Work through the list without notes. If you cannot do a statement, follow the link, then come back. Guide = study guide; Practice = practice questions.
Understanding
- I can explain the difference between story (chronological) and plot (order of presentation). (Guide: “Story, plot and the gap between them”; Practice Question 8)
- I can define flashback, foreshadowing, in medias res and stream of consciousness. (Guide: “Four ways of interrupting chronology”; Practice Questions 1, 2 and 4)
- I can explain that interrupting chronology affects what the reader knows and when, and so creates anticipation, suspense or tension. (Guide: “Four ways of interrupting chronology”; Practice Question 3)
- I can explain how contrasts within a text can represent contradictions and so add nuance, ambiguity or complexity. (Guide: “Contrasts: where the plot sets two things against each other”; Practice Question 5)
Skills
- I can identify a technique from a specific textual detail such as a time marker, an unexplained opening or a hint. (Guide: Worked example 1; Practice Questions 1, 2 and 4)
- I can use the four-step method for a sequence: identify, name, say what is revealed or withheld, explain the effect. (Guide: Worked example 1; Practice Question 7)
- I can analyse a contrast between two scenes by naming the elements, what differs, what the juxtaposition suggests and how it complicates the work. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Question 5)
- I can reorder a list of events from telling order to story order and say what the order does. (Guide: the story-order figure; Practice Question 8)
Reasoning
- I can explain why a late revelation changes the weight of a later scene. (Practice Question 3)
- I can avoid empty phrases such as “it builds suspense” by stating what is withheld and what the reader therefore wants to know. (Guide: “Common misconceptions”; Practice Questions 7 and 9)
- I can use a public-domain work, such as Wuthering Heights or Macbeth, to illustrate a structural choice. (Guide: “Public-domain examples to learn from”; Practice Questions 6 and 9)
All ticked? Move on to the Topic 6.4 study guide, Narrator Perspective and Reliability.