Writing Technique Examples

🔹 Figurative Language

Simile – “Cold as ice”

→ uses “as” to compare coldness to ice

Metaphor – “Time is a thief”

→ directly equates time with a thief (no like/as)

Extended metaphor – “Life is a journey… crossroads, detours”

→ same comparison sustained across multiple ideas

Personification – “The wind whispered”

→ wind given human action (whispering)

Symbolism – “The dove flew overhead”

→ dove represents peace, not just a bird

Allegory – Animals running a farm to show politics

→ entire story represents another meaning

Hyperbole – “I’ve told you a million times”

→ impossible exaggeration for emphasis

Oxymoron – “Deafening silence”

→ contradictory words combined

Paradox – “Less is more”

→ seems false but reveals truth

Juxtaposition – “The rich man stood beside the beggar”

→ opposites placed together

Pathetic fallacy – “Rain poured as she cried”

→ weather mirrors emotion

🔹 Sound Techniques

Alliteration – “Dark, dangerous depths”

→ repeated “d” sound at start

Assonance – “The light of the fire”

→ repeated long “i” vowel sound

Consonance – “Lumpy, bumpy road”

→ repeated “mp” consonant sound

Sibilance – “Snakes slither silently”

→ repeated “s” sound

Onomatopoeia – “The bomb went boom”

→ word imitates sound

🔹 Structural Techniques

Repetition – “Never again, never again”

→ same phrase repeated

Rule of three – “Stop, look, listen”

→ three parallel elements

Anaphora – “We will fight, we will win”

→ repetition at the start

Epistrophe – “For justice, for freedom”

→ repetition at the end

Parallelism – “Easy come, easy go”

→ same grammatical structure

Cyclical structure – Begins and ends with same scene

→ structure loops back

Foreshadowing – “He felt something would go wrong”

→ hints at future

Flashback – “Years ago, he remembered…”

→ shifts to past

In media res – “The gun fired. I ran.”

→ starts mid-action

Cliffhanger – “The door creaked open…”

→ outcome withheld

Volta – “At first hopeful… but now hopeless”

→ clear shift in tone/idea

Fragmentation – “No hope. No escape.”

→ incomplete sentences

Non-linear narrative – Ending shown before beginning

→ events out of order

🔹 Language & Diction

Emotive language – “Innocent children suffer”

→ word “innocent” triggers emotion

High modality – “This must change”

→ strong certainty (“must”)

Low modality – “This might change”

→ weak certainty (“might”)

Imagery – “Golden sunlight warmed her skin”

→ appeals to sight + touch

Lexical field – “Fight, attack, defend”

→ group of war-related words

Semantic field – “Grave, sorrow, loss”

→ theme of death

Euphemism – “Passed away”

→ softens harsh idea (death)

Dysphemism – “Kicked the bucket”

→ makes it more blunt/harsh

Metonymy – “The crown decided”

→ “crown” = monarchy

Synecdoche – “All hands on deck”

→ “hands” = people

Colloquial language – “Gonna go now”

→ informal speech

Formal language – “Furthermore, this demonstrates”

→ structured, formal tone

🔹 Persuasive Techniques

Rhetorical question – “What would you do?”

→ no real answer expected

Direct address – “You must act”

→ speaks directly to reader

Inclusive language – “We must act”

→ includes reader with “we”

Statistics – “80% agree”

→ numerical evidence

Anecdote – “Last year, I saw…”

→ short personal story

Expert opinion – “Doctors say…”

→ uses authority

Imperatives – “Act now”

→ command verb

Appeal to fear – “This could happen to you”

→ creates fear

Appeal to logic – “Evidence proves…”

→ reason-based argument

Appeal to emotion – “Families are suffering”

→ targets feelings

Appeal to credibility – “As an expert…”

→ builds trust

🔹 Cohesion & Style

Motif – Darkness repeated throughout

→ recurring idea/image

Tone shift – Calm → angry

→ change in attitude

Register shift – Formal → slang

→ change in formality

Narrative voice – “I walked alone”

→ first-person perspective

Unreliable narrator – Contradicts themselves

→ cannot be trusted

Ambiguity – “Maybe it was real… maybe not”

→ unclear meaning

Intertextuality – “Like Romeo and Juliet…”

→ references another text

Contrast – “Light against darkness”

→ clear difference shown

Duality – “He was both hero and villain”

→ two opposites coexist