How to Analyse Language in an English Language Exam

Whatever specification you are following, and whether you are studying English Language at GCSE, IGCSE, IB or A level, our exam tips and guidance will help you to confidently analyse language in an English Language exam.

Written by: Nick Redgrove

Published

26 June 2024

Read time

7 minutes

Contents

What is “language”?

Language is one part of what exam boards call “writer’s methods”, alongside other things like structure and form.

When examiners ask you to comment on a writer’s “language”, they are referring to the specific words, phrases and literary techniques writers use to create particular effects.

Ideas and themes in a writer’s language

Remember that writers are very deliberate about the language they use in their own writing: they choose their words and language devices intentionally to create a particular mood or atmosphere, or to elicit a specific emotion in their audience. Language features can also be used as a vehicle to convey ideas or messages.

It is your job as a student to unpick the intentions of a writer. What are the deeper meanings they are trying to get across with their choice of language? What emotions or moods are they trying to create?

Teacher tip

If I could give one piece of advice to a student looking to analyse language, it would be to focus on the intended effect of the language, and not to worry about what specific language device a writer has used.

To be able to identify a technique — even a seemingly sophisticated one like chiasmus, or polysyndeton — is not what gets you the marks in an exam. What an examiner like me is looking for is that you are attempting to interpret the deeper meanings of a text, or an author’s possible intentions.

How to analyse words and phrases

To be able to consider the deeper meaning of word choices and phrases, think about both the denotation and the (sometimes multiple) connotations of particular words:

Denotation	Connotation
The literal, dictionary meaning of a word or phrase: This is a word’s explicit meaning	The associations or implied meanings of the word or phrase: This is a word’s implicit meaning, which additional layers of meaning Writеrs deliberately use connotations to еvokе cеrtain fееlings, crеatе imagеry, or pеrsuadе rеadеrs to sее things from a particular pеrspеctivе
Denotation examples	Connotation examples
Snake: a long, limbless reptile with scales Home: a place where you live	Snake: fear, danger, deception, evil Home: comfort, safety, belonging

How to use evidence in your language analysis

Let’s take this quotation from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, a work of non-fiction about the murder of a family in rural Kansas, USA:

“The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang”

First, we need to pick out a word for analysis. You should always try to pick out words or phrases that can be interpreted in more than one way. Here, let’s take the word “barbed”.

“Barbed”
Surface meaning (denotation)	Having a sharp, curved point; unkind or critical
Connotation 1	Hostile, hurtful
Connotation 2	Cutting

The best language analysis extends its points into more than one sentence, and offers alternative interpretations. Here is how to do this in a paragraph:

Capote’s early description of the town, and townsfolk, of Holcomb hints at the latent violence in this rural part of America. He describes the local accent as “barbed” with a prairie twang, which at first seems innocuous. However, in using this word, which suggests something sharp or harmful, Capote seems to suggest that there is an undercurrent of hostility, even violence in this community. It could also be said that Capote — even in this early encounter with the community — seems to be metaphorically “hooked”. This foreshadows his later dangerous obsession with one of the alleged murderers.

Analysing literary devices

Literary devices — sometimes known as language techniques or literary terms — are the methods a writer uses to create meaning in their work. They can be used in specific parts of a text (such as when a poet uses caesura to break a line of poetry), or across whole plays or novels (such as the recurring motif of blood in Shakespeare’s Macbeth). Our full glossary of literary devices, with student-friendly definitions, lists all the techniques you’ll ever need to know for your exams.

Teacher tip

It’s always worth commenting on any technique used across a text, as this shows the examiner that you understand that the writer has deliberately constructed a piece of writing.

Analysing techniques such as foreshadowing, motifs, extended metaphors or parallelism shows that you are considering the text holistically, not just as a series of unrelated sentences.

An examiner will not be impressed if you can spot a literary device or know what metonymy or synecdoche are, but they will be impressed if you can interpret how and why a writer may have used a particular language technique.

Here’s another example to help you, using Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood:

After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud.

Lower-grade analysis

Answer	Examiner commentary
Truman Capote uses a triple in his description of the streets of Holcomb. “Unnamed, unshaded, unpaved”. This shows that it was not a nice place to visit.	The analysis starts not with a point about the text but by spotting a language technique The quotation is not embedded into the response The analysis is not developed and explains rather than analyses the text

Top-mark analysis

Answer	Commentary
Truman Capote presents the town of Holcomb as an inhospitable and insular place. The streets are “unnamed, unshaded, unpaved” suggesting that it is unwelcoming to outsiders, and the choice of the word “unshaded” conveys a sense of exposure to the elements and also perhaps of surveillance: visitors are exposed to and scrutinised by the snooping townspeople.	Analysis starts with an overarching point The quotation is embedded into a sentence The analysis is developed and provides an appropriate alternative interpretation

How do I structure my analysis?

Many schools and teachers introduce paragraph structures or “scaffolds” to help students to analyse language. These can include PEE (Point, Evidence, Explanation), PEAL (Point, Evidence, Analysis and Link to the question) or PETAL (Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Link). However, all the exam boards warn against using these in exams, because they can be limiting: they don’t allow you the space you need to extend your analysis, or introduce analysis of those extra layers of meaning mentioned above.

Instead, try to follow the tips:

embed your evidence in your analysis
extend your analysis and offer alternative interpretations.
don’t worry about knowing the names of word classes or literary devices
don’t worry about the lengths of your paragraphs, or the precise number of points or pieces of evidence you use.

If you can make interesting comments about a writer’s meaning or message, the marks will take care of themselves!

Non-fiction versus fiction

Depending on your exam board and level, you may have to analyse fiction or non-fiction or both text types in your exam.

Non-fiction texts are texts based on real events and people such as articles, travel writing or extracts from autobiographies.

Fictional texts are works based on invented situations and can include novels, short stories, plays and poems.

To get the highest marks in your exams you should approach analysing non-fiction and fiction differently, so check out our dedicated revision guide to Analysing Non-Fiction and Fiction Texts.