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Language Analysis

A look at connotations

Date : 25/07/2021

Author Information

Benett

Uploaded by : Benett
Uploaded on : 25/07/2021
Subject : English

Language Analysis. Assessment objective 2. A skill which permeates every single aspect of both English language and English literature.

I have lost track of the amount of times a student in class has asked `but do you really think the poet was thinking about all this when they wrote it?` as we work on some close language analysis on a technique in a poem.

My answer to this is yes.

`Connotations` is a word you have probably come across before. It refers to the feelings and associations a word has.

The noun `gun` has connotations of violence, as it is used to kill people. Alternatively, it also has connotations of patriotism as it is used by soldiers to defend their country.

When we talk about connotations, we give justification to why a writer has chosen certain words over others.

`She slashed at me with jagged yellow fingernails` sounds more vicious than `she cut at me with uneven yellow fingernails` because slash has more connotations of quick aggression than `cut` does.

Similarly, `uneven` only has connotations of being imperfect, whereas `jagged` has connotations of perilous mountain peaks

This is key for the `zoom` part of your paragraph. Always name the word class (eg. Noun/verb/adjective/pronoun/adverb etc.) in your answer so you are instantly ticking the AO2 language analysis box.

"The writer has used the verb `sliced` because of it`s connotations of aggression and ferocity, suggesting that the aggressor was committing a brutal level of damage in her rage-fuelled attack. The reader feels an immediate empathy for the first-person narrator who appears to be on the losing side of the `jagged yellow fingernails`.'

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