🔍 Unlocking Texts: Language Techniques — Word Choice, Tone & Figurative Language (Using the C.L.U.E.S. Approach)
C.L.U.E.S. = Context | Language | Underlying Meaning | Effect | Style
📘 Why Focus on Language?
Language choices reveal more than just the surface story. They shape the mood, point us to themes, and expose hidden layers of the text. In IGCSE, Edexcel, A/AS Level, IB MYP, and DP, analyzing how language creates meaning is a core skill under assessment objectives like:
- Writer’s use of language (Edexcel, IGCSE)
- Analysis of stylistic choices (IB MYP)
- Language features and literary devices (IB DP Paper 1, HL Essay)
🧠 How to Apply the C.L.U.E.S. Strategy in Close Reading
🟦 C – Context
- Look at where the language occurs and why. What’s happening in the plot or scene?
- Is it a tense moment? An emotional turning point? An argument? A description?
- Example: A war memoir will use very different diction than a romantic letter — and you should adjust your interpretation accordingly.
🟨 L – Language (Word Choice & Tone)
Word Choice (Diction):
- Formal? Informal? Slang? Jargon?
- Emotive or neutral? Harsh or soft?
- Example: In an article about poverty: “crippling debt,” “desperate hunger,” “unrelenting despair.” These words are emotionally loaded.
Tone Clues:
- Sarcastic, melancholic, hopeful, angry?
- Look for punctuation, repetition, or exaggeration.
- Example: “Well, that went brilliantly,” said after a disaster — sarcastic tone!
✅ Quick Tip: Swap the word out and try a synonym. If it changes the tone, the word was significant!
🟩 U – Underlying Meaning (Symbolism & Figurative Language)
This is where writers say one thing and mean another — and readers need to decode.
Common Figurative Tools:
- Metaphors/Similes: “Hope is a thing with feathers” (Emily Dickinson) — makes abstract ideas tangible.
- Personification: “The city never sleeps” — creates mood and gives life to the setting.
- Alliteration/Assonance: Repetition of sounds — adds rhythm, memorability, or musicality.
- Oxymoron: “Deafening silence” — emphasizes contradiction or inner conflict.
- Symbolism: A red rose might stand for love; a shattered mirror, for broken identity.
✅ Trick: Ask — What idea or emotion does this comparison or image connect to?
🟥 E – Effect (on the Reader)
- What does this language do to the reader? What emotions, thoughts, or reactions does it stir?
- Does it evoke empathy, disgust, tension, or hope?
- Is it persuasive, reflective, accusatory?
📌 Example Answer (IGCSE):
“The writer’s use of ‘suffocating silence’ suggests emotional paralysis and grief. The sibilance of the phrase enhances the heaviness, almost as if the silence is pressing on the reader too.”
🟧 S – Style (Overall Literary Voice)
Style is about the writer’s consistent voice, rhythm, and register.
- Is the style lyrical, journalistic, stream-of-consciousness, minimalist, or poetic?
- Does the writer repeat certain words or use fragmented sentences for effect?
- Example: A poetic passage with flowing rhythm and assonance creates a meditative or dreamlike quality.
✅ Compare the style to the subject: Does it contrast or complement the message?
✍️ Sample Passage Practice (with C.L.U.E.S.)
“The street was bleeding light. Neon signs buzzed like angry wasps. Her shadow twitched beneath her feet, nervous and unsure.”
- C: The setting is urban, tense — probably night-time.
- L: Verbs like “buzzed” and “twitched” feel alive, tense, anxious.
- U: Personification of the street/light creates a pulsing, menacing mood.
- E: The reader feels unsettled — something feels dangerous or unknown.
- S: Short, rhythmic sentences reflect a nervous pace and inner turmoil.
Model Student Response (Edexcel/IB DP-style):
The writer uses personification in “the street was bleeding light” to create a disturbing and unnatural mood, implying that the brightness is almost violent. The simile “buzzed like angry wasps” heightens the tension, suggesting danger and hostility. This contributes to a stylistic tone of unease and psychological disorientation.