Hello and welcome to EngliLearn Today we're looking at how to
analyze form, structure and language. This was a much-requested video and is packed with
valuable information, so let s get right to it. The previous version of the exam did not ask
students to analyze form and structure, so many students and even teachers, find this confusing.
In this new syllabus, however, analyzing form, structure and language comprises a huge part
of paper 1, which makes it super-important to know what you're looking for. You will need these
skills for both Question 1b, where you're asked to compare your own text and the given text, and for
the entire question 2 which carries a whopping 25 points (and question 1b in Paper 2 writing
a reflective commentary on your own text). DEFINITIONS The first thing you need to know
in order to develop these skills is what language, form and structure refer
to. Just like you, I really hate complex and complicated definitions you might find
in textbooks, so let s keep it simple. Language simply refers to what words the
author chooses to use to tell you his ideas. This can include word choice and different
figures of speech and language devices.
Form refers to the genre of the text,
and how the genre influences the way the text looks on the page. So,
if you know what to look for, you can notice many elements of form as
soon as you lay your eyes on the page. Structure refers to how the author organizes
the information he wishes to convey and how that information fits together
to make the text a unified whole. These are just simple definitions but we will go
over the elements in detail and after the video, you will learn about what each of the elements
entails and how to recognize it in a text. LANGUAGE
Let's start with language. We will have several videos devoted to each element of language, so
I will not go into great detail here, but I will list the main things to look for under language.
First, you're looking for any interesting lexis. Lexis is just a fancy word for vocabulary.
So, you're trying to find any interesting vocabulary the author has chosen to use and trying
to figure out why he used those particular words. This is especially important for words with very
pronounced positive or negative connotations, or words scattered throughout the text
that belong to the same semantic field. Under language, you re also looking
for different figures of speech. There are many of them and you're most
probably familiar at least with the most important ones like metaphor, simile and
personification. As we've mentioned many times, it's important not just to identify the figure
of speech or give a very generic effect, but you need to explain in detail why
the author used that particular figure. If you're reading a persuasive text,
like a speech, a review or an article, you will also be looking for persuasive
techniques. These are language techniques for making and argument and convincing
the reader to support your point of view. Finally, language also included
grammar, syntax and punctuation. Although they're often overlooked, these
elements play an important role in every text, influencing emotions and creating a
specific rhythm or pace of the text. Longer or shorter sentences, use of varied
punctuation and use of particular tenses can all have an effect on how the reader feels the text.
FORM When it comes to form, I'm going to
discuss three different aspects of form: 1. How the text reflects the
characteristics of the genre 2. What the text looks like on the page
3. How the text appeals to its intended audience and how the purpose affects
the content and style of the text The first two are traditional
notions of form in writing, and the third aspect is how form is defined by
examiners in examiner reports for As Level 9093, so we want to make sure we cover all of these.
1. How the text reflects the characteristics of the genre
As you already know, every genre has its own rules or conventions and knowing these
rules is an absolute must for this exam. You need to demonstrate to the examiner that you know those
rules, and one f the ways you can do that is by commenting on how form is related to the genre.
All genres have a specific kind of form they follow, but in some cases the connection
between form and genre is more obvious. Take poetry for example. Don t' worry, you don't
have to study poetry for this exam, but it is a very good way to illustrate the connection between
for and genre. There are very clear differences between a long epic poem and a haiku, for example.
A sonnet is one form that has to follow very strict form rules. A reader who knows his poetry
will immediately, just by looking at the page, recognize this poem as a Shakespearean
sonnet, which will in turn create a set of expectations in his head about what the poem
is about and how the author conveys his ideas. Advertisements and leaflets also
have a very strong visual component. The form has a strong influence on how
the rear perceives the information. While you will not have to read any poetry or
have any visual leaflets of as in the exam, there are some genres that you will read,
where the form is extremely important. Look at this letter for example. If
you take away the visual elements like the address at the top, the
subject, the salutation, the ending, the text is no longer a letter. These elements,
which are very visual, show the reader that the genre is a letter, so the reader has certain
expectations and can follow the text better. 2. How the text appears on the page Here are some elements you might look for: We have anaphora, the repetition of words or
phrases at the beginning of neighboring clauses. If you've ever read the famous I have a
dream speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., you will have noticed the use of anaphora
in repeating the phrase I have a dream at the beginning of consecutive sentences. Repetition
usually serves the purpose of emphasizing a point, but of course, you need to always be careful
to analyze what point is being emphasized. You can also have single line sentences, which
stand out from the rest of the text. They often mark an important turning point in the text.
Whenever you see one, stop and think about why the author chose to put it there. It can often
tell you a lot about how the text progresses. Short sentences within a paragraph are often
used for emotional impact and they too stand out from longer sections of the text. So do very
short paragraphs. The emotional impact of a short sentence like Silence. is much stronger than if
an author was to elaborate on how horrible the silence was in a very long descriptive sentence.
Ellipsis, where a certain part of the text was omitted, as was the case in Frederick Douglass
speech we read, can also be immediately noticed. It should make you wonder and analyze
why the section of the text was omitted. What was the author s purpose in
removing that part of the text? Dialogue is another element that stands
out on the page. You can analyze why the author chose to include dialogue, and what
purpose it plays in the text as a whole. The use of subheadings which divide the text
clearly into subsections or the use of bullet points for lists is another visual element that
is often used in articles or leaflets. You can link the subheadings with the content of the
paragraphs or comment on the use of bullet points. Any of these elements fall s under form and if
you notice any of them, first you should carefully consider why the author chose to use them, and
then you need to analyze and comment on their use. 3. How the text appeals to its intended audience and how the purpose affects the
content and style of the text Audience, of course, are people who are reading
the text. Purpose is the goal with which the writer writes the text. Audience and purpose
are what we call whole-text aspects, and they're always mutually influenced by particular devices
the author uses. So, essentially, here you're being asked to demonstrate how these whole-text
aspects influence the writer's individual word choices and how those words choices demonstrate
the authors awareness of audience and purpose. Let's take these two examples. Imagine one
author is writing an article about a video game in a gaming magazine. Another writer is writing
an article about the same game for Wikipedia. These texts have very different
audiences (the first one being gamers, the second one just about anyone on the internet).
