Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle uses a variety of linguistic devices to create atmosphere, such as: powerful verbs and adjectives, personification, metaphors and similes.
The strong verbs that Doyle uses mean the sentences doesn’t have to include adverbs. The verbs can stand by themselves because they have enough power in them already. This makes the sentences clearer, and gives more space for descriptions. An example of one of these verbs is ‘swung’. This verb was used to describe the turn of the carriage that Watson and his companions were in, and by doing so the imagery of the journey changes from a calm ride to a fast and exciting one. Another use of striking verbs would be when Doyle was describing the way the water came out of the stream, he used the word ‘gushed’. This also increases the thrilling mood, because everything is happening rapidly. As well as this, the word could also be connected to Henry Baskerville’s attitude in the situation; Baskerville is animated and he himself ends up ‘gushing’ out questions about…show more content… One of the most vivid phrases in the passage was ‘there rose in the distance a grey, melancholy hill…dim and vague in the distance’. The sentence illustrates a clear picture of the moor in your head, and by using the words ‘melancholy’ and ‘vague’ make the view seem chilling and dangerous. A further example would be ‘forbidding moor’. It is a short example, but a fine one, of Doyle’s extensive vocabulary, and the word stands out from the rest of the sentence as a better term for off-putting or uninviting. Additionally, the word ‘gnarled’ was used to describe the coachman of the carriage Watson was travelling in. The word is a dramatic way to say that the man was old, but it gets stuck in the readers head nonetheless. Doyle describes the moor to have ‘jagged and sinister hills’ and it really compels you to believe that the moor is a tremendously dangerous
