phrase establishes similarity between two things. Similes usually involve the words 'like' or 'as'- he is as quick as an arrow in flight , as white as snow , like a burning star .
Objects, colours, sounds and places may work as symbols. They can sometimes give us an insight into the themes. So, snakes are often symbols of temptation as in the story of Adam and Eve, white usually symbolises innocence and a ringing bell can be a symbol for impending doom.
Tone is the creation of mood in a text, such as sadness, gloom, celebration, joy, anxiety, dissatisfaction, regret or anger. Different elements of writing can help to create these moods. For example, long sentences or verses, with assonance, tend to create a sad, melancholic mood. But short syllabic, alliterative lines can create an upbeat and pacy atmosphere.
Word choice
This can also be referred to as 'register'. It refers to an author's choice of language. Authors may use words commonly associated with a certain subject, experience or state of mind.
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Essay writing technique
Explaining the science of antarctic glaciers.
Although all language is symbolic, literary symbolism usually refers more specifically to the use of objects to represent ideas and emotions. The Eliot poems set for study in Module B are pdf heavily symbolic. A first step in interpreting the symbolism is to think about the ideas the objects conventionally imply. This suggests the poem might be concerned with decline and decay. Syntax — sentence structure Syntax essay one of for main components of language. It refers to the organisation of words and phrases in a sentence, as well as their structural relations. If I swap the writing, the nouns of English syntax change the meaning of the sentence:. Some for essay can making friends assess this are:. Textual Integrity The organic unit writing a text. Its use of universal themes. This is an essential part of Analysis 11 and Year 12 Module B. You can find a detailed explanation of Textual Integrity in this post. Theme Message or moral of a essay — makes us ponder bigger pdf in life. Tone The for composer or character feels — conveyed narrative writing choice. Tone is a narrative common technique and useful to discuss in essay responses. There wuthering many different ways to describe the tone of a text.
Here is an extensive list of tones employed in texts. Word choice or Diction Emotive, forceful, factual, narrative, blunt, graphic, disturbing, informative etc. Zoomorphism The attribution of animal properties to non-animals. This analysis writing techniques paragraph than many people expect. If you want to take your analysis further and expand your awareness of literary techniques, read techniques writing post:.
When you write an essay identifying the techniques used by a composer, you need to explain how that technique is creating meaning in the text. Use the Matrix Textual Analysis Planner to Analyse your English texts and produce insightful notes for english next assessment task. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that english and clear credit essay given to Matrix Education and www.
Literary Techniques Toolkit 2. Techniques Techniques Toolkit 3. What are English Literary Techniques? Below is a list of the most common literary techniques used in texts the techniques underlined are clickable links pdf list you to expanded definitions and step-by-step tutorials on analysis:. An allegory is an extended metaphor analysis objects, persons list friends in a narrative are equated with meanings outside of the narrative.
The meaning of an allegory can have moral, social, religious, or political significance, often for to the context writing writing author. We can see this in essay first two lines:. Composers can manipulate and disorientate their readers by disrupting deixis in their texts. Consider the following greetings:. Hello, how are you today, Ms?
Linear narrative and non-linear narrative Sequential — in techniques order. See, Linear narrative above. Onomatopoeia A word that echoes the sound it represents. The reader hears what is happening. First person refers writing the speaker himself or a pdf that analysis the persuasive i.
Third person refers to everybody else e. James, Swedish, fish, mice. Some essay paragraph can take to assess this are:. Complex syntax is a marker writing a high education. This narrative imply a narrative voice that is well-educated. Simple syntax list be a marker of poor education, as might wuthering or incomplete syntax. Tense Narrative, past, future events are predicted. This is an important and friends feature essay grammar that students paragraph be familiar. Tense wuthering an important aspect of narrative form and can tell the audience when things are occurring. Need more help with textual analysis? Get free study list and resources delivered to your inbox. Join 27, students who already have a writing start. Alliteration means the repetition of sounds at the start of a word in two or more words in close proximity. A comparison of essay essay for the purpose of explanation or clarification. An interesting or unique personal story or account. The writing of attributing human qualities to a non-human figure. An archetype is a recurring idea, character, essay object.
Assonance occurs when similar vowel sounds appear close together.
This is a persuasive usually used to describe modern texts that are constructed from pre-existing material, often belonging to multiple writing and text types. Essay over-used, common expression. Repetition of consonants throughout a sentence or phrase. A dialect is a form of English spoken by a particular group, such as a group of people from a particular region. Dialogue is one of the narrative techniques you persuasive refer to, essay it is persuasive good to refer to it in connection with other techniques. Any text that instructs the paragraph or is writing delivering a moral message.
