The Student Room Group
Reply 1
Form - What you are studying e.g. novel, play, diary entry, poem... etc.

Structure - how that piece is structured, so the acts in a play, the stanzas in a poem, the chapters of a novel... you can also 'zoom in' a bit and look at rhyme schemes/word order in poems, paragraphs in prose, stage directions (exits and entrances) etc.

Language - the choice of words and their characteristics - typically things like alliteration, assonance, sibilance, the linguistic history of a word, onomatapoeia... but also things like semantic field, or just general observations on language type e.g. 'He uses emotive language'

In an essay you should highlight the methods the author has used, and then state what the effects are and why you think they have been chosen. :smile:
Reply 2
See I'd call the form, the context, the structure, the discourse, and the language the language choices used. But then I am an English Language student and so do not study poetry etc.
Reply 3
Lidia
Form - What you are studying e.g. novel, play, diary entry, poem... etc.

Structure - how that piece is structured, so the acts in a play, the stanzas in a poem, the chapters of a novel... you can also 'zoom in' a bit and look at rhyme schemes/word order in poems, paragraphs in prose, stage directions (exits and entrances) etc.

Language - the choice of words and their characteristics - typically things like alliteration, assonance, sibilance, the linguistic history of a word, onomatapoeia... but also things like semantic field, or just general observations on language type e.g. 'He uses emotive language'

In an essay you should highlight the methods the author has used, and then state what the effects are and why you think they have been chosen. :smile:


Pretty much sums it up. Form is the trickiest, and also includes the way in which the text is being told. For example: (narrative voice) 1st/2nd/3rd Person; past/present tense; register/mood/tone; conventions to the genre and so on. A lot of devices overlap, so you can't easily organise your essay by doing a paragraph on each.

EDIT: What examiners want is for you to come up with some poncy explanation as to WHY the writer is using the form/structure/language in the way he(or she, but generally he) is. For example: "John Smith uses an enjambment in his poem My Heart Is Broken between the words "my heart is" and "broken" to emphasise how broken his heart is." An enjambment is the breaking of a sentence by starting a new line half way through... can't explain it that well, but in "John Smith's" poem it would look like this:

I am in love and she does not love me,
It was a love that was not meant to be,
It pains - the way my heart is
Broken
, and I remain open to the nastynesses of life etcetc...

Even if there is no reason, and it was a pure coincidence that John Smith put "broken" on to a new line, you need to make out like it is important. Everything writers do is for a reason (should be your mind set) and you need to figure out why.

Much love,
e.
Reply 4
dans
See I'd call the form, the context, the structure, the discourse, and the language the language choices used. But then I am an English Language student and so do not study poetry etc.


AQA have their own ideas about what those terms are at A-level, though I'm sure most students at degree level would have different, more sophisticated interpretations. And if you're studying English Language, the terms definitely won't mean the same thing! I think AQA's assessment objectives are a load of *******s personally. :biggrin: But what the examiner wants, the examiner gets...
Reply 5
Exactly, what the examiner wants, the examiner gets!!
Reply 6
Cheers guys
Reply 7
mark14walsh
Can somebody please explain these terms to me and how they should be used in an essay.

Thank you. :confused:


These are explained on this site:


http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/mainguides/analysis.htm

Hope that helps.
Reply 8
Scampo
These are explained on this site:


http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/mainguides/analysis.htm

Hope that helps.


That site was set up by my old English teacher! :biggrin:
Reply 9
It always means, identifying and commenting on key literary techniques used by the author.
It can mean looking at specific words/ phrases but it should also mean looking at the overall style and tone of the text/ sections of the text.
It doesn’t mean a word-by-word and line-by-line analysis of every page.
Can anyone tell me this; How does language, structure and form contribute to a writer's presentation of ideas, themes and settings? Any help would be appreciated.:smile:
Reply 11
How would you use context in an analytical essay?
Reply 12
What are the form and structure devices?
Original post by Perol
What are the form and structure devices?


Depends on the genre.

Form of a sonnet is 14 lines, usually structure is iambic pentameter.

Form of the novel Dracula, is an epistolary novel. The structure is a linear novel.

Form of A Woman of No Importance play is a comedy of manners play and structure follows any ordinary play.

So it really depends on what you are studying.
Reply 14
Can someone please tell me what is the language form or structure of assonance I need it now





Thx