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The Textual Analysis NAB is based on an
extract from a short story, novel or play, or
perhaps on a whole short poem.
You have to read the text carefully, and then
answer questions on how it is written — the
techniques the writer uses and the effects he
or she creates.
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Your Textual Analysis skills will also be useful in
the Close Reading NAB and final Close Reading
exam, where some questions will be marked with
an A to show they are testing these skills.
The Textual Analysis NAB also overlaps with your
study of literature. When you study a literature
text you are really analysing it.
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Writers choose every single word very
carefully. They use a number of language
techniques.
These techniques are also sometimes called
the features of the text, or aspects of the
text.
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You will look carefully at the writer’s:
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word choice: the words the writer deliberately uses
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structure: the way the writer builds up sentences, or
paragraphs, or the whole text
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imagery: for example simile, metaphor and
personification,onomatopoeia in which the writer
describes something by comparing it to something else,
giving you a vivid image or picture in your mind
and a number of other techniques.
1.
2.
3.
Similies
Metaphors
Personification.
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Imagery is the term we use whenever a writer
creates a picture in language.
If the words a writer uses immediately create a
picture in your mind, then you’ve just
encountered an image.
Some imagery techniques have particular names.
Three of these are simile, metaphor and
personification.
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When a word sounds like what it is describing, we
call this onomatopoeia.
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Words like thud, bang, splash, yawn and howl are
all examples of this technique.
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Most onomatopoeic words are to do with either
sound or movement.
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Onomatopoeia is used to make the writing sound
more vivid.
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An example of onomatopoeia in the poem is:
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‘slithering with a dull clatter’
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Look at the quotation above.
Which is the onomatopoeic word?
In what way does that word’s sound suggest its
meaning?
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When letters or sounds are repeated at the
beginnings of words we call this alliteration
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For example:
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Steve seldom smiled on Sundays.
Silently the spider spun its silken strands.
Alliteration makes you notice the words more
and draws your attention to what the writer is
saying.
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Look at the line below from the poem.
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A cup capsizes along the formica
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What effect does the alliteration in this line
have?
Why do you think the writer began his poem
this way?
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Of course all words that a writer uses are chosen in
some way.
But when we talk about word choice as a technique
we mean that certain words are very carefully and
deliberately chosen to obtain particular effects.
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Often Textual Analysis or Close Reading questions
ask you to examine sentence structure.
First, you will only be asked about the structure of
a sentence if the examiners think there is
something noticeable or unusual about it, so you
can start by asking yourself these questions:
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Length:
• Is the sentence noticeably short or long?
• What effect does this length have?
Sentence type:
• Does the sentence make a statement?
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She’s a good girl.
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• Is the sentence in the form of a question?
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Is she a good girl?
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• Is it an exclamation?
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Good girl!
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• Does it give a command or instruction?
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Be a good girl for your granny.
Is the sentence in the form of a list?
• What effect does the sentence type have?
Word order:
 • Have the words been placed in an unusual order?
 • What effect does this have?
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Grammar:
• Would the sentence make sense on its own, out of context?
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• Is it a minor sentence, one without a verb?
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She was a really good girl. Sometimes. Not always.
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(Minor sentences, while not grammatically perfect, can often make a
big impact. Writers can use them to add drama or emphasis.)
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• What effect does the grammar of the sentence have?
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Finally, ask yourself:
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• Is there anything else unusual about the way the sentence is
written?
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Punctuation is part of sentence structure
since it is used to shape sentences and to
organise the words within them.
To be able to answer punctuation questions,
you need to know what common punctuation
marks are used for:
When do we use
commas ?
,
When do we use
dashes ?
When do we use
Inverted commas ?
“”
1.
2.
3.
4.
to separate items in a list.
to introduce a quote.
to introduce direct speech.
to make the reader pause at certain
times in a sentence.
1. to give extra information in a
sentence.
2. to make the reader take a pause.
3. to mark out a word or phrase from the
rest of the sentence (Maths is great –
not.)
1. to show the words actually spoken
2. to show that we are talking about the
title of a book or film or poem, etc.
3. to show that we are quoting someone
else and these are not the writer’s own
words.
When do we use
semi colons ?
;
When do we use
colons ?
:
When do we use
ellipsis ?
…
When do we use capital letters ?
1. to join two (or more) related ideas.
2. to separate items in a list when there are
commas in the sentence already.
3. to join several sentences into one very
long one.
1.
2.
3.
4.
to introduce a list.
to introduce a quote.
to give more information about an idea
.to punctuate a play.
1. Dots used to tail of a sentence.
2. To show gaps in a piece of writing.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
at the beginning of a sentence.
for names.
To emphasise a word.
for the beginning of a section of direct speech.
for titles of books, newspapers, films, etc.for
acronyms (like BBC or STV or CSI)
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You will often be asked why the ending of a text is
suitable. This might involve looking at the last line(s) of
a poem, or the last sentence or paragraph of a prose
text. Endings can be suitable in a number of ways. For
example:
• the ending
saying
• the ending
• the ending
• the ending
about
• the ending
earlier in the
may sum up what the writer has been
may emphasis a point made in the text
may be humorous
may give the reader something to think
may refer neatly back to something found
text.
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We are going to look at the ending of the
poem in two ways.
1 Read the whole of the last verse. In what
ways is this a suitable ending to the poem?
You answer should be a paragraph and you
should use some quotations from that verse
to justify what you say.
2 Focus on the final line. In what way is this
a suitable ending to the poem?
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In ‘War Photographer’, Duffy succeeds in portraying the
conflicts and tensions which are an inherent part of any war
photographer’s life. Where she excels, is in exposing the
terrible dilemma of the job: between carrying out an
undeniably worthy job and maintaining a sense of
compassion towards the relentless suffering you are
confronted with. Through her skilful use of language, the
poet not only tugs at the reader’s heartstrings, but dares
them to confront their own attitudes towards suffering. This
is a vitally relevant question in a world which is currently
plagued by civil war and conflicts, conveyed through the
medium of the de-sensitising media. The poem’s ambiguity
prompts two key questions: with whom do we ourselves
sympathise – the photographer? The editor? The
newspaper readers? And more importantly perhaps, with
whom do we identify?