Recently, I wrote an article for TES about how an unexpected number of pupils at my school achieved grade 9s in GCSE English. It was popular and I received lots of feedback. One area that interested many people was the discussion about the evaluative verbs that top students tended to use in their writing. Traditionally, teachers of GCSE English have encouraged pupils to use analytical verbs, often pushing them for a synonym for ‘suggests’ or ‘shows’. I have an example list of my own that I’ve used for some time:
| Analytical verbs – some alternatives for ‘suggests’ with brief definition |
| Adumbrates – puts forward an outline/foreshadow a future event |
| Advocates – puts forwards a particular opinion/viewpoint/belief |
| Amplifies – emphasises by adding extra impact |
| Connotes – creates a deeper metaphorical meaning |
| Constructs – builds up an idea |
| Conveys – gets across a message/idea/theory |
| Defines – gives us the clear meaning of something |
| Demonstrates – Provides a clear explanation/example |
| Denotes – what the word actually means/dictionary definition |
| Emphasises – draws attention to something |
| Evidences – provides evidence/proof for an argument/theory |
| Evokes – brings about a strong feeling or idea |
| Exhibits – Displays a certain attitude/tendency |
| Foreshadows – hints at subsequent events/themes |
| Highlights – draws clear attention toward by making it stand out |
| Identifies – provides the clear meaning of something specific |
| Illustrates – creates a distinct image |
| Implies – suggests something beyond the obvious |
| Indicates – acts as a clear pointer or a signpost |
| Insinuates – mages a vague suggestion beyond the obvious meaning |
| Mirrors – A similar or the same visual image |
| Parallels – runs alongside a similar idea/theme |
| Portrays – Shows or represents something/someone in a certain way |
| Presents – Introduces an idea |
| Projects – takes an idea and makes it more distinct |
| Proposes – puts forward an idea/theory |
| Puts forward – Gives a theory/opinion/idea |
| Reflects – Espouses the same or similar theme/idea |
| Reiterates – repeats or supports the same point/feeling/idea |
| Represents – takes an idea and puts it forward in a different light |
| Reveals – makes a meaning/interpretation clear that was previously unclear |
| Signifies – uses a word or a sign to make the meaning clear |
| Symbolises – takes a visual image and uses it for a deeper meaning |
With the advent of the evaluation question on GCSE English language specifications, teachers have now placed a greater onus on ensuring their pupils use the language of evaluation to ensure that examiners can tell they are attempting to sum up the quality of a piece of writing or the technique that the writer has deployed. Often this takes the form of the ubiquitous adverb ‘effectively’ and adjective ‘effective’. For example ‘Orwell effectively portrays the unpleasant conditions for miners through his personification of the ‘roaring…machines’…’ Or ‘This is effective because ‘roaring’ implies the lethal nature of these giant machines and gives a sense of the deafening volume…’
What I find, however, is that the most successful pupils evaluate consistently, whether or not the question prompts them. In the literature exams, our highest attainers wrote about how a writer ‘ridicules’, ‘trivialises’, ‘demonises’ or how a character ‘coerces’, ‘sentimentalises’ or ‘derides’ another. I’ve tried to put together a list of the evaluative verbs pupils might typically use in their writing. This is far from definitive. And some of the verbs are only evaluative if used in a particular context. But it’s a good place to start if you wish to really stretch your top pupils:
- Criticises – rebukes, admonishes, chastises, lambasts, castigates, demonises, condemns
- Questions – queries, disputes, casts doubt upon, refutes, interrogates, examines, challenges, exposes, provokes
- Ridicules – mocks, trivialises, satirises, lampoons, derides, pillories, parodies, caricatures
- Celebrates – commemorates, honours, salutes, recognises, acknowledges, memorialises, lionises, fetishises, idealises, eulogises, elevates, glorifies, sentimentalises, romanticises, beautifies, deifies
- Subverts – undermines, overturns, alters, modifies, corrupts
- Accepts – welcomes, embraces, affirms, reaffirms
- internalises, externalises
- Technical terms – anthropomorphises, zoomorphises
Here are some examples of how evaluative verbs might elevate responses to a sophisticated understanding of the writer’s intention:
- Stephenson portrays Jekyll as a duplicitous character. (simple statement)
- Stephenson insinuates that Jekyll has repressed his transgressive desires, leading a conflicted dual nature. (analytical statement)
- Through his portrayal of Jekyll’s conflicted dual nature caused by his repressed transgressive desires, Stevenson ridicules hypocritical Victorian attitudes towards sin. (evaluative statement)
Thanks for reading,
Mark
Mark Roberts Teach 