English Language Techniques: Effects With Examples

29 Jan, 2025
Author : Joshua Smith

Key Takeaways

  • Understanding what language techniques are will make you more aware of these techniques.
  • 14 of the mentioned techniques are the most used English language Techniques.
  • An example of each technique makes it easy to get a better understanding.
  • The effects of these techniques make you learn when to use these techniques.

Looking for English language techniques, that means you are an English literature student. Well, you do not need to worry at all, as we are here to explain everything to you. We have covered the most important techniques of the English language for you in this blog. We understand the value of these techniques and how great an impact it puts on the reader when used in the right manner. This blog will help you out in getting a proper explanation of all the techniques mentioned in this blog.

The best way to understand anything is through example and getting a clear image of how it is going to affect you, which is the reason we have used examples and effects that a technique will have when used in your writing. Make sure to go through all the examples mentioned in this blog if you are a student writing an assignment, or you can use guidance from a good assignment writing services to understand all these techniques in a better way. 

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What are English Language Techniques/Devices?

Literary devices, which can also be considered Linguistic or figurative devices, are techniques which professional writers use to showcase their emotions, feelings, mood or theme of their writing more effectively and attractively. English has many languages which include metaphors, repetition, emotive language and many more. All of these languages are used in a way that creates a particular effect in writing for professional writers. 

You are asked to use all these languages in your English literature assignments, as these are very important aspects of the English language. You can simply understand with the example, would you ever remember this line "Everyone has a role in Life", It is too easy to be remembered, which is why William Shakespeare said, "All the world's is a stage and all the men and women are merely players". This line is still in use and remembered by many as Shakespeare did not use simple language but used these techniques to make it more effective. 

Even If you are a student who is looking for simple ways to improve your academic writing you must also learn these techniques as these will even help you in your assignment. 

English Language Techniques

English Language Techniques

  • Metaphor
  • Simile
  • Alliteration
  • Lists (Rule of Three)
  • Emotive Language
  • Personification
  • Repetition
  • Opinion
  • Onomatopoeia
  • Facts/Figures
  • Rhetorical Question
  • Exaggeration
  • Allusion
  • Direct Address

Below is the explanation of all these Languages with the effect that they have on the readers with examples to make you understand everything in a better way. 

Metaphor

Figurative language is a form of words that suggest a likeness or analogy apart from necessarily denoting one. Unlike a simile, that compares two things with “like” or “as, ” a metaphor is a direct comparison. Literature is full of metaphors that are very powerful tools to write in.

Example of Metaphor: Consider the metaphor from Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Life’s but a walking shadow.”

Life is contraposed here to a ‘walking shadow’, a shadow and an image which passes by and is ephemeral. Being that this is not a stylistic choice, but full of meaning and emotion, it speaks about the tendency of life too – to be transient, and in many ways without meaning.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: The shadow here, according to Shakespeare, isn’t just like life at all; it is life itself. A comparison like this fortifies the reader’s understanding of some of the play’s themes. It leads readers to become weary of life’s brevity and compounding existential insignificance as Macbeth himself had become weary. The metaphor is not so much a precise rendering of the character's tragic epiphany, but rather a single, powerful image that concretises a difficult abstract idea: life is transient.

Any English literature assignment help service provider can tell you true importance of metaphor english language technique and they can even tell you how important it is. 

Simile

This is one of the most common techniques in English, Simile is similar to descriptive English language devices, as this is used when you have to compare two or more things to create a Vivid image in the mind of readers. 

Example of Simile: It uses "as", "Like", 'Cool as a Cucumber', 'Smooth like Ocean' or Loud like a Thunderstorm'. You can understand through these examples how Simile adds more details in explaining behaviour, people, objects or events. 

Explanation-Effects of Simile: This affects on reader imagining and understanding of what the writer wants to showcase. They relate everything in a poetic way which forces readers to imagine in the same way the writer wants them to imagine. 

