Language and structure - CCEA

The material on this page is designed to help you with revision and preparation for your CCEA GCSE English Language exams and assessments. It applies to Unit 3, Task 2: The study of written language.

• Unit 3 is a controlled assessment unit, worth 20% of your final mark
• The controlled assessment is split into two tasks, each worth an equal number of marks, to be completed in class
• Task 2: The study of written language, requires the completion of a written response to a literary text or texts – your teacher will choose the material you will study and respond to
• The themes for this task change each year – ask your teacher for your theme, or check the CCEA website for controlled assessment themes
• In this task, you will be assessed on your ability to:
  • Read and understand texts, selecting material appropriate to purpose, collating from different sources and making comparisons and cross-references as appropriate
  • Develop and sustain interpretations of writers’ ideas and perspectives
  • Explain and evaluate how writers use linguistic, structural and presentational features to achieve effects and engage and influence the reader

Useful guidance for English Language controlled assessments can be found on the CCEA support page – select the Student Guidance tab. For further advice on controlled assessments, please consult your teacher.

• Writers use literary techniques such as similes, metaphors and personification to give their stories more depth and colour
• Word choices can suggest hidden layers of meaning and even reveal things about characters
• Patterns in language, such as repeated words or ideas, can highlight important themes or deeper meanings beyond the obvious
• Structure matters as well; how sentences and paragraphs are ordered can build tension or guide the reader’s feelings
• In stories, the way events are arranged (such as beginning with a climax or ending with a resolution) helps shape how we experience the plot

When talking about language in prose fiction, there are a number of things you could look for:

• literary techniques, for example similes and metaphors
• other language techniques, for example emotive language, hyperbole or terms of address
• connotations of particular word choices
• language choices within dialogue, for instance if dialect is used to reveal more about a character
• types of words used in the text, for example adjectives, nouns, verbs, adverbs.

Many words can be understood in different ways:

• denotations – their dictionary meaning
• connotations – the ideas they link to

For example, the word 'desk' literally denotes a table, but it has connotations of work and study.

Words can reveal a theme, such as death, or love, or create a particular mood in a section of the narrative.

Patterns in language

It’s useful to look for any patterns in the language chosen by the writer, as these patterns may suggest important themes or deeper meanings beyond the obvious. For example:

• Is there a particular semantic field used by the writer? For example, words linked to the military or hospitals.
• Does the writer repeat any ideas or images? These could act as a motif in the text.
• Does the writer favour a particular type of word? For example, using lots of abstract nouns like dream, love, peace, friendship.

Can words or phrases from different parts of the text be linked in some way?

Writers might include literary techniques to add depth and colour to their writing.

Here are some literary techniques a writer might choose to use in a text:

Example

In this opening from Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace, the main character Grace describes a dream-like vision.

What is the effect of the language choices in this extract?

Out of the gravel there are peonies growing. They come up through the loose grey pebbles, their buds testing the air like snails’ eyes, then swelling and opening, huge dark-red flowers all shining and glossy like satin. Then they burst and fall to the ground.

In the one instant before they come apart they are like the peonies in the front garden at Mr. Kinnear’s, that first day, only those were white. Nancy is cutting them. She wore a pale dress with pink rosebuds and a triple-flounced skirt, and a straw bonnet that hid her face. She carried a flat basket, to put the flower in; she bent from the hips like a lady, holding her waist straight. When she heard us and turned to look, she put her hand up to her throat as if startled.

Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood

Analysis notes

• The frequent use of ‘ing’ verbs in the opening paragraph gives the flowers a sinister energy and movement: “…growing…testing…swelling…opening…shining…”.

• The writer’s choice of language to describe the flowers gives the setting a dream-like appearance. The strange simile “…testing the air like snails’ eyes…” adds to the dream-like feel.

• The motif of the peonies seems particularly important and the writer gives them a symbolic significance. For example, the peonies at the start are “dark-red”, but in the next paragraph “…those were white”.

• The white peonies, perhaps symbolising innocence, are linked to the character of Nancy. This image of innocence is reinforced by the “pale dress with pink rosebuds”.

• The character of Nancy has her clothes described in detail: “…triple-flounced skirt, and a straw bonnet…” This links to the simile “…like a lady…” and suggests that the character of Nancy is elegant and well-dressed.

• The flowers are linked to the feminine here, but there is also a sinister mood linked to the red peonies. This sinister mood is reinforced by the phrase “…as if startled”.

• The calm image of a woman cutting flowers is contrasted with the disturbing image of the red peonies. The effect may unsettle the reader.

