15 Most Useful Language Techniques You Need To Know

Language techniques are vital elements of writing. Be it story writing or assignment writing, language techniques help the writer to emphasize the themes, and emotions he/she wants readers to focus on. Language techniques are like tastemakers in cup noodles. Without incorporating these techniques, your writing will fall flat which will make your writing quite ugly, our experts can help you with this with our assignment help service.
So, what exactly is language technique? Let’s understand.

What are Language Techniques, and What are Their Effects?

Language techniques are techniques that are used by writers to engage the reader. Techniques like the use of comparisons, signs, or symbols result in having clarity in the writing, thereby making the overall purpose or the motif of the writing clear to the reader.
In a well-crafted story or any writing, language techniques are found easily.

What is the Effect of Using Language Techniques?

With the help of these techniques, you can score well in your writing. These techniques are everything you need to know to make your writings interesting and exciting.

Effects:

* They guide readers to read in a specific direction to interpret meanings and themes that the writer had in store for them.

* They add a pointed effect to the story. Thereby adding certain fineness that is found in well-known literary pieces, but before you can draft such techniques in your piece, you first have to understand various language techniques popularly in use.
In the English language, there are numerous language techniques. These techniques are the basis of the writing techniques.
Here’s a compilation of the 15 most important language techniques with examples to make an identification of these techniques easier

1:  Metaphor

Metaphors are a comparative device used to add a rhetorical effect.

“All the world’s a stage, And all the men, and women merely players.” An extract from Shakespeare’s As you like it.
The above extract is a metaphor. Comparing the world with the stage of a play. And the people living in the world as the characters of a play.

The most common and popular new year wishes quotes:
“Today is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.”
A metaphor, comparing the upcoming days with the blank pages of a book.

Purpose – metaphors paint a virtual image. A creative image where X stands beside Y and you see similar traits connecting to absolutely different things.

2: Metonymy
Derived from a Greek term, metōnymía, metonymy implies a change of name.
Metonymy is the figure of speech where an object or idea is referred to by an entirely different term that is closely associated with that object or the idea.
Like, referring American technological industry as Silicon Valley, or calling actors stars.

Purpose- Metonymy makes writing more creative, powerful, and concise.
Example; Hey Dalton! I’ve important information to share. Lend me your ear.
Lend me your ear is a metonymy for paying attention or listen attentively.

3: Pun
Pun otherwise known as a play on words is a technique or device that comprises the use of words with similar, or identical sounds, but with different meanings. In short, puns are a clever use of words to have a comical effect.
We shouted, “break a leg” and now he’s home with a fracture.
This is a pun as the phrase, to break a leg means good luck and its literal meaning is to break the bone of the leg.
Pun tends to exploit the meaning of words or phrases.
Alive in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, has lots of puns in it. For example, in the book, Alice confuses the words, “tale” and “tail”: “‘Mine is a long and a sad tale! Said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. ‘It is a long tail, certainly,’ said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse’s tail; ‘but why do you call it sad?’”

Purpose – To add humor to the writing.

4: Irony
Irony shows the contrast between expectation and reality.
For example, you brag about being serious about studies, and the very next moment you find yourself falling in most of the test papers.
This situation is ironic.

Purpose – irony adds drama to the writing.

5: Symbol
We all know what a symbol means— a mark or characters that represent something. Like the symbol of a skull and two bones in a cross shape under it represents danger.
Similarly, in literature symbols are objects, concepts, or words that not have to be limited to a single meaning that is, something that is beyond its literal meaning.
Her vengeance was already over and now, it was time to pull out her blackest dress.
Here, pulling out her blackest dress symbolizes death.
Symbols are also used to represent inner feelings or inner conflict.
As in the short story the last leaf by O. Henry, the vine leaves are a symbol of life. At the beginning of the story, Johny viewed the rapidly falling leaves as her life slipping away, thereby predicting her death when the last leaf will fall.

Purpose—Symbols defines the character, add emotions to the story, provide a visual element in the writing.

