Can you write about LANGUAGE? Do you waffle in exams? Do you write too little?

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Can you write about LANGUAGE?Do you waffle in exams?Do you write too little?Do you write too much?Do you just write the first thing that comes into your head?Do you know what the examiner wants?How can you write sensibly about another writer’s words?Here you will find out how…

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gem

Think of three things to say about the meaning of this word – e.g. what it looks like, what it’s for, etc.

Now, think of at least one thing about what the word sounds like (say it to yourself).

What else does this word make you think of?

If you put all your ideas together, you might come up with something like this…

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A gem is a precious stone – something sparkling and attractive. It might also mean something beautiful and pleasing to the eye.

gemThe word ‘gem’ is a short ‘clipped’ word, that makes me think of a small, neat item.

This word makes me think of something really worth having, something valuable and perhaps hidden.

And if you put all of this in one paragraph you get…

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A gem is a precious stone – something sparkling and attractive. It might also mean something beautiful and pleasing to the eye. The word ‘gem’ is a short ‘clipped’ word, that makes me think of a small, neat item. This word makes me think of something really worth having, something valuable and perhaps hidden. All this about one word!

And you haven’t even seen the sentence it is in.

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Here it is again, this time in a sentence:

It is, there’s no doubt about it, a gem of a bay, Lulworth Cove.

So what is the impact of the word in this sentence? Try to find three things that the writer gains by using the word ‘gem’.

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This time, we have two words to analyse.

moving relentlessly

Consider the meaning of the two words.Think about the sound of the words.

What else do the words make you think of?

Write down your ideas and compare them with the next slide.

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‘Moving relentlessly’ means moving without stopping – continually on the move. The word ‘relentlessly’ is a long word with a repeated ‘l’ sound, which echoes the repeated movements. The words make me think of something determined and unfeeling, like the sea or an army.

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Look at the sentence that contains these words.

An almost unbroken line of people is moving relentlessly up the steep path.

So what is the impact of the words in this sentence? Try to find three things that the writer wants to make us think, by using the words ‘moving relentlessly’.

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You have looked at three ways to look at language:• looking at the full meaning• listening to what words sound like• thinking of what the words make you think of Let’s identify some other things to look out for…

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Is the writing is proper/correct or more casual or friendly?

This can be a play on words or a gentle joke with the reader.

Words which create pictures in your mind, e.g. metaphors

Words which make you feel something, e.g. anger, guilt

e.g. exaggeration, or rhetorical questionsWords which relate to a particular topic or specialism.

formal/informal humour imagery emotive language rhetorical devices technical/specialist

See if you can match up each device and description.

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For each of these extracts, decide which elements of language you would comment on:

An almost space-age complex

Isn’t it all just a big green theme park?

The Eden Project has generated substantial economic benefits for the area.Something huge, strange and magical has been growing in a giant crater in Cornwall.

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Here is a longer extract. Choose three words or phrases, and comment fully on the language used for each one:Newton Hall was once a handsome and imposing

country house that looked down on the Higham Valley with pride. Now it has been abandoned and forgotten by the outside world, and a thousand prying eyes couldn’t pierce the gloomy thicket of thorny trees that surround it. But if a wanderer were to stumble a way through the forbidding, rusted iron gates, they would discover a vast mansion that was once graced by ancient and neo-classical sculpture and set in landscaped gardens. It is a relic of another age. Can it now be made a part of the twenty-first century?

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Plenary

In no more than twenty words, compose some advice to give to a Year 9 student about how to write about language meaningfully.