In one line: Naming a technique isn't analysis yet. Link its effect to the so what — what it means, what it's for, or who it targets.
Take an advert's command ‘Buy now!’. Technique → effect: the imperative creates urgency. But urgency on its own isn't the analysis — the marks are in the so what. Watch the same choice pass through the move, step by step:
The move — technique → effect → SO WHAT
Technique → effect
Name the device and say what it does: ‘the imperative ‘Buy now!’ creates urgency’.
Meaning
What it makes the text SIGNIFY: ‘urgency suggests the moment is make-or-break’.
Purpose
What the text is FOR: ‘which serves the advert's aim to make you buy immediately’.
Audience
Who it targets: ‘pressuring a hesitating shopper into acting’.
The key move: After technique → effect, add the SO WHAT: link the effect to meaning, purpose or audience. Any one lifts a feature-spot into analysis — the clearer the link, the higher the mark.
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Why it matters in the exam: This is the single skill every ‘Analysis & evaluation’ criterion rewards (Criterion B in Papers 1 and 2).
Three angles, one question
- Meaning, purpose and audience are three angles on the same question.
- Why did the writer choose this, and what does it achieve?
- You met purpose and audience as things to SPOT in 1.1.
- Here you LINK your techniques to them.
Link this choice through the three lenses: “A road-safety advert reads ‘You'll be home in five minutes. Or you won't.’”
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Watch out: Don't confuse meaning and purpose — they're close but different. Meaning = what the choice makes the text SIGNIFY; purpose = what the text is trying to DO. And never stop at technique → effect: the SO WHAT is what matters most.