GCSE Secondary English

Packing a punch: how a writers use of

language can create effects!
3 years ago
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Picture yourself (if you dare!) in the following scenario

It is late at night and you are sitting up in bed, alone, riveted by a good book. So absorbed have
you become that you that are blissfully unaware of the isolation which completely surrounds you
and which clings to you like a second skin. Outside, in the mid-winter chill, a heavy darkness
devours whatever it can whilst nocturnal creatures hoot, bay or otherwise make their plaintive
cry to the moon.
Suddenly, something bizarre begins to happen. The words that you are reading become blurry
and the page itself seems to break apart as if opening up into a portal. Before your stunned eyes,
an arm reaches out of this whirling pulp fiction vortex and a hand slaps you right across the face!
It is the writers!

Sound like a story from Stephen King? Well, regardless of who may have written it, you are
unlikely ever to forget the way in which you were affected by the author of this particular text!
But can a writer affect a reader just by words alone?

The examination boards certainly seem to think so and appear to be obsessed with challenging
our young people to consider how this might be achieved. Unfortunately, too many candidates
only have a very superficial understanding of the way in which an authors use of words and
phrases can influence a reader. Consequently, they often trot out such vague generalisations as:
it puts an image in the readers head, it makes the reader feel emotional or, even worse, it
gives the reader an impression of what is going on.
So what is this nebulous image that the student has disdained to divulge? Which elusive emotion
is it that the reader is supposedly experiencing? And, indeed, yes, just what on earth is going on!?
Such bland and unfocused explanations as these could refer to any one of millions of evocative
words or phrases whereas a well-targeted response will be specific to just one particular word or
phrase and will outline one or more very precise ways in which this particular instance of the
writers use of language may affect a reader.
It might help students to answer such a question more directly, and astutely, if they firstly
consider the various possible ways in which a writers use of language can affect a reader:
Intellectually by conveying ideas / impressions / suggestions to the reader
Imaginatively by conveying sensory impressions to the reader, especially visual and auditory
effects
Emotionally by creating feelings within the reader, e.g. excitement, fear, pity, anger, suspense
(Of course, the feelings experienced by the reader will often be very different to those being
portrayed within the character, e.g. a characters trauma may well lead to a readers excitement
and suspense, i.e. an adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride for the reader at the characters expense.)
Aesthetically by appealing to the readers sense of what is beautiful
Physically much more difficult to achieve, but a terrifying roller-coaster of a read jam-packed
with horror and gore might create such physical manifestations as goose bumps or, in extreme
cases, even nausea, and particular words or phrases may help to generate the moments of high
intensity which make this possible.
Transformationally in the sense of life changing? It can happen! Examples include: Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you (the Bible), All men are created equal (the United
States Declaration of Independence, 1776), I have a dream, (Martin Luther King, 1963) and,
for the more mathematically minded, E=MC2! (Albert Einstein, 1905)
So how should a student approach such a question?
Use PEE
Remember that when asked to analyse a writers use of language to create effects, all of your
points should refer to effects that have been created for the reader
Keep quotations (evidence) as short as possible
Be very specific and focused when explaining the possible effects of the word or phrase you
have just quoted
Find as many valid effects as you can in your explanation
Consider such aspects of a writers use of language as imagery, punctuation, sentence structure,

dynamic verbs, vibrant adjectives, sound qualities such as onomatopoeia or alliteration, and the
use of multi-sensory language for vivid effect, etc.
A good writer will draw you into the story through a variety of techniques, especially plot,
characterisation, dialogue and description. The quality of the writing itself will almost certainly
be so adept that the words will become invisible and the page will magically transform into a
window. You will quickly forget all the bugbears of your own life and, as the fetters of real
place and time imperceptibly slip away, you will readily lose yourself in the world of the story.
But the illusory realm of the novel is, of course, built on a foundation of words and phrases even
though you may have become so engrossed in the plot that you cease to notice them. Admittedly,
they may not literally leap out of the page and slap you right across the face but if they can make
you lose all sense of reality, then they are certainly having a considerable effect!
* The exemplar A* answer which follows is in response to an examination-style question which
requires the candidate to analyse a writers use of words and phrases in order to create effects.
The text being used is the dramatic (and somewhat surrealistic!) scenario which opens this blog:
The author begins by making a direct address to the reader (you), thus instantly involving the
reader in what is about to be written. The phrase if you dare would certainly create suspense
by suggesting that this could well be an exciting and thrilling read. The ellipsis after this
challenge has the effect of further drawing the reader in. The author has also written the
passage in the present tense, thus bringing the reader even closer to the event by creating the
illusion of immediacy.
At the beginning of the next paragraph, the phrase late at night definitely helps to set the
scene and establish an eerie atmosphere because it intimates danger, as does the heavily
punctuated reference to being alone. The frequent mention of the main characters
preoccupation with his / her book also adds tautness to the writing as the reader has already
been strongly encouraged to believe that this character should really be much more vigilant.
The author achieves the effect of the characters abstraction through use of the semantic field
riveted, absorbed and unaware. Of course, the fact that the reader is encouraged to
imagine that he / she is this unnamed character only serves to intensify the readers empathy
and, consequently, sense of unease. The author then further ratchets up the tension, and thus the
readers emotional engagement with the writing, by use of the simile the isolation which
completely surrounds you and which clings to you like a second skin. It encourages the reader
to imagine how vulnerable the main character is by the fact the he / she is all alone and far
removed from any possible source of help. Furthermore, the reference to a second skin may
well conjure up in the readers imagination a fleeting impression of nakedness, thus further
increasing the sense of this characters vulnerability.
Having suggested that the character is in danger, the author then resorts to classic gothic
elements in order to further enhance the readers perception of foreboding: mid-winter chill,
darkness and the notion of night creatures being excited at the sight of the moon. The writing
has been very visual so far but, at this point, the author begins to appeal to the readers

imagined sense of sound. References to the hoot of an owl and the bay of a wolf or stray
dog encourage the reader to put a mental soundtrack to the images that are already being
streamed within the mind.
The author uses actual, rather than imagined, sound qualities in the alliterated phrases second
skin and darkness devours. This gives a poetic flow to the writing, thus appealing to the
readers aesthetic sensibility. The metaphor darkness devours is further satisfying in both an
imaginative and intellectual sense because it suggests that the night itself is also a nocturnal
predator. Because the darkness is depicted as being so pervasive, it implies that there is danger
everywhere and thus adds yet more menace to the writing.
Peter Morrisson