Meaning & use
framing device
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A story structure in which one story is told inside another, often to set the scene or add meaning.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a framing device' or 'framing devices'.
Patterns
- use a framing device
- a framing device for something
The novel uses a framing device: an old man tells the main story to his granddaughter.
In the film, a radio interview acts as a framing device for the events of the plot.
Many ghost stories use a framing device to make the tale feel more real.
nouncountable
Any repeated structure, image, or situation that surrounds and gives shape to a work of art or a speech.
Grammar: Can be used more broadly for non-fiction and speeches as well as fiction.
Patterns
- serve as a framing device
- a common framing device
The opening and closing scenes of the play serve as a framing device.
A journey is a common framing device in travel writing.
The speech uses a question as a framing device to hold the audience's attention.
Word forms
| plural | framing devices |
|---|
Common combinations
- use a framing device
- The director uses a framing device to connect the past and present.
- a common framing device
- A letter is a common framing device in eighteenth-century novels.
- serve as a framing device
- The narrator's diary entries serve as a framing device.
- a framing device for the story
- The trial scene is a framing device for the whole story.
Synonyms and how they differ
- frame story
- A more specific term for the outer story itself, while 'framing device' can also mean the technique.
- frame narrative
- Similar, but used more in literary studies and usually refers to the whole outer narrative.
Word family
Commonly confused: framing device or frame?
framing device vs frame
'Frame' alone can mean a border or a structure; 'framing device' is the storytelling technique.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'framing device' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A framing device is a storytelling structure, so the grandfather telling the story is correct. The other options confuse it with a physical frame or building frame.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “framing device”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.