WRITER’S EFFECT
How to identify it, find
evidence for it, analyse it,
and evaluate it.
Identifying writer’s effect
To identify writer’s effect:
• Use the list of words provided you on an exam
• Notice each word’s context
• Notice each word’s denotation and
connotation
• Think about VARP (voice, audience, register,
purpose)
Analysing writer’s effect
Sentence starters when analysing writer’s effect:
• This use of language shows........because/as/since....
• This image highlights that... ....because/as/since....
• This emphasises... ....because/as/since....
• This helps the reader to understand that... ....because/as/since....
• This reinforces the idea that... ....because/as/since....
• The fact that... ....because/as/since....
• The words ‘…’, and ‘…’ suggest/imply that..../ make the reader feel... / give
the idea that.../ creates a sense of... ...because/as/since....
• The phrase ‘…’ creates/suggests… because/as/since....
• The use of the simile/metaphor/personification/alliteration conveys a… …
idea/feeling as...
• The writer creates the impression of…………….
• This word has connotations of ……………….
Evaluating writer’s effect
Sentence starters for evaluating
writer’s effect:
• This is effective because…
• This is a successful image because…
• The author is trying to show that…….and
this is effective because…
• The language used creates a ……. feeling
because it shows/creates/portrays……
SAMPLE EXAM ANSWERS
ABOUT WRITER’S EFFECT
• The writer conveys the slow speed and effort required by the family in walking
through the forest by the word ‘trudging’, which gives the idea of the difficulty of the
terrain, described as consisting of ‘thick knots and tangles of roots’. This luxuriant
growth and confused mass of interlocked vegetation makes it seem as though the
forest does not want visitors to pass through it and is asserting its dominance.
• The word ‘steaming’ describes the vapour being given off with a ‘hissing sound’
reminiscent of a boiling kettle or angry snakes. The jungle seems hostile to the extent
that it ‘stole their air’, as if deliberately trying to suffocate the visitors by depriving
them of oxygen.
• The ‘outraged hoops and screams’ of the monkeys suggest that their loud angry noise
is an attempt to show their displeasure and warn off the intruders into their territory.
The birds which ‘splashed the canvas’ are like randomly thrown, vividly-coloured paint
blotches on the dark background of the trees, or dots of green highlighted against the
bits of sky seen in the gaps of the canopy; both of these images are artistic and make
the jungle scene picturesque and reminiscent of a large painting consisting of
contrasting colours. The rainforest is as beautiful as it is inhospitable.
NOW…………..
IT’S YOUR TURN TO
TRY……………..
DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGE
The sunlight struggled through the thick canopy of leaves and
fought its way down to the forest floor where no creature stirred.
Flashes of sunlight momentarily penetrated the abandoned darkness
with illuminated pockets of greens, yellows and browns. There were no
shrills or calls from birds, and no chirping of insects. All that could be
heard were the cold, damp gasps of wind aching through the solemn
congregation of ancient trees.
Long, twisting creepers spun round the thick bodies of the towering
trunks; tying branches to branches and falling down the great bark
bodies like melted candle wax.
Within the intricate lacing of the maze of giant roots that clung to the
centuries-old, untouched earth, darkness engulfed deep pools that
concealed small predators stalking small, slippery prey.
Evidence from the Text
From reading the previous descriptive text:
Write down four pieces of evidence that show that the
setting is lonely and forgotten (denotation).
1. …......…………………………………………………………………………….
2.…………………………...............................................................
3.………………………………………………………………………………………
4.………………………………………………………………………………………
Analysing the Evidence
Now, take the four pieces of evidence you have identified and
analyse how these phrases show the setting is lonely and
forgotten (connotation). Think about the effect the language has
on you as a reader.
1.…......…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………
2.………………………….....................................................................…………………………………..
3.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4.……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………
Evaluating the Evidence
Evaluate how your evidence creates a lonely and
forgotten feeling. (Think about how the writer has
created this effect on you.)
1.…......…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………
2.………………………….....................................................................…………………………………..
3.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4.……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………
