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’ |
| Simile | Compares using ‘like’ or ‘as’ | ‘quiet as a held breath’ |
| Personification | Gives a thing human qualities | ‘the wind screamed’ |
| Pathetic fallacy | Weather or nature mirrors a mood | ‘the sky wept as she left’ |
| Imagery | Words that appeal to the senses | ‘the gate shrieked on its rusted hinge’ |
| Symbol | An object that stands for a bigger idea | a wilting flower = lost innocence |
| Motif | An image that keeps coming back across a text | the same flower 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: “His temper was a fuse. One wrong word and it caught, burning like dry grass.”
Step by step:
Name the metaphor: ‘His temper was a fuse’ — it says the temper IS a fuse, not like one.
Effect: a fuse is short and about to explode, so his temper feels dangerous and ready to go off.
Name the simile: ‘burning like dry grass’ — the ‘like’ compares his anger to a fast fire.
So what: both link his temper to fire, so the reader feels how quickly and completely he loses control.
‘His temper was a fuse’ is a metaphor — calling it a fuse (not ‘like’ a fuse) makes it feel short and ready to explode. Then ‘burning like dry grass’ is a simile whose ‘like’ compares his anger to a fast-spreading fire. Both comparisons turn his temper into fire, so the reader feels how suddenly and completely he loses control.
IB-style question — personification and pathetic fallacy
Analyse: “The old floorboards complained under every step, and outside the fog pressed against the windows as she waited for news.”
Step by step:
Name the personification: ‘the floorboards complained’ — boards can't complain, so the human verb makes the house feel alive and uneasy.
Name the pathetic fallacy: ‘the fog pressed against the windows’ — the heavy weather mirrors her tense, closed-in mood.
Effect: both make the setting itself carry a feeling of unease.
So what: the reader feels her dread through the house and the fog before any news even arrives.
‘The floorboards complained’ is personification — a human verb that makes the old house feel alive and uneasy. ‘The fog pressed against the windows’ is pathetic fallacy: the heavy weather mirrors her tense, closed-in mood. Both make the setting carry the feeling, so the reader senses her dread before the news arrives.
IB-style question — imagery and symbolism together
Analyse: “The kitchen smelled of burnt toast and cold coffee. On the sill sat the dead plant she still watered every morning.”
Step by step:
Imagery: ‘burnt toast and cold coffee’ appeals to smell and taste, so the reader senses a stale, neglected kitchen.
Effect: the tired, unpleasant senses make the whole scene feel flat and given-up-on.
Symbol: ‘the dead plant she still watered every morning’ — the dead plant can stand for a hope or a routine she can't let go of.
So what: the object carries the meaning — she's clinging to something already gone, so the reader feels her quiet loss.
‘Burnt toast and cold coffee’ is imagery of smell and taste that makes the kitchen feel stale and neglected, so the whole scene feels flat and given-up-on. Then ‘the dead plant she still watered every morning’ works as a symbol — the dead plant stands for a hope or routine she can't let go of. The object carries the meaning: she's still tending something already gone, so the reader feels her quiet loss 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.