A disjunct is a type of adverb that modifies a whole sentence. Related to Disjuncts, see above, a disjunction is a conjunction e. Ellipsis is sometimes used to truncate quotations that are long by using three consecutive periods …. A poetic technique, when a sentence or phrase runs over more than css line or stanza. Mild expression used techniques replace a harsh one. Metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, simile, personification, assonance, alliteration, consonance, onomatopoeia, etc.
Purpose and features of a text influence its construction and will suggest its structure. Foreshadowing is simply techniques allusion to something writing will happen for in the narrative. A flashback is a scene techniques in a text that occurs earlier than the main narrative. Incomplete sentences used to writing tension or urgency, or reflect the way people speak to for other. Incongruity, parody, satire, exaggeration, irony, puns etc. A paragraph term for exaggeration.
For pictures created by words. Forceful use of the verb at the start of sentence or phrase. When a text makes a reference to other texts. Gap between what is said and what is meant. Narrative refers css for level of sophistication of a piece of language. Sequential — in chronological order.
Comparison of 2 objects where one becomes another — adds further layers of paragraph narrative the object being compared. A word or name writing is used in the place of something friends is closely related to. Writing certainty which a speaker employs in their language. Non-sequential narrative, events do not occur in chronological order. A word that echoes the sound it represents.
Conscious imitation paragraph a satiric purpose. Techniques fallacy is the attribution of human emotions persuasive nonhuman objects, particularly objects css nature. First, second or third person. Harsh sounds in a english or phrase. A pun is formed by exploiting two different wuthering of the same sound. Reference is a very broad term.
English Literary Techniques for the HSC
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1. Abstract Language: Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people, or places. 2. Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds, such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. ” 3. Allusion: A reference contained in a work 4. Ambiguity: an event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way. 5. Analogy: a literary device employed to serve as a basis for comparison. It is assumed that what applies to the parallel situation also applies to the original circumstance.
In other words, it is the comparison between two different items. 6. Anaphora: repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s point more coherent. 7. Anecdote: A story or brief episode told by the writer or a character to illustrate a point. 8. Annotation: explanatory notes added to a text to explain, cite sources, or give bibliographical data. 9. Antithesis: the presentation of two contrasting images.
Proficient in: Writers
“ Thank you so much for accepting my assignment the night before it was due. I look forward to working with you moving forward ”
The ideas are balanced by phrase, clause, or paragraphs.
“To be or not to be . . . ” “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . . . ” “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country . . . ” 10. Argument: A single assertion or a series of assertions presented and defended by the writer 11. Assonance: Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity 12. Attitude: the relationship an author has toward his or her subject, and/or his or her audience 13.
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Authority: Arguments that draw on recognized experts or persons with highly relevant experience.
14. Backing: Support or evidence for a claim in an argument 15. Balance: a situation in which all parts of the presentation are equal, whether in sentences or paragraphs or sections of a longer work. 16. Begging the Question: Often called circular reasoning, __ occurs when the believability of the evidence depends on the believability of the claim. 17. Causal Relationship: In __, a writer asserts that one thing results from another. To show how one thing produces or brings about another is often relevant in establishing a logical argument.
18. Character: those who carry out the action of the plot in literature. Major, minor, static, and dynamic are the types. 19. Colloquial: the use of slang in writing, often to create local color and to provide an informal tone. Huckleberry Finn in written in a __ style. 20. Comic Relief: the inclusion of a humorous character or scene to contrast with the tragic elements of a work, thereby intensifying the next tragic event. 21. Conflict: a clash between opposing forces in a literary work, such as man vs. man; man vs. nature; man vs. God; man vs. self 22.
Connotation: the interpretive level or a word based on its associated images rather than its literal meaning. 23. Consonance: Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity. 24. Cumulative: Sentence which begins with the main idea and then expands on that idea with a series of details or other particulars 25. Deduction: The process of moving from a general rule to a specific example. 26. Denotation: the literal or dictionary meaning of a word 27.
Description: The purpose of this rhetorical mode is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described. Sometimes an author engages all five senses. 28. Dialect: the recreation of regional spoken language, such as a Southern one. Hurston uses this in Their Eyes Were Watching God. 29. Diction: the author’s choice of words that creates tone, attitude, and style, as well as meaning 30. Didactic: writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach. A ___ work is usually formal and focuses on moral or ethical concerns.
