Analysing structure · Year 11
Structure is the way a writer orders a text and moves the reader's attention through it: how it opens, where the focus shifts, and how it ends. In GCSE English Language Paper 1 you are asked how the writer has structured an extract. All the extracts here were written for Calcali.
Key facts
- Openings: a writer may begin with a wide description of the setting, with a character, with an ordinary moment, or in the middle of the action to hook the reader.
- Shifts in focus: the writer can zoom in from a whole scene to one detail, widen out to a bigger view, or switch between character, setting and dialogue.
- Time: a flashback goes back to an earlier time; a jump forward moves the story on; foreshadowing hints at what will happen later.
- Endings: a cyclical structure ends where it began; a short final sentence or paragraph can make a moment stand out; a cliffhanger leaves the reader in suspense.
- When you write about structure, name the feature, say where it is, and explain why the writer put it there: its effect on the reader.