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Year 7 · English · Modern novel study · Lesson 2

Characterisation

Characterisation in a novel: direct and indirect characterisation, inference, the SADDLE checklist and analysing the original character Mr Okafor from ‘The Night Library’.

Whiteboard video lesson: Characterisation

17-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Tell direct and indirect characterisation apart
  • Make inferences about characters
  • Use SADDLE to find evidence
  • Write a PEE paragraph about a character

The method

  1. Adjective.
  2. Quotation.
  3. Key word.
  4. Explain.

Key words: characterisation, inference, protagonist, SADDLE, simile, quotation.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

What is characterisation?

  1. Step 1: Create

Answer: how a writer creates and reveals a character

Question 2

What is direct characterisation?

  1. Step 1: Tell

Answer: the writer tells us what a character is like

Question 3

What is indirect characterisation?

  1. Step 1: Clues

Answer: we work out character from clues like speech and actions