GCSE English Language revision · Language and structure
Question 3 asks how the writer structures the whole extract to create a named effect, such as tension or mystery. It is worth 8 marks. Track how the focus shifts from the start, through the middle, to the end, and keep linking each choice to that effect.
Watch out Picking out language techniques, such as similes, belongs in Question 2, not Question 3.
An extract opens on a wide view of a stormy town, narrows to one lit window, then ends on a figure watching the street. How does the structure create mystery?
Answer It moves from a wide view to a single window to one watching figure, narrowing the reader's focus and ending on mystery.
Which of these is a structural feature?
An extract ends on the same image it opened with. What is this called?
A story opens with dialogue in the middle of an argument. Explain why a writer might start this way.
Answer Starting mid-argument (in medias res) drops the reader straight into conflict, creating questions about who is arguing and why, which makes them read on to find out.
7 official questions in 7 papers since 2020. The latest:
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