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How does the writer structure the text to ...?
How does the writer structure the text to ...?
This question assesses your ability to:
Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views
It will ask you to analyse the whole source for structure techniques. Students should not only identify a variety of techniques within the source, but they should also look to develop a detailed explanation which includes: why the author uses the technique, how it interests readers, how it adds to the extract, and any other relevant analysis.
Suggested time: 8 minutes
Top tips:
Make sure you are focused on the structure (organisation, point of view, sentence length, etc.) being used throughout the text, not just in one part of it.
Use Tier 3 (Key) vocabulary in your response, such as: 3rd person, cyclical narrative, foreshadow, shift in time, etc.
Use short, precise quotations or examples in your work to emphasise your ideas.
Remember to use What How Why in your response (you do not need to link to context in this question).
Annotate your extract (not your answer) to help you keep focused.
What are some structure techniques? Write them down, then check your answer.
What are some structure techniques? Write them down, then check your answer.
Short, snappy sentences
Short, simple sentences
Long, complex sentences
Short paragraphs
Long paragraphs
Dialogue
Description
Action
Shift in focus
Shift in topic
Shift in time
Shift in character
Zoom out
Zoom in
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution/Denouement
Inciting Incident
Connectives
Repetition
In media res
1st person/2nd person/3rd person POV
Past/present/future tense
Temporal references (references to time)
Withholding information
Endings
Order of the events
Flashback
Flashforward
Circular narrative
Justaposition
Chronological structure
Rule of 3
Direct speech
Need some revision to build your confidence with these techniques? Try the links below.
For the reading section of this exam, we recommend students adopt a What How Why writing structure, to help them effectively communicate their thoughts and analysis. For this question, students should focus on the writer's use of structure. Your question will always have a focus. Once we've identified the focus, then we can start to use the What How Why structure to begin a response. This will vary depending on the focus, but it could look like:
What is your opinion about the focus? What is the writer suggesting with the focus?
How has the writer structured the text to convey their ideas? How have they structured sentences to show the focus?
Why is it effective? Why does it make an emotional response in the reader?
Let's look at the example in the question below, "How has the writer structured the text to build tension?", the focus of the question is Zoe's feelings. So our What How Why would look something like:
What is creating the tension? What does the writer want us to understand about the tension?
How has the writer increased the tension throughout the text? How has the writer used structure devices to increase the tension?
Why is it effective in increaing the tension? Why does this make us care about the tension?
Sample Question and Answer
Sample Question and Answer
Source A
Source A
This extract is from the beginning of a novel by Graham Joyce. A young married couple, Zoe and Jake, are on a skiing holiday in the French Pyrenean mountains.
It was snowing again. Gentle six-pointed flakes from a picture book were settling on her jacket sleeve. The mountain air prickled with ice and the smell of pine resin. Several hundred metres below lay the dark outline of Saint-Bernard-en-Haut, their Pyrenean resort village; across to the west, the irregular peaks of the mountain range.
Zoe pulled the air into her lungs, feeling the cracking cold of it before letting go. And when the mountain seemed to nod and sigh back at her, she almost thought she could die in that place, and happily.
If there are few moments in life that come as clear and as pure as ice, when the mountain breathed back at her, Zoe knew that she had trapped one such moment and that it could never be taken away. Everywhere was snow and silence. Snow and silence; the complete arrest of life; a rehearsal and a pre-echo of death. She pointed her skis down the hill. They looked like weird talons of brilliant red and gold in the powder snow as she waited, ready to swoop. I am alive. I am an eagle.
The sun was up now; in a few minutes there would be more skiers to break the eerie morning spell. But right now they had the snow and the morning entirely to themselves.
There was a whisper behind her. It was the effortless track of Jake’s skis as he came over the ridge and caught up with her.
‘This is perfection.’
‘You ready to go?’ she asked.
‘Yep. Let’s do it.’
They’d got up early to beat the holiday-making hordes for this first run of the morning. Because this – the tranquillity, the silence, the undisturbed snow and the feeling of proximity to an eagle’s flight – was what it was all about. Jake hit the west side of the steep but broad slope and she took the east, carving matching parallel tracks through the fresh snow.
But at the edge of the slope, near the curtain of trees, she felt a small slab of snow slip from underneath her. It was like she’d been bucked, so she took the fall-line* to recover her balance. Before she’d dropped three hundred metres, the whisper of her skis was displaced by a rumble.
Zoe saw at the periphery of her vision that Jake had come to a halt at the side of the piste and was looking back up the slope. Irritated by the false start they’d made, she etched a few turns before skidding to a halt and turning to look back at her husband.
The rumble became louder. There was a pillar of what looked like grey smoke unfurling in silky banners at the head of the slope, like the heraldry of armies. It was beautiful. It made her smile.
Then her smile iced over. Jake was speeding straight towards her. His face was rubberised and he mouthed something as he flew at her.
‘Get to the side! To the side!’
She knew now that it was an avalanche. Jake slowed, batting at her with his ski pole. ‘Get into the trees! Hang on to a tree!’
