To analyse a text we have to do a trial of investigation and look for our evidence check for any other evidence and try to extract the text completely we can use 3 questions

3 Questions:-

What have they done?

• What have they written about? What’s the meaning and purpose of the text?

How have they done it?

• What writing techniques have they used?  Think of your figurative language techniques.

Why did they do it?

• What effect were they hoping to achieve? How do they want you to think and feel?

Meaning and Purpose

You should be able to work out the explicit and implicit meaning of the text using your Critical Reading Tools. But this question is focused more on HOW they’ve written the text, rather than WHAT they’ve written about. We’re looking at what core techniques they’ve employed to convey the meaning.

Writing Techniques

Going back to the criminal trial analogy, think of all the following techniques as pieces of evidence in a crime! How many has the writer committed? Try to look out for these when you’re reading and see how many you spot. If there are any terms you don’t know, write the word down on a revision card with a brief definition next to it, then regularly test yourself on your new words until you remember them.

Sentence Length

Look out for when writers vary the length of their sentences. Good writing has varied sentence lengths – it’s not just one long sentence after another! That would just be boring. Think about why they’ve chosen a short sentence after a few long ones – is it to emphasise a point? To shock the reader? To increase pace for excitement or dramatic effect? If the writer has noticeably varied their sentence lengths, then comment on that as a technique and explain why you think they did it.

Connotations

The writer has chosen specific words and phrases very carefully – usually because they’re loaded with connotations that have a particular effect on the reader. A word’s basic connotations are positive or negative, which is always a good place to start! But try to be more specific about the effect: does the writer want to make you outraged, upset, amused etc? So if the writer uses quite a powerful and impactful word, cut it out of the sentence and hold it up to the light on its own; what other meanings can you see there? Does it radiate a particular emotion? Do you think the writer has consciously used these connotations to influence the reader somehow? For example: