Key Idea: This topic is about painting pictures with words — the techniques that make a reader see, feel and sense a scene instead of just reading it. Four things to spot: metaphor & simile (comparing one thing to another), personification & pathetic fallacy (making the world feel human), imagery (words that hit the five senses), and symbolism & motif (an object that carries a bigger meaning). For every one, the marks are in the picture or feeling it builds — never just the name.
🗝️ The techniques to know
| Technique | What it means | Quick example |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor | Says one thing IS another (no ‘like’/‘as’) | ‘The classroom was a zoo’ — the noisy room IS a zoo |
| Simile | Compares using ‘like’ or ‘as’ | A silent room described as ‘quiet as a held breath’ |
| Personification | Gives a thing human qualities | ‘The wind screamed’ gives the wind a human voice |
| Pathetic fallacy | Weather or nature mirrors a mood | As a sad character leaves, ‘the sky wept’ — rain matches grief |
| Imagery | Words that appeal to the senses | ‘The gate shrieked on its rusted hinge’ — you hear the sound |
| Symbol | An object that stands for a bigger idea | A wilting flower standing for lost innocence |
| Motif | An image that keeps coming back across a text | The same flower appearing again in every chapter |
🔍 The one move that scores
Every point uses the same move: name the technique, say the two things linked (for a comparison) or the sense / human quality / bigger idea at work, then the feeling or picture it builds. ‘The writer uses a metaphor’ scores almost nothing — the marks are in what the comparison makes the reader see or feel.
✍️ IB-style worked examples
IB-style question — metaphor and simile
Analyse the comparisons: “The city at rush hour was a river. Cars slid past like leaves on the current, carried whether they wanted to be or not.”
Step by step:
Name the metaphor: ‘The city at rush hour was a river’ — it says the city IS a river, not like one.
Effect: a river flows in one direction and can't be stopped, so the traffic feels like a force nobody controls.
Name the simile: ‘like leaves on the current’ — the ‘like’ compares the cars to leaves swept along.
So what: both link the traffic to moving water, so the reader feels how small and powerless each driver is.
‘The city at rush hour was a river’ is a metaphor — calling it a river (not ‘like’ a river) makes the traffic feel like an unstoppable flow. Then ‘like leaves on the current’ is a simile whose ‘like’ compares the cars to leaves swept along. Both comparisons turn the traffic into moving water, so the reader feels how small and powerless each driver is inside it.
IB-style question — personification and pathetic fallacy
Analyse: “The empty swings creaked and shivered in the yard, and above the playground the clouds gathered low and grey as the last child went home.”
Step by step:
Name the personification: ‘the swings… shivered’ — swings can't shiver, so the human verb makes the empty yard feel cold and lonely.
Name the pathetic fallacy: ‘the clouds gathered low and grey’ — the darkening weather mirrors the sad, emptying mood.
Effect: both make the setting itself carry a feeling of loneliness.
So what: the reader feels the emptiness of the playground through the swings and the sky, not through any character saying it.
‘The swings… shivered’ is personification — a human verb that makes the empty yard feel cold and lonely. ‘The clouds gathered low and grey’ is pathetic fallacy: the darkening weather mirrors the sad, emptying mood. Both make the setting carry the feeling, so the reader senses the loneliness of the abandoned playground without being told it.
IB-style question — imagery and symbolism together
Analyse: “The garage smelled of oil and cold metal. In the corner leaned the racing bike he'd never ridden again, its tyres flat, one wheel still spinning in his memory.”
Step by step:
Imagery: ‘oil and cold metal’ appeals to smell and touch, so the reader senses a hard, shut-up, unused space.
Effect: the cold, lifeless senses make the whole scene feel still and given-up-on.
Symbol: ‘the racing bike he'd never ridden again’ — the flat-tyred bike can stand for an ambition or a younger self he's let go of.
So what: the object carries the meaning — a dream left to gather dust, so the reader feels his quiet regret.
‘Oil and cold metal’ is imagery of smell and touch that makes the garage feel hard and shut-up, so the whole scene feels still and given-up-on. Then ‘the racing bike he'd never ridden again’ works as a symbol — the flat-tyred bike stands for an ambition or a younger self he's let go of. The object carries the meaning: a dream left to gather dust, so the reader feels his quiet regret without the writer having to spell it out.
Important: Don't just spot ‘a metaphor’ or ‘vivid imagery’. Always say the two things being compared (or the sense, the human quality, the bigger idea) and the feeling or picture it builds — that's where the marks are. And check for ‘like’ or ‘as’: if it's there, it's a simile, not a metaphor.
Tap each card to check yourself.
Metaphor or simile: ‘the old car was a dinosaur’? A metaphor — it says the car IS a dinosaur, with no ‘like’ or ‘as’.
‘The camera refused to work.’ What technique? Personification — ‘refused’ gives the camera a human choice.
What is pathetic fallacy? Weather or nature that mirrors a character's mood — ‘the sky wept as she left’.
How do you spot imagery? Look for words that make you see, hear, feel, smell or taste the scene, then name the sense.
Symbol or motif: an image that keeps coming back? A motif — repetition is what turns a symbol or image into a motif.
Exam Tips
- Check for ‘like’ or ‘as’ — that tells you simile, not metaphor.
- Always name the two things compared, not just the technique.
- For personification/pathetic fallacy, name the human quality or the matched mood.
- For imagery, name the sense (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) and the feeling.
- For a symbol or motif, say the bigger idea it stands for — spotting the object alone earns nothing.