CLOSE READING SKILLSWORD CHOICE

Learning Intention:

I can demonstrate my analysis of specific words a writer uses

WORD CHOICE

When considering the language used by a writer, you can think of another word or expression the writer could have used. This will then allow you to compare the word used against an alternative and consider what the advantage was of using the word selected for the text.

Think about the connotations of the word – in other words, what do you associate it with?

For example, ‘slender’, ‘slim’, ‘thin’, ‘lean’ and ‘skinny’ may all have similar meanings but their connotations can be either negative or positive. If asked to comment on the writer's use of one of these words, thinking about the connotations will help you come up with a suitable comment.

HOW TO ANSWER – WORD CHOICE

Step 1: Quote the word (or sometimes phrase)

Step2: Discuss the words connotations

Step 3: Relate back to the question  

EXAMPLE

One day, a grey rat squirted out of a bag of potatoes and Henry had leapt with fright, his heart exploding in his chest. He was afraid of a lot of things - the closet door that never stayed closed in his bedroom, spooky movies about vampires - but most of all, the rats.

 What is unusual about the writer’s use of squirted in this sentence

EXAMPLE

Steps ExampleStep 1: Quote the word (or sometimes phrase)

“Squirted”

Step2: Discuss the words connotations

he word 'squirted' is usually associated with liquids and the rat's movement is being compared to liquid being forced out of a tube or a bottle.

Step 3: Relate back to the question It reveals the speed and liquid movement of the rats. Shows the rats are a solid mass

QUESTION ONE

As I bent, buckled and squeezed myself into the drysuit, the threat of a dose of marine indigestion seemed a poor defence against the flat-eyed terrors of the deep.

 Show how the writer’s use of word choice reveals that the writer struggled to get into the drysuit.

QUESTION TWO

Childhood memories of underwater programmes on TV flooded in, mixing with books and magazines on sharks.

 Show how the writer’s word choice conveys the way his memories returned.

QUESTION THREE

The session is drawing to a close and the teacher opens a bag of teddy bears and passes them round. “We’re going to sing

Rock-a-Bye Baby to help our teddies get to sleep.” Millie, 3, suddenly pipes up. “I don’t like Rock-a-Bye Baby,” she says firmly.

 Show how the writer’s word choice conveys one aspect of the girl’s personality.

QUESTION FOUR

So why not tackle the bagpipes?’ I think, as I eye a YouTube performance by the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, the closest thing the piping world has to pin-ups. They have teamed the bagpipe with electric guitars and keyboard, punching out dazzling arrangements of rock anthems, attracting new audiences and players in the process.

 Explain why any example of the writer’s word choice in the sentence in

lines 19–21 effectively conveys how impressive the band are

QUESTION FIVE

I thrust the giant gearstick into first and ease my foot tentatively off the clutch. In principle it is just like in a car, but in practice the difficulty of everything required—effort, concentration, even aim—has been multiplied many times. I start moving and, for the first time in 20 years, remember why I never go on rollercoasters. The excitement is tremendous but so is the fear of something so powerful. I am not only in the grip of a monster but, supposedly, in control of it.

 Look at lines 55–60. Identify and explain one example of contrast in the writer’s word choice

QUESTION SIX

Within 30 minutes I am soaring around the training ground, doing nifty turns and even managing to reverse into a tight parking space. “

Look at lines 61–62, and then show how one example of the writer’s

Word choice illustrates a point about how her driving improved.

QUESTION SEVEN

We sat on for several minutes in an amiable silence punctuated by the cries of the killdeer and the faulty muffler of the pick-up.

Show how the writer’s word choice suggests that the two strangers are comfortable in each other’s company.

QUESTION EIGHT

So on the afternoon of 16 December, when Greenwood, my elementary school, dispatched its happy hordes into the snowy streets to begin three glorious weeks of yuletide relaxation (and school holidays in those days, let me say, were of a proper and

generous duration). Look at lines 7– 9.Explain how any one example of the writer’s word choice in these lines helps emphasise the fact that the writer has pleasant memories of Christmas time when he was a boy.

QUESTION NINE

He modified his routes and always remained far from the overhang of the roof where the boy – changing his tactics, trying to be selective – was perched, rock in hand, directly above the bait on the ground, waiting to crush the rat’s back.

What does the writer’s use of the word “perched” add to image created that a simpler word like “sitting” would not.

QUESTION TEN

At length we parked in an enormous parking lot that was

almost comically empty—we were one of half a dozen cars, all from out of state—and strode a few paces to a grand entrance, where we stood with hands in pockets looking up at a fabulous display of wrought iron

Show how the writer’s word choice shows that Disneyland was an impressive place