6: Alliteration and Assonance
Alliteration and assonance are the sound devices or techniques used in a language that makes the writing sounds good to the ear.
When the neighboring words or syllable in a sentence has a repetition of consonant sounds, it is known as alliteration. The classic examples are below, 
• She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore.
• Betty Bought Butter But the Butter was Bitter, so Betty Bought another Butter.
Alliterations very frequently tend to have similar characters yet it is phony to say that alliteration is about repetitive characters. Instead, it is the sound of consonants where this literary device points at.
Example: funny phone
Notice the ‘ph’ sound in funny and phone.

Like alliteration, assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds. Mostly used in poems, assonance adds a lyrical touch to the writing.
For example,
Oh, give me home from where my groans won’t be heard.
Repetition of the sound of ‘o.’ Notices that the ‘o’ in from is not a part of the repetitive sound.
He fell asleep under the cherry tree and dreamed of lost time.
Sound: ‘e’

Purpose – Alliterations and assonance are used in writings or poems to add a ring to them.
Alliterations are also used to add emphasis or importance to the writing. Sometimes they are used for precautionary slogans like Don’t drink and drive,
Points to remember while writing Alliteration and assonance:
• words don’t need to have the same character, they need to have the same sound.
• don’t overuse alliteration in your writing.

7: Truncated sentence
To truncate something means to cut something short. Thus, truncated sentences are sentences that are cut short. Unlike short sentences, these sentences have been cut off.
Example: I like dogs more than Jessy.
Here, the sentence implies that you like dogs more than Jessy does.
Purpose: includes the sense of urgency in the writing.

8: Tone and mood
Tone refers to the writer’s attitude towards the subject in concern. Tones can be humorous, sarcastic, dramatic, solemn, cheerful. It depends on the writer and his/her take on the central subject.
The mood of the writing is its atmosphere. Appropriate use of settings, tone, imagery, an array of emotions or feelings gets evoked in the reader. These emotions, thus, understood or felt by the reader is the mood of that particular narrative.
For example, in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in wonderland,
Mood – cheerful, playful
Tone – sarcastic, ironic.

Purpose – to have a clear perspective and the ambiance of the written piece.

9: Dialogue
Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people in written format. It shows a character speaking in a narrative context. To write a dialogue, one has to use punctuation marks very carefully.

For example,  “He is not here,” Roddy exclaimed.

“How can you be so sure?” inquired Sam.

Purpose  – to advance the plot and to add drama to the narrative.

10: Personification
Many a time you must have come across phrases like “the wrath of mother nature” or “those dandelions were swaying happily in the breeze.”
These are examples of personification. Personification references combining human-like emotions or qualities to inanimate, or non-human objects. In the above examples, nature has been given the title of a mother about how it cares for growth and survival just like a mother nurturing her children. Hence, have been personified as a “mother.”
In the second example, of course, one cannot say whether dandelions are happy or sad. It is the perception of the writer who compared the moving dandelions in the breeze with children merrily swaying their heads— a personification.

Purpose:
To add or express an emotion to the writing. In narrative or descriptive writings, in particular, personification is really important. It’ll give the reader a better understanding of the situation or events by comparing them with emotions relevant to a person.

11: Hyperbole
Hyperbole, a Greek term that means excess. In a sentence, hyperbole is used to include extreme exaggeration.
Hyperbole used in daily life: It’s the hundredth time I’m trying, and still can’t solve this question.
Note:
Hyperboles aren’t comparisons like similes or metaphors, but a statement is composed of ridiculously exaggerated emotions having no literal meaning.
Purpose –  is to add drama to the writing. It adds color to the story be it a humorous one or a story with a sarcastic tone in it or any other.
For example,
That guy ate five plates of the meal. Using hyperbole, we’ll have,
That guy ate an entire district’s food.