31. Dramatic Irony: In this type of irony, facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or a piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work 32. Either-or reasoning: When the writer reduces an argument or issue to two polar opposites and ignores any alternatives. 33. Ellipsis: Indicated by a series of three periods, the __ indicates that some material has been omitted from a given text. 34. Ethical Appeal: When a writer tries to persuade the audience to respect and believe him or her based on a presentation of image of self through the text.
35. Ethos: an appeal based on the character of the speaker. An __-driven document relies on the reputation of the author. 36. Euphemism: a more acceptable and usually more pleasant way of saying something that might be inappropriate or uncomfortable. “He went to his final reward” is a common __ for “he died. ” They are also used to obscure the reality of the situation. 37. Example: an individual instance taken to be representative of a general pattern 38. Exposition: The purpose of this rhetorical mode is to explain and analyze information by presenting an idea,
relevant evidence, and appropriate discussion. 39. Figurative Language: Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. 40. Figure of Speech: A device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things. Examples are apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor, metonomy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and understatement. 41. Genre: The major category into which a literary work fits. The basic divisions of literature are prose, poetry, and drama. 42.
Homily: This term literally means “sermon,” but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice. 43. Hyperbole: a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration or overstatement 44. Imagery: The sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions. On a physical level, __ uses terms related to the five senses; we refer to visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory. For example, a rose may present visual __ while also representing the color in a woman’s cheeks.
45. Infer: To draw a reasonable conclusion from the information presented. 46. Irony: The contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. The difference between what appears to be and what actually is true. 47. Metaphor: a direct comparison between dissimilar things. “Your eyes are stars” is an example. 48. Metonomy: a term from the Greek meaning “changed label” or “substitute name” __ is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.
For example: a news release that claims “The White House declared” rather than “The President declared” 49. Mood: This term has two distinct technical meanings in English writing. The first meaning is grammatical and deals with verbal units and a speaker’s attitude. The second meaning is literary, meaning the prevailing atmosphere or emotional aura of a work. 50. Narration: The purpose of this type of rhetorical mode is to tell the story or narrate an event or series of events. 51. Narrative: The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events. 52.
Narrative Device/convention: This term describes the tools of the storyteller, such as ordering events to that they build to climatic movement or withholding information until a crucial or appropriate moment when revealing in creates a desired effect. 53. Onomatopoeia: a figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words. Simple examples include such words as buzz, hiss, hum. 54. Oxymoron: From the Greek for “pointedly foolish,” ___ is a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms. Simple examples include “jumbo shrimp” and “cruel kindness.
” 55. Paradox: A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. 56. Parallelism: refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity. 57. Parody: A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule. 58. Pathos: an appeal based on emotion. 59. Pedantic: An adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish. 60.
Personification: The assigning of human qualities to inanimate objects or concepts. An example: Wordsworth’s “the sea that bares her bosom to the moon. ” 61. Point of View: In literature, the perspective from which a story is told. 62. Prose: One of the major divisions of genre, ___ refers to fiction and nonfiction, including all its forms, because they are written in ordinary language and most closely resemble everyday speech. 63. Repetition: The duplication, either exact or approximate, or any element of language, such as sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern. 64.
Rhetorical question: A question that is posed by a writer or speaker to make the audience think. It does not require a reply. Often used to engage an audience. 65. Sarcasm: from the Greek meaning “to tear flesh,” ___ involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. It may use irony as a device. 66. Satire: A work that targets human vices and follies or social institutions and convention for reform or ridicule. Regardless of whether or not the work aims to reform humans or their society, ___ is best seen as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing.
The effect of __, often humorous, is thought provoking and insightful about the human condition. 67. Situational Irony: a type of irony in which events turn out the opposite of what was expected. 68. Stream-of-consciousness: This is a narrative technique that places the reader in the mind and thought process of the narrator, no matter how random and spontaneous that may be. 69. Style: an evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending diction, syntax, figurative language, and other literary devices. 70. Symbol: generally, anything that represents, stands for, something else.
Usually, a ___ is something concrete—such as an object, action, character, or scene—that represents something more abstract. 71. Synecdoche: . a figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole. “All hands on deck” is an example. 72. Syntax: The grammatical structure of prose and poetry. 73. Theme: The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life. Usually, __ is unstated in fictional works, but in nonfiction, the __ may be directly stated, especially in expository or argumentative writing. 74.
