AQA GCSE English Language

Language Analysis Techniques

The mark is not for naming the technique. It is for explaining what the technique does to a reader - which is why a student who knows twenty terms can still be stuck in the middle band.

About the examples on this page

Every extract, example and practice task here was written by RCF English. They are not AQA questions or AQA source texts, and no AQA mark scheme wording is reproduced. RCF English is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by AQA.

AQA's own specimen papers, mark schemes and examiner reports are linked on the papers page and are the authoritative guide to the standard.

Language analysis is assessed by AO2 on both papers: Paper 1 Question 2 (8 marks) and Paper 2 Question 3 (12 marks). AQA's objective asks you to explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology. Every word in that sentence matters, and terminology is the last one, not the first.

The one sentence that changes most answers

Do not ask what technique this is. Ask what changes for the reader because the writer chose this word instead of a near-synonym.

The wind was strong and the wind was relentless are both descriptions of wind. The second adds duration and a hint of intention. That difference - which needs no technical term at all - is what AO2 rewards.

What to notice, in order of usefulness

1. Verbs

The most under-used evidence at GCSE. Verbs carry force, speed and intention. The frost had taken the field makes the frost an invader; the frost had covered the field makes it weather.

2. Unexpected pairings

A word that does not usually belong with its neighbour is always deliberate. A resentful relationship with rain attaches an emotion to weather and a grudge to the writer, in four words.

3. Sentence length and shape

A short sentence after long ones lands. A very long sentence can enact tiredness, accumulation or panic. Sentence forms are one of the three bullet prompts AQA prints under its Paper 1 language question, so they are explicitly invited.

4. What is repeated

Repetition is easy to spot and easy to explain: it tells you what the writer will not let you forget.

5. What is withheld

Absence is evidence. A description with no colour in it, a narrator who never names a feeling, a passage where nobody speaks - all are choices.

Terms worth knowing, and what to say about each

Simile: A comparison using like or as. Say what quality is being transferred, and whether it is a surprising choice.; Example: "pale as bone" transfers not only colour but hardness and death.
Metaphor: A comparison stated as fact. Ask what the writer gains by not saying like.; Example: Calling silence a weight makes it something the character carries.
Personification: Giving human qualities to something that is not human. Say what relationship it creates.; Example: A barn that is nearer "than it had any right to be" is being accused of misbehaving.
Semantic field: A group of words from the same area of meaning running through a passage. Useful because it is about the whole extract, not one word.; Example: Words of measurement and distance running through a passage about disorientation.
Sibilance: Repeated s sounds. Only worth naming if you can say what it does here - it is not automatically soothing or sinister.; Example: Say why the softness suits this moment, or do not mention it.
Declarative: A flat statement. Naming the sentence type is worth a mark only with the effect attached.; Example: "The distances were wrong." Four words, no hedging, so the reader accepts it as Martha does.
Juxtaposition: Two contrasting things placed side by side. Say what the contrast exposes.; Example: Better calves set beside a resentful relationship with rain, so the physical gain looks small.

The four-move paragraph

Every language paragraph that reaches the top band does these four things, in this order. The fourth is the one most answers stop before.

Quote briefly, embedded in your own sentence.
Identify what the writer is doing - with a term if you are sure of it, in plain words if not.
Explain the effect on the reader.
Develop - a second reading of one word, or a link to how it works with something else in the extract.

The same quotation, at three levels

Original RCF example: "the frost had taken the field entirely"

Question: How does the writer use language to describe the frost?

Lower band. The writer uses the word "taken" which is a powerful verb. This shows that the frost is strong. It makes the reader imagine the frost.

Middle band. The writer uses the verb "taken", which suggests the frost has captured the field like an army. The adverb "entirely" shows that no part of the field has escaped, which makes the frost seem powerful and total.

Top band. The verb "taken" turns weather into occupation: the frost does not settle on the field, it takes possession of it, and the field becomes territory rather than ground. "Entirely" then closes off any exception, so the reader is given no corner of the scene to feel safe in. The choice matters most because a near-synonym would have done neither - "covered" would have left the field underneath, still itself, waiting.

Why this answer works

The lower-band answer names a feature and asserts an effect. Powerful verb is a label, and makes the reader imagine is true of all writing.
The middle-band answer explains a real effect and uses terms accurately. It stops after the explanation - which is where most competent answers stop.
The top-band answer does one extra thing: it compares the writer's choice with the choice not made. That single move - a near-synonym would have done neither - is the clearest route from middle to top, and it needs no additional terminology.

Practice, and mark your own

Original RCF practice task. Take any paragraph of description from a novel you own. Write one four-move paragraph about a single verb in it. Then check:

Is my quotation short enough to sit inside my own sentence?
Have I said what the effect is on a reader, not what the word means?
Have I named a technique only where I am certain of the term?
Have I compared the writer's choice with a plainer alternative?
Could this paragraph have been written about any text? If so, it is too general to earn marks.

Questions about language analysis

Do I lose marks for not using technical terms?

AQA's objective asks for relevant subject terminology, so terms are part of it - but they are one part of four, alongside explaining, commenting and analysing. A precise explanation with no term scores better than a term with a vague explanation, and a term used wrongly is worse than no term at all.

How many techniques should I identify?

Three developed points for the 8-mark question and four for the 12-mark question is a reliable shape. The specimen mark schemes reward a judicious range of examples rather than a long list, so depth beats coverage.

What if I cannot see any techniques in the extract?

Then write about the words themselves. Verbs, unexpected pairings, sentence length and repetition are present in every passage and need no special vocabulary to discuss. Extracts chosen for this question always reward attention; they do not always contain similes.