Writer’s Effect (Handout and Exercise)

Identify how and why these techniques have been used in the Writer’s Effect question and use them:

Adjectives
These are words that describe nouns e.g. ‘harsh’, ‘excruciating, ‘noble’. Writers use them to
create a specific picture in the readers mind.
Why has the writer used these adjectives? What picture does it create?
Adverbs
These are words that describe verbs. e.g. ‘carefully’, ‘quietly’, ‘quickly’. These can be used to
add more detail to an action so that the reader can picture what is going on and how.
Why has the writer added detail to this action? What picture does it create?
Alliteration
Repetition of a sound at the beginning of words, e.g. ‘Cruel Catherine…’ It is used to stress
certain words or phrases or to make a point to the reader.
Why has the writer stressed these words? What point are they trying to make?
Colour
Using colour words like ‘red’ , ‘blue’ or ‘yellow’. Colour creates images in the readers mind and
can affect atmosphere through connections the reader makes with that colour e.g. red associates
with ‘danger’ ‘anger’ or ‘love.’
What image has been created with the use of colour? How has it affected the atmosphere?
Contrasts
Strong differences between two things. A writer might write a paragraph about a beautiful place
and follow it with a paragraph describing a run-down place to show the differences between the
ways in which two groups of people live.
Why has the writer chosen to show these two things? What difference is being highlighted and
why?
Exclamations
Show anger, shock, horror, surprise and joy, e.g. ‘I won!’. They are used to portray emotion and
show how a character reacts or is feeling.
Why has the writer chosen to put the exclamation there? What emotion or reaction are they
portraying? Why?
Humour
Making a character or situation appear in a funny way can be used to mock the character or the
place, or it could show that a character is humorous.
Why has the writer made this situation or character humorous? How does it affect the mood?
Imagery
(including similes, metaphors, colour and use of the 5 senses- sight, sound, touch, taste and
smell)
The words allow the reader to create an image in their and involve the reader in the moment
being described.
What image has been created? What is the effect of involving the reader in the moment?
Juxtaposition
The positioning of two words, phrases or ideas next to, or near, each other. This highlights a
contrast between two words, phrases or ideas, e.g. ‘The two friends were known as clever Carole
and stupid Steven.’
Why has the writer chosen to position these two things together? What contrast is being
highlighted and why?
Metaphor
A image created by referring to something as something else, e.g. ‘storm of controversy.’ This
shows meaning by directly comparing something to something else.
Why is the word being compared to something else? What element of the thing that it is being
compared to is being highlighted in the word.
Negative diction
Words that are negative, e.g. ‘cruel’, ‘evil’, ‘dark’. This gives a negative tone and can
portray negative feelings towards a character or situation.
Why has the writer created negative tone? What effect do these negative feelings have on the
representation of the character or the atmosphere?
Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like what the describe, e.g. ‘The clash of the symbols startled John.’ The
reader can almost hear the sound for themselves.
Why does the writer want the reader to hear the sound? What is the effect on the atmosphere?
Personification
Making an object/ animal sound like a person, giving it human characteristics, e.g. ‘the fingers of
the tree grabbed at my hair as I passed.’
Why has the object/ animal been given human characteristics? How does it affect the mood?
Positive diction
Words that are positive, e.g. ‘happy’, ‘joyous’ They give a positive tone or portray positive
feelings towards a character or situation.
Why has the writer created a positive tone? What effect do these positive feelings have on the
representation of the character or the atmosphere?
Sentence Length.
Short sentences are just a few words long, without detail. ‘I wondered if he knew what he was
doing to me. It hurt. A lot.’ Short sentences affect the speed the piece is read and grabs attention.
Why has the writer used a short sentence? How does it affect the speed and tension?
Simile
A comparison between two things that includes the words ‘as’ or ‘like’, e.g. ‘Her voice cut
through him like a knife.’ This shows meaning by comparing something to something else
Why has the word been compared to something else? What element of the thing that it is being
compared to has been highlighted in the word.
Verbs
Action words such as ‘scrambled’, ‘sprinted’, ‘leaped’. The writer uses these to add action to the
writing.
Why has the writer used these verbs? What mood has been created?

Read the following description of setting from Lord of the Flies. Select words and phrases and
explain how the writer created effects by using this language.
The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and
their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air. The ground beneath them was a bank
covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with
decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the
open space of the scar. Ralph stood, one hand against a grey trunk, and screwed up his eyes
against the shimmering water. Out there, perhaps a mile away, the white surf flinked on a coral
reef, and beyond that the open sea was dark blue. Within the irregular arc of coral the lagoon was
still as a mountain lake—blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple. The beach between
the palm terrace and the water was a thin stick, endless apparently, for to Ralph’s left the
perspectives of palm and beach and water drew to a point at infinity; and always, almost visible,
was the heat.
He jumped down from the terrace. The sand was thick over his black shoes and the heat hit him.
He became conscious of the weight of clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely and ripped off each
stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement. Then he leapt back on the terrace, pulled
off his shirt, and stood there among the skull-like coconuts with green shadows from the palms
and the forest sliding over his skin.
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