AQA English Language Paper 1: Fiction
How to answer Q3 – analysing structure
This is the structure question. You have to analyse how the whole extract has been structured to “interest the reader”. In other words, why has the writer structured the extract the way they have? You need to look at the beginning, middle and end.
This guide is part of the English Language Paper 1 series:
Paper 1 Questions 3 - analysing structure
Contents of this guide
Overall structure and example for this question
Steps for tackling this question
Identify at least 3 structural features in the text – planning step
Figure out why the structural feature is positioned at this point – planning step
Introduce the structural feature, including its position– writing step
Explain the effect of the structural feature – writing step
Example response
Overall structure and example for this question
You should write 3 short paragraphs analysing the structure, each with the following approximate structure:
A. Position and description of structural feature (one reasonably long sentence)
B. Effect of structural feature – why at this point (one reasonably long sentence)
Example paragraph
[A] At the very start of the extract Mansfield establishes that Rosabel is from a working-class background and that she’s so poor that she can’t even afford to eat a full meal at the end of “a hard day’s work.” [B] Mansfield does this at this point to emphasize the significance of Rosabel’s social class – it appears at the start of the story because the reader needs to know just how much Rosabel is struggling, financially, in order for them to understand the extremity and irrationality of her emotional response during the hat shop flashback.
Steps for tackling this question
1. Identify at least 3 structural features in the text – planning step
This is something students often struggle with. What even is a structural feature? Well, it’s almost anything as long as you write about where it happens in the text. This question is about showing you understand why things happen in the order in which they happen. Why does the writer begin by describing how poor the main character is? Why does the writer describe the character’s sadness straight after describing the happy people in the coffee shop? Why does the writer start the story in the present and then flashback to the past?
Some common structural features:
Things being established at the start (characters, settings, themes).
Time-shifts – going back in time, or jumping forward significantly.
Going from the outside world to inside the character’s thoughts and feelings, or vice versa.
Juxtapositions – contrasting things placed side-by-side.
A shift from summary (fast-time) to vivid story-telling (slow-time).
A change in viewpoint – switching between characters
You should begin with the start of the extract; you’re always going to write about that. Then work chronologically and look for shifts. Consider each shift in relation to what happened before or after.
There are roughly five ways to think about the position of a structural shift:
at the start of something;
just after something;
just before something;
in the middle of something;
at the end of something.
For example
at the start of the story = characterization of Rosabel as poor
just before description of inside the bus as grim = description of outside the bus as magical
just after the bus description = flashback to hat shop
at the start of the flashback episode = vivid-storytelling; establishing posh characters with direct speech
in the middle of the hat shop episode = shift into Rosabel’s thoughts and feelings – her anger
2. Figure out why the structural feature is positioned at this point – planning step
Having identified some structural shifts and their positions, you have to decide why the writer has structured the text in that way. There are no hard and fast rules for this kind of analysis – it’s very much dependent on the particular text. But you have to ask yourself this question: why has the writer included that thing at that point?
Here are some possible things you might want to think about with each of the positions that we outlined above:
At the start
Is something being established? Consider characters, settings, mood or themes. Do we need to know something in order for something later on to make sense? Is something deliberately concealed, creating suspense?
Just after / Just before
Is there a juxtaposition which helps to emphasize something? Does the thing just before change how we understand the thing just after? Does the thing just after lift or depress the mood? Does the thing which happens just after surprise or shock us?
In the middle of
Does a section stand out from the things around it in some way? Why does the writer want that part to stand out? Why does it need to be in the story? Is there a digression, and if so why at that point?
At the end
Does the extract build to some kind of climax? Is tension relieved? Is a mystery solved? Is something revealed which was earlier concealed? Is there a circular structure?
Make sure the effect is related to the position of the feature and is not just the effect of the language used in the text. You are not analysing language for this question – you are explaining why that thing happens at that point.
For example
characterization of Rosabel as poor at the start of the story = establishing her poverty so the hat shop reaction makes sense
outside the bus (magical) just before inside the bus (grim) = juxtaposition to emphasize the difference between her own life, and the life of those around her where she works
flashback to hat shop just after the bus description = the bus frames that episode – it causes us to imagine the hat shop from the bus, which helps make the contrast between Rosabel and the hat shop customers stand out
3. Introduce the structural feature, including its position– writing step
Now you are ready to write your response. You need to begin by stating the structural feature and its position in the text. Make sure you are really specific about what the structural feature is in this particular instance. Don’t just say the character is established at the start – say what about the character is established (e.g. her social class and poverty); don’t just say the writer includes the information about the character’s dead wife just before his new date arrives – say what specific information is included (e.g. that the character was devastated by her death and thought he’d never find happiness again). As with so many questions in English, specificity is key.
And make sure you lead with the writer. Say the writer places this information here, or shifts the focus here, or whatever. Show that you understand that the text is a construct – it doesn’t just happen by itself.
You don’t have to use quotation (though you may want to) – but you do need specific references to the text.
Useful words and phrases: establishes, develops, shifts the focus, switches from/to, moves, places, includes.
For example
At the very start of the extract Mansfield establishes that Rosabel is from a working-class background and that she’s so poor that she can’t even afford to eat a full meal at the end of “a hard day’s work.”
4. Explain the effect of the structural feature – writing step
For the analysis part of the paragraph, you need to explain why the writer includes this structural feature at this point. Never use phrases like ‘to interest the reader’ or ‘makes the reader want to read on’. These won’t get you above Level 1. Instead, explain why the structure makes the story-telling work, or how it changes the meaning of the text, or how it affects the reader’s response to an episode in the story. See Step 2 for more advice on this.
Useful words and phrases: at this point, in order to/for, because, juxtapose, emphasize
For example
Mansfield does this at this point to emphasize the significance of Rosabel’s social class – it appears at the start of the story because the reader needs to know just how much Rosabel is struggling, financially, in order for them to understand the extremity and irrationality of her emotional response during the hat shop flashback.
This creates the following full paragraph, which we saw at the start of this guide
At the very start of the extract Mansfield establishes that Rosabel is from a working-class background and that she’s so poor that she can’t even afford to eat a full meal at the end of “a hard day’s work.” Mansfield does this at this point to emphasize the significance of Rosabel’s social class – it appears at the start of the story because the reader needs to know just how much Rosabel is struggling, financially, in order for them to understand the extremity and irrationality of her emotional response during the hat shop flashback.