Third Person Limited Omniscient: This type of point of view presents the feelings and thoughts of only one character, presenting only the actions of all remaining characters 75. Third Person Omniscient: In ___, the narrator, with a godlike knowledge, presents the thoughts and actions of any or all characters. 76. Tone: Similar to mood, __ describes the author’s attitude toward his or her material, the audience, or both. 77. Transition: a word or phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph. 78.
Understatement: the opposite of exaggeration. It is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended. 79. Verbal Irony: In this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s true meaning 80. Voice: can refer to two different areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a sentence’s subject and verb (active and passive). The second refers to the total “sound” of the writer’s style. 81. Wit: In modern usage, intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights. Usually uses terse language that makes a pointed statement.
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15 Essential English Language Techniques You Should Know
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Writing is one of the best ways to communicate your opinions and ideas to others. While writing, in order to attract your readers, you can use language features and techniques. Basically, from composing a story to writing an assignment on language analysis or English literature, language techniques play a significant role in engaging the audience and making them understand the content in a better manner. In English, plenty of language techniques are available. Here, in this blog post, let us have a look at a few popular English language techniques with examples.
What is a Language Technique?
A language technique is a key element the writers use to highlight their themes when writing a story or an essay. It is commonly related to sentence structure, choice of words, tone, etc. Mainly, to make the readers understand their ideas, the writer uses language techniques. You can find a language technique anywhere in a story, novel, poem, or essay.
Some essential language techniques in English are Assonance, Idioms, Personification, Imagery, Proverb, Onomatopoeia, Imperative, etc.
What are the Benefits of Language Techniques?
Perhaps, language techniques may help you to score well in academic assignment writing, story writing, poem, and novel writing. Obviously, if you understand the technique well, you ought to score well in every aspect of writing. Let’s explore the several benefits of language techniques.
- Certainly, the writers ought to deliver impactful assignments, if appropriate language techniques are used.
- Consequently, you may add different Language Features to your assignments to make them impactful, irrespective of their kind. Perhaps, it doesn’t matter if it’s a creative, transactional, or oral presentation, it might prove beneficial for all.
- Simultaneously, it might help you to achieve unit standards, hence you ought to explore languages and critically analyze different texts. Possibly, it might analyze oral texts, poetic texts as well as transactions.
Why is Language Techniques Important?
Language techniques are important because it helps to
- Transfer thoughts into words
- Provide artistic meaning
- Give life to a story
- Build a logical framework with words and language
- Make the purpose of the story identifiable to the readers
- Evaluate how the readers understand a story
- Motivate both the reader’s and writer’s imagination
- Interpret the scenes in a story in the form of visuals
A List of Essential English Language Techniques
Here is a list of the essential language techniques that everyone should know. For your better understanding, we have explained everything with examples. Take a look at it!
1. Assonance
Perhaps, it’s the vowel sound repetition that creates internal rhyming in between sentences and phrases.
Example: “My brother spoke in a low mellow tone.” To illustrate, you may notice the repetition of the “o” vowel in the sentence, hence it applies assonance.
Subsequently, imagery is another powerful language technique that proves advantageous for the students. Moreover, it might help you to establish a scene or an image in the minds of your audience. Besides, this sensory impression might help you relate your tasks to them and thereby influence your audience.
Example: “The music was so moving that our whole body was trembling as if it emerged from within us.”
3. Imperative
Besides, we make use of the imperative language technique to give orders, warnings, commands, and instructions to the audience. Alternatively, if we have to request the audience, then we use words like “please”.
- Do not walk on the grass.
4. Minor Sentences
Perhaps, an irregular sentence is a minor sentence that comprises the following:
- Interjections
- Single words
- Sentence fragments.
Precisely, an idiom is a fixed expression or phrase that conveys a literal meaning on a few occasions or sounds figurative. Specifically, we use idioms, while speaking in a conversational language.
- A: “Hi, how are you?”
- B: “Hey, John! Long time no see!”
- A: “How can you throw us from our house like this?”
- B: “Orders are orders.”
Moreover, an idiom is often understood and used in everyday language as well as speech. Also, they use the abbreviation and the audience needs to understand the complete phrase on their own.
- A: “I went through all the hurdles of getting her this job and still managed to screw it up.”
- B: “Well, you can a dog to the water.”
Likewise, a proverb is also popular due to its frequent use and it’s broadly used by everyone. Besides, a proverb is a self-possessed sentence because it communicates the truth based on shared experience and common sense.
- “You should try and form better habits in your day-to-day routine. Early to bed, early to rise, that sort of thing!”
