Analyzing Text: Inference, Purpose and Effect

• Focus is on how language effects writing

Deducing, Inferring and Interpreting

• Process involves extracting, concluding, or understanding information from texts
• Deduction involves locating explicitly stated facts
• Inference requires interpreting underlying meanings based on evidence and logical reasoning
• A useful approach involves asking:
  • What is explicitly stated?
  • What implications can we draw from it?
  • What textual evidence supports these implications?
• For instance, inferring a character's emotions requires analyzing their actions and supporting textual details

Identifying Purpose, Viewpoint, and Effect

• Focus on determining the author's intention, perspective, and the impact on the audience
• An important question to ask is, "How is the importance of something emphasized?"
• Purpose explores the author's reason for including specific details, such as persuasion, information, or entertainment
• Viewpoint examines the author's attitude or stance, whether positive, negative, or critical
• Effect on the Reader considers the emotional response the text evokes
• AFOREST is used for persuasive writing and includes:
  • Alliteration
  • Facts
  • Opinions
  • Rhetorical Questions
  • Emotions
  • Statistics
  • Triples (rule of 3's)

Explaining Language Use

• Involves analyzing how language choices influence meaning
• When breaking this down, analyze:
  • Unusual word choices and their connotations
  • Sentence structure, considering short sentences for impact and longer ones for detail
  • Figurative language, for example metaphors, similes or personification
• Key terms to consider:
  • Imagery (visual, auditory, etc.)
  • Tone (serious, humorous, critical)
  • Syntax (sentence structure)
• It is important that you can identify the effect of word choice on tone

Understanding Impressions and Interoperations

• This involves discerning various impressions from elements like characters, setting, or themes
• PEE Chain (Point, Evidence, Explain)
  • State the impression you get
  • Provide a quote from the text as evidence
  • Explain how the word or phrase creates that impression

Writers Preparing Readers

• Writers prepare the reader for key discoveries
• It involves analyzing how a reader is prepared for a discovery and includes:
  • Emphasis on foreshadowing and build-up
  • Description of figures and their approach
  • The gradual realization that something is wrong
  • The impact of the ending
• This relies on annotating details of emotions, descriptions, and suspense. You also ID adjectives, verbs, and literary devices.
• Look for contrast between how a scene starts and how it unfolds

Commenting on Language

• To analyze language, explain how the writers choices impact the reader
  • Spot key language features before explaining the effect
  • Look for figurative language
    • Metaphor - Makes her seem cold and unfeeling - "Her heart was a stone"
    • Simile - Highlights speed - "He ran like the wind."
    • Personification - Creates a mysterious effects - "The trees whispered in the wind."
  • Look for sound devices
    • Alliteration - Draws attention to fear - "The dark, dreadful night..."
    • Onomatopoeia - Create excitement and drama - "Boom! Crash!"
  • Sentence structure
    • Short sentences - Creates tension - "He stopped. He listened. Silence."
    • Long sentences - Builds atmosphere - "The sky darkened, the wind howled, and the rain began to pour."
  • Emotive language
    • Positive words - Creates a happy tone - "warm, joyful, peaceful"
    • Negative words - Creates fear or sadness - "gloomy, eerie, terrifying"
• When analyzing the effect on the reader, consider how the word choice makes the reader feel
• Consider what the writer is trying to do and why they chose that word

PEE Method

• Point - Identify the technique
• Evidence - Quote from the text
• Explain - How does it affect the reader?