Paper 1: Reading - Answering Question 3
English Language: AQA GCSE, topic 3.1.5
Section A: Creative Reading - Question 3
In Section A of Paper 1, you will be given a 40-50 line extract from a modern piece of fiction. Unless you are very lucky and have already read the text, this extract will be unseen.
Question 3
- Question 3 is worth eight marks. You should spend around two minutes reading and around 8 minutes writing.
- In this question, you will be asked to read the whole source and answer: How has the writer structured the text to create [an effect]?
- The effect could be suspense, tension, or comedy, for example.
- You MUST talk about the STRUCTURE in this question – answers about language will not get any marks.
Use varied information from the text
- You must carefully select quotations because they are important to the point you have made. They should prove your ideas really well.
- It should be clear that your point and evidence work perfectly together. You should not just choose any quotation at random and try to make a point around it – you should choose an excellent quotation to match your point perfectly.
- You should explain how your quotation links to your point.
Analyse language focusing on structure
- You should explain how the writer has STRUCTURED their writing to create the effect asked about in the question.
- You should select a quotation which links perfectly to the question, and you should explain why the writer has chosen to use this particular quotation/idea.
- You should explain the effect of the structural technique you have highlighted – so NOT just label the techniques, but explain their effect.
Analyse language (cont.)
- To get the top marks, your ideas must be original, showing that you are thinking outside the box and picking up on small details in the text.
Section A, Question 3 - Tips for Dealing with Structure
Looking at structure is about looking at how the text is put together and considering why the writer chose to say/do something at that particular point in the text. Some aspects of the structure you could explore are:
Changing depth
- Zooming in on small details.
- E.g. Moving from describing New York City, to the items in the protagonist's New York apartment.
- Zooming out to look at the whole picture.
- E.g. Moving from looking at different characters' perspectives on an event to the omniscient narrator's overview of the scene.
- Changing from a small focus to a big focus.
- E.g. Changing from how one character feels to the actions of a whole group of characters or the description of a place.
Narrative shifts
- Shifts of perspective.
- E.g. Shifting from the point of view of one character to another.
- Shifts in time.
- E.g. A flashback or flashforward.
- Shifts in place.
- E.g. Switching between characters in different locations.
- Shifts in topic.
- E.g. The narrator moves from discussing a couple's relationship to describing the action.
- Shifts from internal to external.
- E.g. Moving from a character’s internal thoughts to external actions.
Repetition and cycles
- Repetition.
- E.g. Jane Eyre repeatedly fleeing from men (Rochester and St John).
- Cyclical structures (events happening in cycles).
- E.g. The opening setting of Of Mice and Men also featuring as the closing setting.
- Foreshadowing.
- E.g. A writer using lots of gun imagery to warn about an upcoming murder.
Developments
- How characters/events develop throughout the text.
- E.g. How Harry Potter develops from being the boy under the stairs to a hero at Hogwarts.
Test yourself on Paper 1: Reading - Answering Question 3
What do you need to do when answering Question 3?
You are making the point that the writer has used foreshadowing to hint that a character will die later on in the extract. Which quotation would back up your point?
What does Question 3 ask you to focus on?
What types of narrative shift could you comment on when answering Section A, Question 3?
Which of these are you more likely to comment on when discussing the structure in Question 3?