What transferable reading skills underpin every reading question across both AQA English Language papers?
Recognising and naming language techniques with accurate subject terminology, and using terminology to analyse effect rather than to label, across fiction and non-fiction reading questions.
A reference to the language techniques and subject terminology for AQA GCSE English Language: what each term means, how to use terminology to analyse effect rather than to label, and why precise naming supports AO2 across both papers.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
Subject terminology is the shared vocabulary you use to name a writer's techniques precisely. The AO2 wording on AQA GCSE English Language (8700) explicitly requires you to "use relevant subject terminology to support your views", so it is one of the few skills the mark scheme names by reference to terminology directly. But the point of terminology is to help you analyse effect, not to collect labels. The top AO2 band rewards "analysis of the effects of the writer's choices of language" with "judicious" use of terminology; the lowest band describes "simple comment" and terms used without effect. This skill gives you a working bank of techniques and, more importantly, the habit of using each term as the start of an analysis, never the end.
A working bank of terms
You do not need a huge list. A handful of techniques you genuinely understand, used to analyse effect, will outscore a long catalogue of half-known labels. The most valuable categories for AQA are word class (especially verbs and adjectives), imagery, and sentence form, because they appear in almost every extract and give you something to say even on an unfamiliar text.
Terminology serves analysis
The danger of terminology is that it tempts feature-spotting, where a candidate writes "the writer uses a simile, a metaphor and personification" and then moves on. The rule is simple: a term is the beginning of a sentence about effect, never the whole sentence. A useful internal test is to ask, after naming any technique, "so what does this do to the reader?" If you cannot answer, the term is dead weight.
Word class: the most reliable terminology
Naming the word class of a precise choice (verb, adjective, adverb, noun) is the most reliable AO2 move, because every text is made of words and you do not have to hope for a flashy figure of speech. A loaded verb is often the richest single piece of evidence. "Crept", "tore", "snarled", and "drifted" each carry a distinct connotation, and naming "the verb 'crept'" then analysing its associations is genuine analysis even without a named device.
Connotation: the idea behind every term
Analysing the connotations of a single word is often the richest move. Asking what associations a word carries lets you explain effect precisely, even without a named figure of speech. For example, the verb "crept" connotes secrecy and slowness, suggesting menace, without needing any technical label beyond "verb choice". Whenever a named device fails you, fall back to connotation: it always gives you a route to effect.
Try this
Q1. What is the purpose of subject terminology in an AO2 answer? [2 marks]
- Cue. To name a technique precisely as the start of analysing its effect on the reader, not just to label it.
Q2. What do the connotations of the verb "snarled" suggest about a character? [2 marks]
- Cue. It connotes aggression and animal-like anger, suggesting the character is hostile or threatening.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20188 marksPaper 1, Question 2. Look in detail at lines 8 to 15 of the source. How does the writer use language here to describe the storm? You could include the writer's choice of words and phrases, language features and techniques, and sentence forms.Show worked answer →
This AO2 question rewards subject terminology used to analyse effect, not labelling. The eight marks reward language method, subject terminology, and explanation of effect together. Method: select two or three short quotations, name the technique precisely (verb choice, personification, sibilance, declarative sentence), then explain the effect on the reader. For "the wind tore at the roof", name the verb choice "tore", note its violent connotation, and explain it makes the storm feel deliberate and destructive. Markers place answers that name a technique and develop its effect with subject terminology in the top band; a list of labels with no effect stays in band 1.
AQA 20228 marksOutline what subject terminology is and explain, with two named examples, how a candidate should use it to gain AO2 marks rather than to label techniques.Show worked answer →
A revision-style question testing the principle behind AO2. A strong answer defines subject terminology as the precise shared vocabulary for techniques, then shows two terms used analytically. For example: name "metaphor" in "the city was a furnace", then explain it makes the heat feel oppressive and inescapable; name "imperative" in "Run", then explain its urgency commands the reader's attention. Markers reward the move from term to effect, and penalise answers that only list terms. The key insight to state is that a term begins a sentence about effect; it is never the whole sentence.
Related dot points
- Inferring and deducing implied meaning from an unseen text, supporting interpretations with evidence, and building from literal understanding to layered interpretation across all reading questions.
How to master inference and deduction for AQA GCSE English Language: reading implied meaning from clues, distinguishing literal from inferred understanding, and supporting every interpretation with precise evidence across all reading questions.
- Identifying tone, mood and register in a text and explaining how a writer's choices create them, across fiction and non-fiction reading questions and for comparison of perspectives.
How to read tone, mood and register for AQA GCSE English Language: telling the three apart, identifying them from a writer's choices, and using them to analyse effect and compare writers' attitudes across both papers.
- Recognising structural features at whole-text and sentence level, naming them with subject terminology, and explaining how a writer's ordering and shaping choices affect the reader.
A reference to structural features for AQA GCSE English Language: whole-text features such as openings, shifts and endings, sentence-level features such as length and type, and how to analyse the effect of a writer's structural choices.
- Analysing how a writer uses language to achieve effects in an unseen fiction extract (AO2), including word choice, imagery, sentence forms and the move from method to effect on the reader.
How to answer the AO2 language question on AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1: selecting precise evidence, naming the method with subject terminology, and explaining the effect on the reader rather than just spotting techniques.
- Analysing how a writer uses language in a non-fiction text to achieve effects (AO2), including persuasive and rhetorical devices, tone and word choice in one named text.
How to answer the AO2 language question on AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2: analysing how a writer of non-fiction uses language, including rhetorical and persuasive devices, tone and word choice, to influence the reader of one named text.
Sources & how we know this
- AQA GCSE English Language (8700) specification — AQA (2015)