12: Allusion
A brief reference to a renowned personality, place, event, literary work, myth, art, etc. as an allusion. The reference is made based on the features or characteristics of the character or events that match the writer’s reference in mind.
For example,
You might write good enough, but you aren’t Chaucer.
Reference is Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English literature.
Stop being a Romeo. I’m not your Juliet! I have a boyfriend.
The reference is Romeo from the play Romeo and Juliet.
Note:
Allusions are used keeping in mind that the reader has prior information considering the reference being made. It shouldn’t be like in a kid’s story, you are making references to Leo Tolstoy or Tesla.
Purpose — to impart drama

13: Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of words that have the same sound. We all have learned to rhyme words: cat, mat, bat.
Rhyme is particularly common in poems with words at the end of the lines rhyming with one another.
For example: as the clock strikes nine, it is time to go to the mine. Here, nine and my rhymes.

Purpose: to add a rhythm or musical effect to the writing. 

14: Oxymoron
Oxymoron is the term used to have a contradictory phrase. It is a two-word paradox, usually used to include humor, satirical tone, or drama to the text.
For example, longest five minutes, sweet pain, and so on.
Purpose – suppose you are writing a story where you are to describe time, say five minutes, which according to you passed very slowly. So, to describe that, you’ll say “longest five minutes spent” will help the readers reciprocate with the emotions the speaker in the text is feeling.
Oxymoronic terms are especially helpful and handy while writing a sarcastic comment—
Indeed, the game was interestingly boring.
Oxymoronic term interestingly  added a kick rather the statement —it was too boring
It is also used to describe drama or deep emotions.
Amidst the merriness of the party, Crystal was found sitting with a sad smile pastel on her face.
Here, a sad smile is inducing a dramatic effect.

15: Anaphora and epistrophe
“I came, I saw, I conquered” you’ve heard this at least once— the literal translation of Veni, Vidi, Vici attributed to Julius Caesar. This is an example of an anaphora. Notice the repetition of “I.”
Anaphora is a literary device featuring the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences.

A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens has a popular anaphora.

 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

 Lines Abraham Lincoln’s speech “And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”. Here, see the repetition of “the people”. This is epistrophe.

Epistrophe is the technique where one or more words at the end of a phrase, clause, verse, or sentence are repeated. The use of epistrophe can drive a certain point home. Its use is found in delivering a speech, relaying prose, or writing a song’s lyrics.

From the same extract from A tale of two cities,

….It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

…we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…

Purpose — to include the essence of drama in the writing by deliberately pressing on a particular point.

Language techniques are an essential part of writing an assignment. Thus before implementing these techniques in your assignment, it is important to understand the purpose of their usage.

Now Let’s Have a  Recap of the Purpose Behind Using a Language Technique.

1: Metaphor

Purpose – metaphors paint a virtual image. A creative image where X stands beside Y and you see similar traits connecting to absolutely different things.

2: Metonymy

Purpose – Metonymy makes writing more creative, powerful, and concise.
Example; Hey Dalton! I’ve important information to share. Lend me your ear.
Lend me your ear is a metonymy for paying attention or listen attentively.

3: Pun

Purpose – to add humor to the writing

4: Irony

Purpose – irony adds drama to the writing.

5: Symbol

Purpose – symbols define the character, add emotions to the story, provide a visual element in the writing.

6:  Alliterations and Assonance

Purpose – Alliterations and assonance are used in writings or poems to add a ring to them.
Alliterations are also used to add emphasis or importance to the writing. Sometimes they are used for precautionary slogans like Don’t drink and drive.

7: Truncated sentence 

Purpose –  includes the sense of urgency in the writing

8: Tone and mood

Purpose –  to have a clear perspective and the ambiance of the written piece.

9: Dialogue

Purpose –  to advance the plot and to add drama to the narrative

10: Hyperbole

Purpose – the purpose is to add drama to the writing. It adds color to the story be it a humorous one or a story with a sarcastic tone in it or any other.

11: Allusion

Purpose – to impart drama

12: Rhyme

Purpose –  to add a rhythm or musical effect to the writing

13: Oxymoron

Purpose – Suppose you are writing a story where you are to describe time, say five minutes, which according to you passed very slowly. So, to describe that, you’ll say “longest five minutes spent” will help the readers reciprocate with the emotions the speaker in the text is feeling.

14: Anaphora and epistrophe

Purpose –  to include the essence of drama in the writing by deliberately pressing on a particular point.