← Unfamiliar text close reading
Feature → effect frames
Starting frames — attach the text's SPECIFIC subject.| Feature | Effect frame |
|---|---|
| Personification | Gives [object] human intent, so it seems [quality] |
| Sibilance | Hissing sound mirrors the [threatening/whispering] tone |
| Short sentence | Slams the idea home / mimics a held breath |
| Rhetorical question | Forces the reader to answer — complicity |
| Contrast | [A] against [B] isolates exactly what changed |
Poetry: the title unlocks the poem; the last stanza lands the idea.
✕Naming a feature is not analysing it
The schedules explicitly want "awareness that meaning has been deliberately crafted for a particular purpose" — so "the writer uses a short sentence" identifies, but stops there. Follow every feature with what it DOES: to the reader's understanding, feeling, or picture of the idea the question names.Moving from Achieved to Excellence within the same frame
- Achieved: name the feature and state a relevant idea it relates to.
- Merit: weave a RANGE of specific details together into a reasoned, clear discussion — several features working toward the idea, not just one.
- Excellence: make a JUDGEMENT about how the effects and meanings relate to the text's PURPOSE — why the writer wanted this effect, not just that it exists.
Practice for this standard covers the whole topic — flashcards and quiz.