If you are a literature student, practicing and learning about these techniques is best what you can do whenever you feel what to do when bored in class

Alliteration

Stylistic device – alliteration consists in so that consecutive words or close to each other with the same consonant sound. Repeating sounds can make a piece of writing rhythmical, create a mood or emphasise something. Poetry, prose, even tongue twisters — it’s often used.

Example of Alliteration: An example from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is: “It's big but bad bludger banged against my broom.”

The ’b’ sound is used over and over again, creating a rhythmic and emphatic effect in this sentence. It grabs the reader's attention and sounds how it describes.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: The alliteration of the 'b' sound in this example makes the rhythmic beat emphasising the force and chaos of the bludger in the Quidditch game. It increases the intensity and excitement of the scene and enhances the action for the reader. The seventeen repetitions are also to imitate the repetitious nature of the bludger’s movement and to emphasize this to the reader.

Lists (Rule of Three)

It comes from the Rule of Three, some type of writing principle based on the idea that things presented in threes, in the number three itself, are inherently more interesting, satisfying and effective. It is a technique wherein you write a kind of three words, phrases or sentences to make the text memorable and engaging. Speeches, storytelling, and persuasive writing— almost every type of speech—have a common feature: it's there.

Example of the Rule of Three: A classic example is from Julius Caesar’s famous line: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

This simple trio of verbs does a good job of encapsulating the essence of his swift victory. The actions on top of the last one add up to the progression and the completeness.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: In this historical example, three actions in this case are also used to create a sense of completeness and finality in Caesar’s triumph. Using the balanced structure also helps remember and is rhetorically effective. This technique for the reader helps the reader to share the swiftness and decisiveness of Caesars’ actions. It also offers a concise, clean summarized version of a complex event that is much more effective and memorable.

Even though literature is not in the list of best degrees in the UK to graduate, do not consider all this information is essential only for Literature students, this can be used by anyone as every student has to write the assignment in which all these techniques will be really helpful. 

Emotive Language

Emotive Language are words or phrases that make a reader’s heart pound. The form of the language used can do this to influence the reader, or a create certain atmosphere in the text. This is especially useful in persuasive writing because the purpose of the author is to arouse feelings of happiness, sadness, anger and so on with which to influence or make the reader feel the way the author wants.

Example of Emotive Language: An example is from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: “His voice was that one that sometimes felt like a writhing winter wind.”

In this one, the word “cold” is replete with emotion, charging it with bitterness and negating any sympathy or humanity that a character could have.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: Here it’s the choice of emotive language that helps to create a strong antipathy towards the character – it’s being described. The use of the comparison of the winter wind reminds the reader of a feeling of discomfort and unease that serves to emotionally connect them to the scene and the characters. Thus, the way the words are chosen and how they are employed describes and informs the emotional atmosphere they engender in terms of how the reader interprets the character and the narrative.

Personification

This is a literary device wherein humans attribute to animals, inanimate objects, and such concepts. This is a technique used to make non-human elements live so that the reader gets to visualize that element as if they or a friend are talking to real people. On occasion, it is used to heighten a reader’s emotional or imaginative relationship with the listener.

Example of Personification: From William Wordsworth’s poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”: “The waves beside them danced.”

Here the waves are made to behave like humans and to dance. It not only lights up a vivid image but also adds life and joy to the scene.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: In this case, you have the waves themselves as ‘dancing’ which gives you a natural scene full of energy and happiness. It makes the reader see the waves as much more than a physical phenomenon but as joyous players in the landscape. This personification places the reader into the scene and makes them feel that landscape not only visually, but through emotions and imagination.

Importance of all these techniques can be understood through going updated list of all subjects at University, as now even English literature is considered important subject for master's due to rising importance of all these English language techniques in all these years. 

Repetition

A literary device that involves the use of a word or sounds repeated more than one time is called repetition. It says something and it's used to give a feeling, give rhythm, or create urgency, and emphasis. Repetition can also give the message or theme in the text more importance.

