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Original poster

Which writing techniques are used in these two sentences?

40 replies

SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 11:19

Just looking at some past review papers of Ds, he didn’t answer these correctly. Can anyone help?

Q1. Which writing technique is used here: “His fingers shook slightly”?
Out of all the techniques I can find I can only think of descriptive?

Q2. Which two writing techniques are used here: “McInturf coughed, once, twice; a hideous, gurgling, strangling sound”?

Any help greatly appreciated.

OP posts:
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Piggywaspushed · 24/02/2020 21:07

As did the AQA GCSE report.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 24/02/2020 21:05

The OCR A Level examiners' report last year commented rather wearily on the overuse of technical terminology which added nothing of substance to the candidates' responses...

lostinleaves · 24/02/2020 20:52

That's not nice...I was becoming very Eeyore ish until I changed jobs.

Piggywaspushed · 24/02/2020 19:09

Perhaps! Although I feel more like Eeyore these days...

lostinleaves · 24/02/2020 18:04

I think you are perhaps Tigger and not Piglet then Piggy

Piggywaspushed · 24/02/2020 14:00

I'm OK, lost. I bounced at the bottom and have climbed back up again...

IHeartKingThistle · 24/02/2020 12:38

I teach English and those are weird questions!

I'd also see the first one as a good example of showing not telling, which I do teach as a technique.

Pinkyxx · 24/02/2020 12:35

Not inspired, my year 6 DD has already lost so much love for English thanks to KS2 'death by grammar'. Gone are the days she writes stories for fun..

I'm convinced this obsession with technical writing & grammar has taken focus away from comprehension & creative expression which doesn't feel very sensible nor helpful as a path to GCSE/ A level.

Giroscoper · 24/02/2020 12:16

Most times in my son's school they do "green for growth" which is where they correct things in green pen so you see what you should have written, ie the actual answer.

Otherwise how will they improve?

lostinleaves · 23/02/2020 21:09

@sweetmarmalade I'm glad I've made somebody happy as I fear that I may have tipped poor @Piggywaspushed over the SPAG cliff Blush

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 18:39

@lostinleaves can’t tell you how happy that makes me 🤣Flowers

OP posts:
lostinleaves · 23/02/2020 18:37

Marmalade my year 10 had a look and said 'why on earth would we have to analyse that shit' Grin

lostinleaves · 23/02/2020 18:36

Sorry @Piggywaspushed, I didn't mean to make you hyperventilate so alarmingly.

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 18:25

He’s due review 2 next week so we’ll see how that goes Confused Parent’s Evening not long after so we’ll have a good talk then. It could be that Ds needed to correct the paper, will find out more when I have a chat to the teacher.

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 23/02/2020 18:21

Well... no corrections isn't terribly helpful!

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 18:20

@Piggywaspushed it was part of a reading and writing exam. I’ve only just found it tucked away inside his English book. No corrections just a 0/1 to indicate his answer was incorrect.

I’m pleased that this doesn’t represent exams further up the years.Grin

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 23/02/2020 18:20

alliteration is the repetition of any consonant (at the start of words usually) ; sibilance is the name for the ssss sound.

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 18:17

What’s the difference between alliteration and sibilance?

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 23/02/2020 18:16

I teach secondary English and have never seen an exam like that... don't worry : GCSEs are not like this...

Original poster
SweetMarmalade · 23/02/2020 18:15

@Piggywaspushed it was part of a Y8 English review 1 exam taken last term.

Thank you everyone. I’m going to show your answers to Ds when he gets home.

@Shannith Very interesting, thank you. I’ll look into this and ask Ds if he’s heard of this technique. Never heard of using it before but will absolutely take everything we can to help.

OP posts:
Shannith · 23/02/2020 17:58

And I'll be off buying a new autocorrect 😂

Shannith · 23/02/2020 17:58

You didn't ask but did say he might struggle to spot these

Good way is to get him to read text out loud )or in his head) to see what noises he makes.

That sounds mental now I've written it! Hopefully you/he'll get what I mean.

He may want to do it in his head but still mouth the words in an exam as hissing may be frowned upon Smile

Other way is to have a list of all the standard littlest techniques they are likely to ask him to spot and het him to write some examples of them out himself.

Shannith · 23/02/2020 17:51
  1. Alliteration of the sssssss sounds
  1. onomatopoeia - words that sound like the sound they represent when you say them out loud.
Pinkarsedfly · 23/02/2020 17:40

First one is sibilance.

Second one is onomatopoeia.

QuestionableMouse · 23/02/2020 17:37

The last one could be the rule of three - you have three thing (descriptions, phrases) working together.

First is alliteration/sibilance.

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