Level 3

Unfamiliar Texts & Formal Writing

Helpful techniques
Read the slide. Make an example in your group.
Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas, phrases,
or words so as to produce an effect of balance.
e.g. The Buller River is wild and beautiful; it is
infested with didymo
1. Many are called, but few are chosen
2.Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing
Pathetic fallacy
A type of personification that gives human
emotions to objects of nature.
e.g. smiling skies; angry seas; sorrowing
willows.
1. Happy winds,
2. sad trees
Tone
The attitude the writer takes towards the
subject or character; serious, humorous,
sarcastic, ironic, solemn, informal, direct etc
Irony
1. Verbal irony - when an author says one thing
and means something else e.g. Lovely day
today (when it is raining)
2. Dramatic irony - when an audience knows
something that a character does not
3. Irony of situation - a discrepancy between
the expected results and the actual results
Balanced structure
Two ideas in a sentence which are not
contrasting.
e.g. We need to set an example; the others will
follow
e.g.
Paradox
The kind of truth that at first seems
contradictory.

e.g. The child is father of the man.

Eg. You can save money by saving it
Eg:Monster turns from good to evil
Parallel construction
A repeated structure to give a feeling of
balance.

e.g. Now you see them, now you don’t.

Like mother, like daughter
Easy come, easy go
Triple Construction
Three consecutive phrases or sentences with the same
wording.
e.g. A NZ that will make us proud. A NZ that will really
deliver equality. A NZ benefitting the 21st century.

1. We will fight for women's rights. We will fight for women.

We will fight for equality
2. We are going to teach. We are going to encourage. We
are going to learn.
 Motif
An element which recurs in a literary
work, or across literary works
Motifs contribute in developing the major
theme of a literary work, and help
readers to comprehend the underlying
messages that writers intend to
communicate to them.
e.g. The mice who appear in the corner
of the screen in “Babe” to introduce each
part.

E.g. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we find a

recurring motif of incest
Colloquial language
Everyday language which is used to relate to
an audience of peers.

e.e. Get your mates to tag along.

I ain’t gonna do it!
Whatcha doin’?
Imperative
A command.
e.g. Stand up and be counted.

1. Requests -
2. Suggestions -
Strong modal verbs
Auxiliary verbs expressing the extent to which
something needs to be done.

e.g. Must, should, will

1. Never
2. Can not
Malapropism
The ludicrous use of a word, substituting for a
similar word.

e.g. the very pine-apple of politeness

Tricolon
A list of three words or three ideas.

e.g. He came, he saw, he conquered.

Emotive language
Language specifically selected to elicit an
emotional response (pride, anger, sympathy…)
e.g. Let us move beyond grievance and
towards the brighter future we all deserve.
e.g. “A cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb
became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced
his way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch - the miserable
monster whom I had created” - Frankenstein
Interrogatives
Questions that are not rhetorical.

e.g. Who was responsible for the 9/11 disaster?

Eg. Have you had dinner?
Eg: What happened on November 8 2016?
Interrogative Statements
Statements in which a question is implicit.

e.g. I wonder how many more years of bad luck

I shall have.
Declarative statements
A statement expressing an idea or giving information.
e.g. Too many young people drink and drive

1. Too many animals are left without homes

2. Too few people are helping out local charities.
Jargon
Language specific to a particular group.

e.g. Computer people will talk about RAM,

gigabytes etc.
Idioms
Expressions related to the particular geographic area’s
culture e.g. hurray
A combination of words which have become an acceptable
part of colloquial usage e.g. drove me crazy’. Often does
not make sense literally.
“It’s a piece of cake” - To say that something is relatively
easy.
“Once in a blue moon” - something that doesn’t happen
frequently
Intimacy signal
Expressions used by the writer to show a
relationship with the listener

e.g. kind of, you see

Comparative/Superlative adjectives
Comparative -compares two things
Superlative - the highest form of quality

e.g. smaller
e.g. smallest
Bigger biggest taller tallest
Allegory
Where a character or incident represents
abstract qualities.

e.g. beauty, truth, evil

Bathos
Descending order to spoil the effect - often for
humour -could be anticlimactic or suddenly
nasty -deliberate change

e.g. ...whom three Realms, obey

Dost sometimes Counsel take - and sometimes
tea
Bathos
Serious ideas are following by something
ludicrous or commonplace. A lapse in mood
from sublime to ridiculous.
Synecdoche
Allusion to the part is used to imply the whole.

e.g. all hands on deck

I have four mouths to feed
Check out my new wheels

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syn
ecdoche
Inversion
A change in the natural order of words in a
sentence.

e.g. ‘They shall not grow old’

http://literarydevices.net/inversion/ < some great detail about

the technique
Litotes
The use of understatement for effect.
by using double negatives or, in other words, a positive statement expressed by negating its opposite
expressions.
“not too bad” for “very good”
“She is not a beauty queen,” means she is ugly, or saying “I am not as young as I used to be,” in
order to avoid saying I am old.

e.g. a slight embarrassment