About

Question 2 is worth 6 marks and you have around 6 minutes to complete this section.
Question 2 will always examine a short part of Text 1.
The question assesses your ability to explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers.
- Language refers to the writer’s deliberate choice of words, phrases and techniques (including — but not limited to — metaphor, simile, hyperbole, litotes, etc).
- Structure refers to the writer’s deliberate construction and sequencing of words and ideas (including — but not limited to — repetition, revelation, ellipsis, etc).
You will be required to comment upon both language and structure in the text. </aside>

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Example

Imagine a text that says, “I saw my neighbour stealing my socks off the washing line. I was going to confront him but I got cold feet.” The fact that the formality of the words “stealing” and “confront” juxtapose with the lighthearted punchline and the fact that “cold feet” has a double meaning are points about language. The fact that the reader doesn't have the opportunity to realise that there is a double meaning until right at the end of the text is a point about structure. All of these things have been done deliberately and contribute to the success of the joke. </aside>

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Guidelines

Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers.
- Ensure you make points about both language and structure.
Write in short paragraphs.
Make multiple points.
- "Track" through the text, identifying language and structure points as you encounter them.
  - Try to make points about the beginning, middle, and end of the passage you have been asked to analyse.
- Signpost your adherence to the mark scheme by using the words “language” and “structure” in your answer.
  - In terms of language, the writer deliberately employs jargon associated with…
  - In terms of structure, the writer opens the second paragraph with a rhetorical question which…
Carefully select short quotes/phrases/examples from both texts.
- Identify significant language features, such as imagery, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification and powerful individual words with specific connotations.
  - Illustrate language points with quotations.
    - Enclose quotations in quotation marks.
    - Embed quotations into your own sentences.
    - Do not quote whole sentences — be precise and quote only what is strictly relevant and necessary.
- Identify significant structural features, such as shifts of focus/tone, repetition, listing, sentence structure, sentences beginning with conjunctions, alliteration, semantic fields, juxtapositions.
  - Illustrate structure points with quotations when possible, otherwise paraphrase.
  - Understand that structure can mean many things. You can talk about the narrative arc or sequence of events in a whole text, but you can also talk about the sequence of events or ideas in a paragraph or even the sequence of words in a sentence. At either text or sentence level, ask yourself “why has this been presented in this order?”
Think about the effect of each feature and how this links to the question.
- Understand that very little credit is awarded for just noticing something — you must explain the writer’s intentions or the effect on the reader. </aside>

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AO2

AO2 is assessed through:
The skills and techniques required are identical for all three questions. </aside>