Example of Repetition: Martin Luther King Jr. himself gives an example of the use of the phrase “I have a dream” repeatedly, in his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. This repetition emphasizes King’s idea of racial harmony and equality and goes on to give us clues about what his vision of America was to be.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: In King’s speech, there is a nice rhythm created by the repetition of the phrase, "I have a dream." Not only does it lend emphasis to the fact that his dream is so important it is put into the minds of the listeners. This repetition serves doubly as a persuasive and motivational machine, hammering King’s message and its relevance home for the reader or listener.

Opinion

Literature opinion is defined as the statement or belief that the writer or a character has on it and conceives it as his thoughts, feelings and judgment rather than objective truth. It can be a means for the authors to state their views or for the characters to reveal attitudes and views. But reader’s opinions are used to form the view a character or a theme is through in the narrative.

Example of Opinion: An example can be found in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

In effect, the sheep repeat this phrase, verbatim, exhibiting the opinion of the pigs, somehow by extension of the sheep on the superiority of animals over humans. This is indoctrination, this is a belief that is accepted and repeated word for word without question, this is a belief that is never questioned.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: This opinion shows the power of propaganda and how easily simple ideas can be used to build a propaganda machine to manipulate and control. It highlights the dangers of mindless acceptance of belief and the power of independent thought for the reader. This is an opinion by the characters that becomes a vehicle for Orwell to say something about the nature of power and control and the nature of revolutions.

Rising use of these English language techniques has made English literature becoming an important subject in top universities in UK

Onomatopoeia

The word onomatopoeia refers to a word which both phonetically imitates, resembles, or even suggests the sound to which it refers. This literary device echoes the sounds that the sounds denote, to give aural effects which can bring a scene or an action to life in the reader’s imagination. Onomatopoeic words tend to come alive to the senses.

Example of Onomatopoeia: A classic ‘sound’ example is when Edgar Allan Poe wrote the poem ‘The Bells’ (lines about ‘tinkling,’ ‘jingling’ and ‘tintinnabulation’ mirror the sound of bells). The sound of these words not only describes the sound but they also imitate the actual sound of the bells to give a sensory experience to the poem.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: The use of onomatopoeia is very helpful in ‘The Bells’ as it gives the poem a dramatic and lyrical quality by encouraging an active reader to really ‘see’ this poem. In this way, for the reader, these sounds bring the poem to life so that they can ‘hear’ the bells as they read. The stimuli are auditory, and they bring more life and depth into doing (the text).

Facts/Figures

In literature, facts/figures are the use of data statistics or factual information to prove the arguments that support the realism and credibility of the account. Facts and figures presented in the form of non-fiction can be incorporated into fiction to support the authenticity or to serve for some specific important point or through line in the work.

Example of Facts/Figures: Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is an example. As the narrator uses facts and figures to make sense of what he understands of the world, the protagonist, Christopher, frequently does the same, from his understanding of prime numbers to giving explanations of scientific terms. These factual data are indicative of his character as well as of his outlook on the world.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: With the use of the facts and figures in this novel aids realism and adds to developing Christopher’s character. This use of factual information is an entry for the reader into Christopher’s special way of thinking; his logical, fact-bearing one. Moreover, it brings depth to the narrative rendering it more gripping and cozy.

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Rhetorical Question

Such a question is a rhetorical question that is not posed so that the answer might be found, but to emphasize a point and evoke a dramatic effect. It’s a way to get the reader to think or to help reiterate a conclusion or point that the reader already knows. Rhetorical questions are found often in both literature and speeches.

Example: This is an example from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. "If you poison us, do we not die?

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: Rhetorical questions are used by Antony in this speech to contain in the minds of the listeners a subtle questioning of Brutus' claims about Caesar's ambition. Each of the questions invites you to question Brutus’s judgment and motives, all the while in an apparent respectful tone. Through its use of these rhetorical questions, the reader is guided to see how the wisdom and power of language can be manipulated and how political rhetoric is so complex.

