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Which subject terms to use, and how to use them
AQA’s examiners say the name of a technique carries no value on its own. Learn a short list of terms well, and always say what the method does to the reader.
Subject terminology means the words for the methods writers use, such as simile, stanza and soliloquy. In Literature, AQA asks you to analyse a writer’s methods “using relevant subject terminology where appropriate”. In Language, the wording is “using relevant subject terminology to support their views”. In both, the word to notice is relevant.
AQA’s examiners are blunt about rare terms. Their 2025 report on Literature Paper 1 says that terms “don’t carry any inherent value”, and it warns students: “Terms like chremamorphism do not guarantee you a high grade.” You will never need chremamorphism.
Name it, then say what it does
A term earns its place when you go on to explain the effect. Here are two sentences about Scrooge in Stave 1 of A Christmas Carol.
- A weak version, for example: Dickens uses a simile to describe Scrooge.
- A stronger version, for example: The simile “solitary as an oyster” shows Scrooge shut tight like a shell, keeping everyone out, and it makes the reader wonder whether anything good is hidden inside.
The second sentence uses the term to get to the meaning. If you cannot say what a method does, leave the name out and write about the words and their effect. Plain words such as image, comparison and word choice work too.
Terms worth knowing
You do not need hundreds. These are enough for most answers, and the glossary has many more, with examples.
Literature Paper 1: Macbeth and A Christmas Carol
- A soliloquy is a speech a character makes alone on stage, so the audience hears their private thoughts.
- Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something a character does not.
- Imagery is language that creates a picture, such as the blood that runs through Macbeth.
- The narrator is the voice that tells a story. In A Christmas Carol the narrator sometimes speaks to the reader directly.
- Contrast means placing opposites side by side, such as Scrooge in Stave 1 and Scrooge in Stave 5.
Literature Paper 2: An Inspector Calls and poetry
- Stage directions are the writer’s instructions about the set and the lighting, and about how lines are spoken.
- A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph.
- Enjambment is when a sentence runs on from one line into the next with no pause.
- A caesura is a pause in the middle of a line, usually marked by punctuation.
- The speaker is the voice in a poem, which may or may not be the poet.
- A dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by one character to a silent listener, as in ‘My Last Duchess’.
Language Paper 1
- Connotation is what a word suggests beyond its dictionary meaning.
- A semantic field is a group of words linked by meaning, such as words about cold.
- Sentence forms are the kinds of sentence a writer uses, from short simple ones to long complex ones.
- In Question 3, focus means what the reader is looking at, and a shift is a change in focus, time, place or mood.
Language Paper 2
- Perspective is where a writer’s view comes from: their time, their experience and their values.
- Tone is the attitude the words show, such as angry, amused or sympathetic.
- Direct address means speaking to the reader as you.
- A rhetorical question is a question asked for effect, with no answer expected.
- An anecdote is a short personal story used to make a point.
Keep each term to its question
On Language Paper 1, Question 2 is about language and Question 3 is about structure. Words such as connotation and simile belong in Question 2. Words such as shift and focus belong in Question 3.
One habit to drop
AQA’s examiners warn about feature spotting, which means listing methods without saying anything about them. In 2025 they described unseen poetry answers that “listed features without exploring their effect or relevance”. One method explained well does more for your answer than five methods named and left.