The rumbling had become a roaring in her ears, drowning Jake’s words. She pushed herself down the fall-line, scrambling for traction, trying to accelerate away from the roaring cloud breaking behind her like a tsunami at sea. Jagged black cracks appeared in the snow in front of her. She angled her skis towards the side of the slope, heading for the trees, but it was too late. She saw Jake’s black suit go bundling past her as he was turned by the great mass of smoke and snow. Then she too was punched off her feet and carried through the air, twisting, spinning, turning in the white-out. She remembered something about spreading her arms around her head. For a few moments it was like being agitated inside a washing machine, turned head over heels a few times, until at last she was dumped heavily in a rib-cracking fall. Then there came a chattering noise, like the amplified jaws of a million termites chewing on wood. The noise itself filled her ears and muffled everything, and then there was silence, and the total whiteness faded to grey, and then to black.
Glossary * fall-line – the most direct route downhill
Q3: You now need to think about the whole of the source.
This text is from the beginning of a novel.
How has the writer structured the text to build tension?
You could write about:
what the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning of the source
how and why the writer changes this focus as the source develops
any other structural features that interest you.
Check Your Answer
Check Your Answer
What
The writer builds tension by shifting the scene from peaceful beauty and tranquillity to sudden danger and terror as an avalanche approaches and engulfs Zoe and Jake.
How
Calm opening imagery that creates a false sense of security, using gentle descriptions such as “Gentle six-pointed flakes from a picture book” and the mountain that “breathed back at her.”
Foreshadowing of danger with phrases like “a rehearsal and a pre-echo of death” and Zoe’s thought that she “could die in that place, and happily.”
Gradual escalation of sound, starting with a quiet “whisper” of skis, building to a “rumble,” and then becoming a deafening “roaring.”
Short, urgent sentences and dialogue (“Get to the side! To the side!”) that speed up the pace.
Vivid similes and contrasting descriptions, such as the avalanche first appearing “beautiful” like “silky banners,” before turning terrifying like “a tsunami at sea.”
Chaotic action verbs (“punched off her feet,” “twisting, spinning,” “agitated inside a washing machine”) that create a disorienting, violent effect.
Why
The writer builds tension in this way to make the avalanche feel sudden and shocking. By starting with serene beauty, the danger feels more threatening when it arrives. The gradual increase in sound and the shift from beauty to horror mirror Zoe’s own realisation of the deadly situation. This technique keeps the reader anxious and engaged, emphasising the unpredictable power of nature and the characters’ vulnerability. The contrast makes the final moments of chaos even more dramatic and terrifying.
Using these ideas, we can then craft a response. Notice how the structure can vary depending on the point you are making and the level. For example, in the Grade 4 response, you can see a much clearer use of What How Why (especially in the first paragraph), which becomes a bit more varied and ambitious by the last paragraph. Whereas in the Grade 9 response, the student is able to blend the ideas together more fluently and can easily bounce back and forth between evidence (How) and explanation (Why) to prove their point (What).
Grade 4
At first, everything feels calm and safe with Zoe and Jake in the snow. Then an avalanche hits and everything turns scary. The writer starts with calm, gentle pictures like “Gentle six-pointed flakes from a picture book” and the mountain that “breathed back at her.” This makes the reader feel safe. There is also foreshadowing, like when Zoe thinks she “could die in that place, and happily.” This hints that something bad might happen.
The sound gets louder and louder. It begins as a quiet “whisper” of skis, then turns into a “rumble,” and finally becomes a loud “roaring.” The writer uses short, urgent sentences like “Get to the side! To the side!” to make the action feel fast and exciting.
At first the avalanche looks beautiful, like “silky banners,” but then it becomes terrifying like “a tsunami at sea.” The writer does this to make the avalanche feel surprising and shocking. Starting with beauty makes the danger feel much worse when it arrives. The growing sounds and the change from pretty to scary help us feel what Zoe is feeling.
Grade 9
In the extract, the writer skilfully builds tension by contrasting an atmosphere of serene beauty with the sudden and terrifying onset of an avalanche. Initially, the scene is painted with peaceful, almost idyllic imagery. Gentle “six-pointed flakes from a picture book” and the mountain that “breathed back at her” create a tranquil, magical mood. Zoe feels a profound sense of connection and contentment, even contemplating death happily in such a pure moment. This calm opening lulls both Zoe and the reader into a false sense of security.
Tension gradually escalates as the writer introduces subtle warnings and foreshadowing. References to “a rehearsal and a pre-echo of death” and the “complete arrest of life” hint at impending danger. The mood shifts when a “small slab of snow” slips beneath Zoe’s skis, followed by a rumble that grows into a roar. Short sentences and urgent dialogue, such as Jake’s frantic cries of “Get to the side!”, accelerate the pace and convey rising panic. The avalanche itself is described with powerful contrast — at first appearing “beautiful” like “silky banners,” before transforming into a violent “tsunami” of snow that engulfs the characters.
By moving from lyrical, peaceful descriptions to chaotic, sensory overload, the writer mirrors Zoe’s own emotional journey from wonder to terror. This effective contrast heightens the shock of the disaster and emphasises the unpredictable, overwhelming power of nature. Overall, the writer’s control of pace, imagery, and foreshadowing successfully builds gripping tension throughout the passage.
Sample question and answer taken from AQA Language Paper 1 November 2019 and adapted to fit new content.
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