RUAE
Author’s Viewpoint and Word Choice
The killing of civilians in Syria is worrying.
The slaughter of innocent civilians in Syria is nightmarish.
Template:
• The author uses X instead of Y to suggest Z.
• The author inserts X to suggest Z.
Critical Analysis of Non-fiction Text
The other evening, on my way home, driving through
Richmond Park, I nearly hit a cyclist. Rather, I was
tootling up the hill in my tiny Fiat 500 when down came
a Lycra-clad missile. Hunched over the handlebars, legs
pumping furiously, he was doing far more than the
park’s speed limit of 20mph. Fortunately, I saw him
with only a split second to spare and swerved – or else
we would have collided head-on.
Cyclists Must Give Way to Stay Safe – Chris Blackhurst
The Independent: Wednesday 14th August 2013
Word Choice
Blackhurst’s use of word choice is very skilful.
First, he uses the word ‘tootling’ instead of ‘drive’ to emphasise how
slow his car is and inserts the word ‘tiny’ to make it appear toy-like.
He contrasts this with the cyclist, using the word ‘hunched’ instead of
‘leaning’ to suggest determination and aggression, and the word
‘pumping’ instead of ‘pedalling’ to emphasise the cyclist’s dangerous
single-mindedness.
The other evening, on my way
home, driving through Richmond
Park, I nearly hit a cyclist. Rather, I
was tootling up the hill in my tiny
Fiat 500 when down came a Lycraclad missile. Hunched over the
handlebars, legs pumping
furiously, he was doing far more
than the park’s speed limit of
20mph. Fortunately, I saw him
with only a split second to spare
and swerved – or else we would
have collided head-on.
First, he uses the word ‘tootling’
instead of ‘drive’ to emphasise
how slow his car is and inserts the
word ‘tiny’ to make it appear toylike.
He contrasts this with the cyclist,
using the word ‘hunched’ instead
of ‘leaning’ to suggest
determination and aggression,
and the word ‘pumping’ instead
of ‘pedalling’ to emphasise the
cyclist’s dangerous singlemindedness.
Imagery
The monster burst into the room screaming at the children to sit down.
The teacher is compared to a monster.
Just as a monster is big and scary, so the teacher is a huge terrifying
man.
Template:
X is compared to Y. Just as Y is ______ so X is ______.
‘Inverted Commas’
Template:
• The author puts inverted commas around the words ‘X’ to indicate
these are someone else’s words not hers. This suggests she does not
believe X, she believes Y.
In the third paragraph, Pritchard puts inverted commas around the
word ‘minor’ to indicate these are someone else’s words not hers. This
suggests she does not believe drivers encroaching in a cycle box is a
‘minor’ offence; rather, she believes it is ‘major’.