Structure can refer to the order of words and ideas within:

• a sentence
• a paragraph
• an extract
• a whole text

Think about the effect the structure creates; remember to focus on how the reader responds to the structure of the text. Consider how the writer is using structure to manipulate the reader’s response.

Questions to consider:

• Where does this extract fit into the longer text – is it an opening or ending?
• Why are the paragraphs ordered in the way they are?
• How does the focus of each paragraph change?
• Is it important for the reader to know certain bits of information before they get to the next part of the text?
• Are there any links between the beginning and the end of the text?
• Are there any repeated images?
• Is there a significant change in an attitude, character or setting?
• Is there a change of perspective?

Some structural devices within prose fiction

Repetition – of words, phrases or whole sentences.

Connectives – eg meanwhile, finally, although. These could be used to shift the reader’s focus.

Sentence types – eg multi-clause or single clause. For example, a multi-clause sentence could be used to build up layers of description to create a vivid setting.

Sentence length – eg short to show tension.

Paragraph length – eg single line paragraphs to focus the reader.

Change of tense – eg from present to past.

Narrative structure

Fictional narratives may also follow an overall structure, which may fit broadly into typical stages.

Exposition – the setting of the scene for the reader, this could be a description of setting or the backstory of a character.

Crisis point or climax – an exciting or tense part of the text.

Resolution – the conclusion of the narrative, where conflicts are resolved or meaning is revealed.

In a short extract, only one or two of these of these stages might be evident. For example, if the extract is from the opening of a short story there may only be an exposition stage.

These stages are not always in this order; a writer may choose to begin with a climax or crisis point.

This extract is taken from a short story called Through the Tunnel, by Doris Lessing. In this section the character of Jerry, an 11-year-old boy, attempts to swim through a long underwater tunnel.

How has the writer structured this text to increase the sense of tension?

A hundred, a hundred and one…The water paled. Victory filled him. His lungs were beginning to hurt. A few more strokes and he would be out. He was counting wildly; he said a hundred and fifteen, and then a long time later, a hundred and fifteen again. The water was a clear jewel-green all around him. Then he saw, above his head, a crack running up through the rock. Sunlight was falling through it, showing the clean, dark rock of the tunnel, a single mussel shell, and darkness ahead.

He was at the end of what he could do. He looked up at the crack as if it were filled with air and not water, as if he could put his mouth to it to draw in air. A hundred and fifteen, he heard himself say inside his head—but he had said that long ago. He must go on into the blackness ahead, or he would drown. His head was swelling, his lungs cracking. A hundred and fifteen, a hundred and fifteen pounded through his head, and he feebly clutched at rocks in the dark, pulling himself forward, leaving the brief space of sunlit water behind. He felt he was dying. He was no longer conscious. He struggled on in the darkness between lapses into unconsciousness. An immense, swelling pain filled his head, and then darkness cracked with an explosion of green light. His hands, groping forward, met nothing; and his feet, kicking back, propelled him out into the open sea. He drifted to the surface, his face turned up to the air. He was gasping like a fish. He felt he would sink now and drown; he could not swim the few feet back to the rock. Then he was clutching it and pulling himself up on to it. He lay face down, gasping.

Through the Tunnel, Doris Lessing

Analysis

• The structure of the text allows the reader to share the boy’s journey through the tunnel and follow his physical and emotional conflict.
• In the first paragraph the boy thinks that he has made it to the end of the tunnel: “Victory filled him.” This short, single clause sentence has a dramatic effect and shows the reader his excitement.
• When the reader realises that he has not reached the end, the tension is increased and the reader reaches the crisis point in the text.
• The boy seems to have run out of strength: “He was at the end of what he could do”.
• The writer includes the character’s counting to increase the tension at different points in the text.
• The counting shows the boy’s different states of mind, at first the number goes up to show his control.
• Then he is "counting wildly" when he thinks he is at the end of the tunnel.
• The counting stops to show the reader that he is starting to lose focus and strength: “A hundred and fifteen, a hundred and fifteen…” – the repetition of a hundred and fifteen shows the boy’s confusion and increases the tension.
• Dramatic single clause sentences in the last paragraph add to the suspense: “He felt he was dying. He was no longer conscious”.
• The repetition of “…darkness ahead…blackness ahead…darkness cracked…” makes the reader feel like the dark represents death and the light symbolises life.
• The whole extract is structured around the physical effects of not having enough air: “…swelling…cracking…gasping”.
• The position of the verb "gasping" at the end of the final sentence has the effect of releasing the tension as the reader realises the boy will survive.