English Powerpoint

1. Gothic Short
Stories
LO: To closely examine and understand
language features used in The Signalman.
Keywords:
I M _ _ E _ Y
A _ J E_ _ T _ V E S

2. Share in pairs
Peer mark using the success criteria below:
WWW: You have a clear beginning
EBI: You needed to explain what happened to Beowulf
at the end
You have a clear plot-line
 You have a beginning, middle and
end
You explain what happens in
chronological order
You use dialogue to help build a
sense of the character in the story
You explain where the story takes
placeWrite a target statement outlining what you need to
do to improve.

3. Language Features
Adjectives
Verbs
Consider how these features build tension in The
Signalman – remember this is a Gothic short story.
Words to describe or enhance a noun.
• They live in a beautiful house
• The horrifying forest was dark.
A word used to describe an action to form the main
part of a sentence.
• “I can hear him coming!” Sally whispered.
• Fred was a very kind boy.
Why do we
use these
features?

4. What does imagery mean?
Definition: Descriptive words to form
images
“…gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a
black tunnel…”

5. He pulled out his handkerchief, and wiped the
drops from his heated forehead.
Typical colour of a
handkerchief = white
One could suggest that the white handkerchief represents
innocence. The Signalman’s action implies he is wiping (verb)
away his worries of the deaths he’s witnessed and is
protecting himself with purity.
Imagery: “Wiped the drops
from his heated forehead”.
Adjective: Heated
This implies that the Signalman is
feeling anxious and stressed, which is
supported by the adjective “heated”.
Can you
identify the
adjectives
and verbs?

6. In pairs, analyse the quotations below. You can use the
teacher help sheet with the questions or you can challenge
yourselves and go it alone.
• “Just then, there came a vague vibration in the earth and
air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an
oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it
had force to draw me down.”
• “…in a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a
black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a
barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air.”
Challenge yourself – Can you analyse another sentence from
the story?

7. Plenary
Write a sentence using exactly 12
words to explain why we use
language features.