Textual Structures, Language Features and Conventions
What you must understand
You need a precise vocabulary for how texts are built. At whole-text level: genre, narrative arc, framing, juxtaposition, structural repetition, chapter or stanza patterning, and the ordering of information. At paragraph and sentence level: topic sentences, cohesion, paragraph length, sentence variety for pace and emphasis. At word level: connotation, register, modality, nominalisation, active and passive voice.
Literary figurative language - metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, hyperbole, irony - should be analysed for function, not merely labelled. Sound and rhythm devices (alliteration, assonance, sibilance, rhythm, rhyme) matter most when they reinforce sense. Visual and multimodal texts use layout, salience, colour, vectors and framing; these are structural choices with meaning, not decoration.
Traps in questions
- Feature lists. A paragraph that names six devices but explains none will score poorly. Depth over breadth.
- Misidentifying devices. Check whether a comparison is stated (simile) or implied (metaphor), and whether irony is verbal or situational.
- Ignoring structure. Many candidates analyse only word choice; questions about how the text is organised require comment on sequencing and patterning.
- Confusing sentence-level effect with whole-text effect. A short sentence can quicken pace locally without changing the text's overall rhythm.
Rule of thumb
For any feature, ask three questions: What exactly is it? Where is it placed? What would be lost if it were removed? The third question produces the analysis. For example, removing the final one-line paragraph of a chapter may remove the ironic sting the whole chapter was building towards - that is a structural effect worth stating.