Author's Use of Language
What to know
Author's use of language covers diction (word choice), connotation (the feelings a word carries), imagery, figurative language, syntax (sentence length and structure), and tone (the writer's attitude). You must connect a device to its effect: not just "the author uses a metaphor" but "the metaphor makes the factory feel like a living threat." Tone words matter-sarcastic, nostalgic, critical, resigned, celebratory. Mood is the feeling created in the reader; tone is the writer's attitude.
Traps
Questions often include a choice that correctly names a device but describes the wrong effect, or a tone word with the wrong intensity or direction. Watch for choices that confuse the narrator's tone with a character's mood. Also beware of the "dictionary definition" trap: a word's connotation, not its literal meaning, drives the answer.
Rule of thumb
Use the substitution test: replace the key word with a neutral synonym and ask how the sentence changes. If "slender" becomes "skinny," the connotation shifts from elegant to critical-proof that word choice is doing work.
Worked example: "The committee's plan limped into the new year." Naming personification is only half the answer. The verb "limped" suggests weakness and struggle, so the author's tone is skeptical about the plan's viability. A choice saying "the author is excited about the plan" fails the effect test.