Exaggeration

Lit. device in which a comment is made to be more important or more strong than it truly is. The use is to emphasize the point, to create a dramatic effect or to reach humour. In literature, exaggeration is a useful tool to anglicize emotions, accentuate character traits, or portray specific situations in a particular way.

Example of Exaggeration: A humorous example is from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: "Heck, the ships hung in the sky much like bricks don't."

This exaggerated comparison is humorously meant to swell the improbably and unusually floating spaceships.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: Adams’s exaggeration does its best to capture the mind of the reader with its absurdness, giving the reader a vivid and funny image. That’s a reminder of the odd, odd nature of the novel’s universe. Such exaggerations not only give the reader something to entertain himself but also help visualise the extremely whimsical thing or event that the story flaunts.

To get more better understanding you can seek guidance from a professional assignment help as they have team of English literature writers who are habitual of using these techniques and can guide you more into this. 

Allusion

Allusion refers to the use of a writer who brings with him a reference to a person, place, event, literary work, myth or work of art both personally or implicitly. By direct reference, the technique can be one that the author uses to let the reader sense complex ideas theories and feelings in a short sentence, relying on the reader’s background and previously familiar links with the reference.

Example of Allusion: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is full of allusions to historical and contemporary events and figures including World War I and the Jazz Age. All of these allusions put the reader into a context, setting the tone for the story, and helping give deeper meaning to the characters and their motivations.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: All words in The Great Gatsby are easy but not all allusions in The Gatsby are easy. For those who’ve already read these references, it adds a bit more sophistication and can allow you to draw parallels between the novel and current events and cultures. It can also evoke emotions and associations that further enrich the thematic resonance of the story.

Direct Address

A literary technique which involves direct address, namely, with the narrator or a character's speech to the reader or another character or to an abstract concept or object. It can make this device of intimacy, urgency, or immediacy, and it is used when you want to pull the reader into the work a little more deeply, break the fourth wall, or make a character the kind of thoughts, or feelings.

Example of Direct Address: In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, we find the protagonist speaking directly to the reader in a way, such as “Reader, I married him.” By directly doing this, Jane directly addresses the reader involved on a personal level, and Jane and the reader are comrades, or even collaborators in some respect.

Explanation – Effect on a Reader: This is a known phrase from Jane Eyre and it creates a personal connection between the reader and the story. The effect is to create a moment of intimacy and bring the reader nearer to Jane’s inner world and feelings. This technique makes the reader more engaged with the plot, and thus the protagonist, creating a stronger bond than is otherwise available.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, English language techniques are your one-way solution for making your writing effective. It is a fact that any writer who can use these techniques in a good way has made their writing famous as they have attracted more and more readers which eventually makes them a good writer. So to make you another famous writer we have provided you with information on effective language techniques, we provided you with 14 language techniques which will take your writing to the next level.

To make everything easier for you we have provided you with a proper explanation of these techniques including examples of each of the mentioned techniques. Also, there is no point in understanding anything until you don't have an idea of how they are going to effect, which is why we have explained how the mentioned techniques are going to effect your writing when you use them.  

Frequently asked questions

Our ability to use language techniques is essential for all forms of written assessment including traditional essays ungraded response tasks inventive compositional assignments and persuasive writing tasks. Our comprehension and analysis of English texts become more precise when we maintain extensive awareness of language techniques alongside the ability to create descriptive writing.

The Pearson correlation coefficient becomes a common language effect size when it demonstrates the statistical probability of obtaining one variable value when a threshold is established on another variable.

We examine the Baldwin effect as a natural selection process which leads language learners across multiple generations to make previously acquired linguistic features part of their innate knowledge.

Identifying Simple Language Techniques including assonance/alliteration, for repetition of consonant sounds establishes the literary device known as alliteration. Hyperbole for creating dramatic impact Writers can employ hyperbole through excessive exaggeration of objects events people or ideas. And Tone / Mood, Repetition / Rhyme or Onomatopoeia.

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