They also have different purposes. The Wikipedia article aims to provide general information about
the game, while the gaming magazine article needs to provide much more detailed information in
order to maintain the interest of the readers. So, what can the author do to make sure his text
suits his audience and fulfills its purpose? One of the main ways to appeal to an
audience and to fulfill your purpose is through tone and register. Tone is the writer's
attitude towards the subject and register is the level of formality the author uses, so whether he
is being very formal, using sophisticated language or informal, using chatty and colloquial style.
Although students sometimes find them confusing, understanding tone and register is
important. In the example we gave here, the writer who writes for the gaming magazine
will most likely use a semi-formal style, to make his piece entertaining for his
readers and to make them feel closer to him. The gaming community itself is rather relaxed, so
there is no need for a high level of formality. On the other hand, an article on Wikipedia needs
to meet the standards of an encyclopedia and needs to be written in a more formal register.
At the same time, the readers of the gaming magazine probably have a lot of knowledge
about the subject matter. The author will not shy away from using specific jargon
specialist language, for describing the game. On the other hand, the Wikipedia article will use
more standardized lexis, sticking to well-known expressions. If specialized terms are used,
they will likely be explained and defined. Also, when explaining certain concepts and issues, the authors will be likely to use
examples that are close to their audience. Take this video for example. Because I am
talking to high school students, I chose to use the gaming example in this case, because
this might appeal to you as young people. I would have made a big mistake if I chose a topic most
teenagers are not interested in. All writers pay attentions to details like that, and your task,
in analyzing form is to notice those elements. STRUCTURE
Structure, again, goes back to how particular
parts are connected to the whole. It refers to the way in which the write organizes
the information in the text and in which order he chooses to reveal it. It also refers to how
part of the text fit together to make a whole. Structure is content-driven and we can look at how
information is organized both on the level of the entire text, but also within each paragraph.
So, what are we looking at when commenting on structure?
Firstly, we're looking at the beginning and ending, I'm sure your teachers
have told you many times that these are perhaps the most important parts of a text. We'll also
look at development, contrast, shifts and pace. The beginning of any text is very important
because the writer has only a few second to interest the reader to read the text. Authors
use different techniques to hook the reader in, and depending on the text, you may wish to
analyze how the author achieves that purpose. The ending on the other hand leaves the biggest
emotional impact on the reader. Depending on the topic, the ending may be conclusive or
non-conclusive. Non-conclusive ending in fiction works can be cliffhangers and in non-fiction works
the author might want to leave a question open to debate, without offering a final word on it.
A common strategy writers use to make their work very well-organized is using a cyclical structure.
This is when the story ends in the same place it began, or, in non-fiction, where the author uses
the same idea at the end of the text that he used at the beginning. This can make the text feel very
well-rounded, no pun intended. So you might want to look at the beginning and ending and see
if there are elements of cyclical structure. In between the beginning and the end, most texts
progress in a linear manner, meaning there is some natural development or progression of ides. So you
want to look at how the author develops his ideas and what topic he deals with. Another thing you
may wish to look at is whether there is a change in the intensity of tone and mood in the text, for
example where the tone moves from being slightly melancholic at the beginning towards openly
depressing towards the end of the text. Sometimes the authors organize different
elements of the text in such a way that they don't gradually build upon one another, but
instead clash. This is the use of contrast, when two neighboring paragraphs in a
text discuss completely opposite topics or deal with a topic in a completely
opposite manner. If you find juxtaposition between different elements of the text, that is
contrast and it might be worth commenting on. Another thing you may want to look at are
shifts. Any major shift in focus or topic and theme of the text should be commented on.
When I say focus, I mean what the author is focusing on in each paragraph. So, you might
notice how there is a shift from focus on the exterior to the interior of the building. Or
the author might shift focus from describing the environment to describing a particular
characters or his own mental state and thoughts. The environment and thoughts might often
be intertwined and reflect one another, so you might comment on that too.
The author might also shift focus from a general discussion of an idea to a
specific example. Or from a generic phenomenon to an individual's experience of that phenomenon.
These are all worth analyzing and commenting on. You can also comment on the change of subject
or the theme, which refers to more subtle, underlying meaning of the text.
To indicate such shifts, authors sometimes use one-sentence
paragraphs. Look for them to give you a clue. Finally, another element of structure is
pace. Pace simply refers to how fast the text progresses. Think of it in this way an
action film usually evolves much more quickly than a slow romantic film. How do authors
slow or speed up the pace of a text? Faster paced texts usually have shorter
paragraphs, and shorter sentences with more action, dialogue and exciting events.
On the other hand, slow-paced texts feature longer sentences and paragraphs with more
narration and description that dialogue. Authors add details and may use flashbacks or
foreshadowing to slow down the main action. I hope you now have a better understanding
of what to look for when analyzing form, structure and language.
One thing I have to point out though, is that all the information I gave here is by
no means some kind of a checklist you need to go through for every text. Instead, this is just
a framework to help you think about the different elements that usually appear in texts. Every text
is different and there is no one unique approach that fits every text. But practicing analysis
using these elements will hopefully help you out no matter what kind of text you face in the exam.
And finally, if you ant all this information in one place, here is a free infographic with
the most important information from the video. If there is anything that was left unclear
or anything else you wish to talk about, please comment in the comments
section below or send us an email.