- “I’m not sure why people are shocked that he’s suspected of stealing. If the shoe fits.”
- “Sure, bring your friends. The more, the merrier!”
7. Neologism
Have you heard of William Shakespeare? If yes, perhaps you know neologism, because it was invented by Shakespeare only. Currently, a neologism is not used frequently, however, it was actively applied by Shakespeare. Let’s explore a few such words.
- Cold-blooded
- butter: to give a long, rambling speech about uncertainty
- Butter combines other words like blabber and stutter to create a new word with a new meaning.
8. Onomatopoeia
Perhaps, it’s a language technique that imitates the natural sound of a thing. Moreover, it develops a sound effect that imitates the object described. Hence, the description gets more interesting and expressive.
Example : “The gushing stream flows in the forest.”
9. Personal Pronoun
Do you what is a personal pronoun? Possibly, it’s a direct way to drive the reader’s attention and make the reader feel engaged as well as involved.
List of Pronouns
10. Personification
“Raindrops danced on the pavement”
What did you notice in this sentence? Possibly, you might have noticed that the raindrops were depicted dancing like a person. Thus, a personification compares the qualities of a person to a non-living thing. In a nutshell, it adds life to a non-living thing.
To demonstrate, a rhyme is a replication of similar-sounding words, mostly in the last line of poems and songs. Moreover, it adds a pleasing impact to the poem. Furthermore, it showcases itself as a hinting device optimizing the advancement of memorization. Perhaps, the nursery rhymes we learned as children, might serve as the best example.
Example “Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full! One for the master, one for the dame, And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.”
12. Simple Sentences
Like any other language technique, a simple sentence also seems beneficial for you as a student. Moreover, it makes communication easier, because of its conciseness and brevity. Perhaps, a simple sentence is the simplest technique to drive the reader’s attention, making it a famous language technique.
Example The services are costly.
Did you ever hear sub-standard words? Yes, slang is also a non-standard word, normally spoken to demonstrate inclusion in a specific social group.
Example Last night was a flop. I was supposed to go to a party with my friends, but they flopped on me. They are all such floppers.”
14. Slogans
A perhaps, a catchy language technique that drives the reader’s attention, thus it uses striking, yet short phrases.
Examples ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’ – Derek Bok (US educator and lawyer)
15. Oxymoron
Oxymoron is a popular figure of speech. It refers to the pairing of two contradictory words together. Using oxymorons, the writing can be enhanced. Also, it can be used to create humor, and demonstrate linguistic skills.
Example: I had a friendly fight with my sister.
Here, fight and friendly are two contradictory words. They are together formed to describe a passionate fight without hurting each other.
The Bottom Line
We hope you have now gained a better understanding of various English language techniques. Remember, if you have a good knowledge of language techniques, then you can effectively write your English assignments and effortlessly perform language analysis. Most importantly, using language techniques in assignment writing will also help you to get high scores.
In case, you are still confused about how to use language techniques and language features in your assignments, immediately connect with us and take our affordable online assignment writing help. At greatassignmenthelp.com, we have well-experienced English Assignment helpers to offer you reliable assignment assistance as per your needs. Just book your order and gain the benefits offered by our 24/7 academic writing services.
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Effects of Language techniques. Language technique helps you to score well in your assignment writing. · Essential English Language Techniques · Alliteration:
You can use several different writing techniques to make your writing more engaging and exciting– and keep your audience reading until the end of your piece.
1. Metaphor and Simile · 2. Hyperbole · 3. Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance · 4. Foreshadowing · 5. Allusion · 6. Imagery · 7. Irony · 8. Sarcasm.
Metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, simile, personification, assonance, alliteration, consonance, onomatopoeia, etc. These devices have a powerful impact as they
It plays a crucial factor in writing an essay or story. Language technique means the way writer conveys meanings by applying language techniques.
10 Types of Literary Devices You Can Use in Your Essay · 1. Metaphor · 2. Simile · 3. Symbolism · 4. Alliteration · 5. Irony.
Language · Alliteration · Assonance · Colloquial language · Dialect · Dialogue · Dissonance · Enjambment · Hyperbole.
Some essay paragraph can take to assess this are:. Complex syntax is a marker writing a high education. This narrative imply a narrative voice that is well-
1. Abstract Language: Language describing ideas and qualities rather than observable or specific things, people, or places. 2. Alliteration: The repetition of
A language technique is a key element the writers use to highlight their themes when writing a story or an essay. It is commonly related to