From naming to evaluating

This is the skill that separates a 5 from a 7+. A weaker answer says what a writer did. A stronger answer says why it works (or doesn't). Evaluation means making a judgement, anchored in evidence, with subject terminology.

The four moves of evaluation

1. Identify — name the choice (a verb, a sentence shape, a structural move).
2. Quote — short embedded evidence.
3. Explain effect — what happens to the reader.
4. Judge — does it work? Why?

A strong evaluation answer travels the whole chain. A weaker one stops at step 3.

Vocabulary — single-word evaluation

Look at this sentence from a fictional opening:

"The hospital corridor stretched, white, fluorescent and silent."

You could analyse a single word and earn marks. Stretched is the verb; an alternative would be ran or led. The writer chose stretched, which suggests strain, effort, length without end. The corridor isn't neutral architecture — it's active, almost reluctant. That single verb does work.

A model evaluation: "By choosing the verb 'stretched' rather than the neutral 'led', the writer makes the corridor feel reluctant — as if the building itself is unwilling to give the protagonist a passage. The choice is effective because it embeds the protagonist's dread in the architecture before any character speaks."

Form — what type of text is this?

Form is the category of writing — a personal essay, a reportage piece, a manifesto, a letter, a short story. Form sets reader expectation. A first-person personal essay creates intimacy. A formal report keeps the writer at arm's length. Spotting form lets you evaluate whether the writer is using their chosen form well.

Grammar — sentence types and tense

Sentence types:

• Simple: "He left." — punchy, decisive.
• Compound: "He left and the door swung shut." — equal weight, sequencing.
• Complex: "He left, although the rain had only just begun." — qualification, nuance.
• Minor / fragment: "Silence." — emphasis, dramatic pause.

A skilled writer varies sentence types. Evaluating grammar means noticing patterns: "After three long sentences of description, the abrupt fragment 'Silence.' lands like a held breath, mimicking the protagonist's arrested attention."

Tense matters too. A historic present tense ("She walks into the room") makes past events feel immediate. Switching tense can signal flashback or change in psychological perspective.

Structure — the shape of the whole text

Structural moves to spot:

• In medias res — starting in the middle of action, then filling in.
• Cyclical structure — ending where the text began (often with subtle change).
• Zoom in / zoom out — wide shot to close shot, or vice versa.
• Shift in focus — from external scene to internal thought.
• Time markers — "an hour later", "the next morning" pacing the narrative.
• Sentence-length pattern — long, long, short — the short sentence carries weight.

For Paper 1 Q3 (structure, AO2), examiners want you to notice these.

Evaluating subject terminology — use it precisely

Lazy: "the writer uses a metaphor and this is interesting." Precise: "the metaphor of the city as 'a great unfed beast' personifies London as a predator, suggesting it consumes its inhabitants."

Five terms you should be able to use without hesitation:

• Simile (uses like / as)
• Metaphor (states identity)
• Personification (human qualities to non-human)
• Sibilance (repeated /s/ sound)
• Juxtaposition (placing two contrasting things side by side for effect)

Plus, for advanced answers:

• Asyndetic listing (no conjunctions: "thronged, smoky, deafening")
• Polysyndetic listing (multiple "and": "fish and chips and vinegar and salt")
• Caesura (a sharp pause inside a line/sentence)
• Pathetic fallacy (weather/setting matching emotion)
• Free indirect discourse (third-person narration tinged with character's voice)

A model evaluation paragraph

"The writer's choice of the simile 'the city loomed like a great unfed beast' is effective because it does three things at once: the verb 'loomed' establishes physical threat; the simile turns the city from architecture into animal; and the qualifier 'unfed' implies hunger and so foreshadows the city's consumption of the protagonist. The reader is unsettled at the level of image, not just told to feel uneasy."

That paragraph identifies, quotes, explains, and judges in three sentences. It uses one piece of subject terminology precisely. That's the model.