6. How does David Mitchell use language to evoke moods? Give examples of how he uses place and object names to foreshadow coming events.

Like the setting and point of view, the language changes from chapter to chapter to suit the period. In the "Adam Ewing" chapters, the language is the rather stilted prose of the nineteenth century. In the "Letters from Zedelghem" chapters, the language is that taught at Britain's elite public schools. In "Luisa Rey," the language switches to the swift, action-filled prose of a pulp mystery novel and in "Timothy Cavendish," one finds the language of modern-day London.

"Sonmi-451" takes the reader to the future and those chapters are filled with made up words and concepts, such as "fabricants" (clones) and "pure-bloods" (non-clones), "Seer" (guard) and "Archivist" (historian). In this new world, "ex-" words, such as except, exultation, and exactly, are written without the first "e", and the author seems to intentionally use these words to create the effect of language change in the future. In these chapters, ordinary items, such as cameras, televisions, and watches are no longer referred to by their generic name. Instead the manufacturer's name has become the name of the product, such as nikon for camera, ford for car, and sony for television, much like kleenex has become synonymous with a tissue in our society.

In the sixth (middle) chapter, "Sloosh'a's Crossin'," the author uses a kind of pig-gin English to relate the primitiveness of the post-apocalypse society. He uses a lot of apostrophes to indicate truncated and casual speech as well as created words, such as babbit for baby and smart for knowledge.