Key terms

Stylistic features:

The features of a text that contribute to its style. Stylistic features can include lexical choice, syntax, narrative point of view, voice, structure, lighting, composition, language patterns and language features. For example, the low key lighting in film noir, the symmetrical composition in Wes Anderson’s films or the changing syntax and voice in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

Language patterns:

The arrangement of identifiable repeated or corresponding elements in a text. These include patterns of repetition or similarity (for example, the repeated use of verbs at the beginning of each step in a recipe, or the repetition of a chorus after each verse in a song). The patterns may alternate 17 English | ATAR | Year 11 syllabus (for example, the call and response pattern of some games, or the to and fro of a dialogue). Other patterns may contrast (for example, opposing viewpoints in a discussion, or contrasting patterns of imagery in a poem). The language patterns of a text contribute to the distinctive nature of its overall organisation and shape its meaning.

Language features:

The features of language that support meaning (for example, sentence structure, noun group/phrase, vocabulary, punctuation, figurative language, framing, camera angles). Choices in language features and text structures together define a type of text and shape its meaning. These choices vary according to the purpose of a text, its subject matter, audience and mode of production.

Figurative language:

Word groups/phrases used in a way that differs from the expected or everyday usage. They are used in a non-literal way for particular effect (for example, simile – ‘white as a sheet’; metaphor – ‘all the world’s a stage’; personification – ‘the wind grabbed at my clothes’).

Theme:

An idea, concern or argument developed in a text; a recurring element (for example, the subject of a text may be love, and its theme could be how love involves sacrifice). A work may have more than one theme.