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Spotting Language Techniques
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Goal Identify language techniques and explain their effect.
TECHNIQUES
- Simile: compares using "like" or "as" -- "as cold as ice"
- Metaphor: says something IS something else -- "The classroom was a zoo."
- Personification: gives human qualities to objects -- "The wind howled."
- Alliteration: repeated first sounds -- "slippery, slimy snake"
- Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration -- "I've told you a million times."
- Rhetorical question: asked for effect, not an answer -- "Isn't our planet worth saving?"
- Onomatopoeia: words that sound like the noise -- "crash", "sizzle"
THE KEY SKILL NAME IT + EXPLAIN THE EFFECT
Just naming a technique earns few marks. Explain what it makes the reader see or feel.
- Weak: "This is personification."
- Strong: "The personification in 'the wind howled' makes the storm sound like a wild
animal, creating a frightening mood."
PRACTICE
Name the technique and explain the effect:
- "The stars were diamonds scattered across the sky."
- "Do we really want our children breathing this air?"
Show sample answers
- Metaphor -- comparing stars to diamonds makes the night sky seem precious and beautiful.
- Rhetorical question -- it makes the reader feel responsible and agree that action is needed.
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