AO2 — The language analysis objective (CCEA GCSE English Language)

AO2 is the craft analysis objective: it asks how writers use language and structure to achieve their effects, with subject terminology. It appears in all reading sections across all units.

AO2 across the units

Unit	AO2 task type
Unit 1 Section B	Analyse language + presentational features in non-fiction/media texts
Unit 3 Section A	Analyse language in spoken transcripts (paralinguistics, register, dialect)
Unit 3 Section B	Analyse and compare language, structure and form across two texts
Unit 4 Section B	Analyse writer's use of language and structure in literary + non-fiction

What AO2 covers

Word level: connotation, emotive language, figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification), modal verbs, active/passive voice, semantic field.

Sentence level: sentence variety, rhetoric (questions, anaphora, antithesis), lists and tricolon.

Structural level: how the text is organised; structural devices (cyclical, in medias res, volta, inverted pyramid); positioning of key information.

Presentational level (Unit 1 media texts): headlines, images, captions, layout, font, colour.

The PEEC method

P — Point: name the feature precisely. E — Evidence: embed a short quotation. E — Effect: explain the impact on the reader. C — Context: link to purpose and audience.

Most common AO2 error

Identifying without explaining: "The writer uses alliteration" earns nothing alone. Always explain the effect the feature creates.