Analysing Structure

Overview

In your OCR GCSE English Language exam, analysing structure is a critical skill assessed under Assessment Objective 2 (AO2). It requires you to move beyond simply identifying features and instead analyse how a writer has deliberately organised a text to shape meaning and influence you, the reader. This guide will equip you with the skills to deconstruct a text's architecture, from the whole-text level down to individual sentences, and explain its effects with the precision of a top-band candidate.

Reading Skills

Identifying Information & Ideas

This is the foundation of all reading skills. Before you can analyse, you must understand. In the exam, you will be presented with unseen 19th, 20th, and 21st-century texts. Your first job is to extract both explicit information (what is directly stated) and implicit information (what is suggested or implied). For instance, a writer might explicitly state "the room was cold," but implicitly suggest a character's emotional state of isolation or fear through that description.

Analysing Language

While our focus is structure, it's impossible to separate it entirely from language. The two work together. Examiners expect you to understand how word choices create effects. Credit is given for analysing how specific language features contribute to the overall tone and meaning.

Key Language Features to Identify

Analysing Structure

This is the core of AO2. Structure is the writer's blueprint. It's about the order and arrangement of the text as a whole. Examiners want to see you analyse the sequence of events, the shifts in focus, and the patterns that build meaning.

Key Structural Features to Analyse:

• Openings and Endings: How does the writer begin? In the middle of the action (in medias res)? With a description? How does the ending relate to the opening? A cyclical structure, where the end echoes the beginning, can create a sense of inevitability or closure.
• Shifts in Focus: Where does the writer direct your attention? Notice shifts between characters, from wide views to close-ups, from internal thoughts to external action, or from past to present. These shifts are always deliberate.
• Narrative Perspective: Who is telling the story? A first-person narrator provides a personal, subjective view. A third-person narrator can be omniscient (all-knowing) or limited, affecting how much information the reader receives.
• Sentence Length Variation: This is a powerful tool for controlling pace. Long, complex sentences can slow down the reader, building tension or reflecting a complex thought process. A short, simple sentence can create a sudden impact, shock, or moment of clarity.
• Paragraph Structure: Look at the length and focus of paragraphs. A single-sentence paragraph isolates a key idea for emphasis. A series of long, dense paragraphs might create a feeling of being overwhelmed.
• Flashback and Foreshadowing: These devices manipulate time. A flashback provides crucial backstory, while foreshadowing hints at future events, building suspense and anticipation.
• Contrast and Juxtaposition: When a writer places opposing ideas or images side by side, the contrast heightens the effect of each. This can be used to create irony, emphasise change, or highlight conflict.

**The What-How-Why Method:**When analysing structure, always follow this framework:

1. What is the structural feature? (e.g., shift from past to present tense)
2. How does it work in this context? (e.g., the sudden shift jolts the reader into the immediacy of the moment)
3. Why did the writer use it? (e.g., to emphasise the urgency and danger the character now faces)

Evaluating Critically

For higher marks, you need to evaluate how successfully the writer has used language and structure. This involves forming a judgement and supporting it with evidence. Use phrases like "The writer effectively creates a sense of panic by..." or "To some extent, the ending feels unresolved because...". A good structure for this is:

1. Statement: Make a clear point about the writer's methods.
2. Evidence: Select a short, embedded quotation.
3. Analysis: Explain the effect of the chosen feature.
4. Link: Connect your analysis back to the writer's overall purpose or the question's focus.

Comparing Writers' Viewpoints

In Paper 2, you will be asked to compare how two writers present a similar topic. The key is to compare their methods (language and structure) and the resulting viewpoints and perspectives. Avoid simply discussing what each text says. Instead, focus on how they say it differently. Use comparative discourse markers like "whereas," "in contrast," "similarly," and "on the other hand."

Writing Skills

Creative Writing

Your writing needs to be as crafted as the texts you analyse. Whether writing a narrative or a description, focus on:

• Show, Don't Tell: Instead of telling the reader "he was angry," show it: "He clenched his fists, his jaw tight, and a muscle pulsed in his cheek."
• Sensory Description: Engage all five senses—sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste—to create a vivid and immersive world for the reader.
• Varied Sentence Structures: Use a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences to create rhythm and pace. Start sentences in different ways (e.g., with an adverb, a subordinate clause, or a prepositional phrase).
• Engaging Openings: Hook your reader immediately. Start with dialogue, action, a striking image, or a question.
• Satisfying Endings: Avoid clichés like "it was all a dream." Instead, aim for an ending that resolves the narrative or leaves the reader with a powerful final image.
• The One-Scene Rule: For timed exam writing, focus on developing one scene in depth rather than rushing through multiple events.

Transactional/Non-Fiction Writing

For tasks like writing a letter, article, speech, or leaflet, you must consider Purpose, Audience, and Form (PAF). Your tone, vocabulary, and structure must be appropriate for the task. Use persuasive techniques to engage your reader.

AFOREST Persuasive Techniques:

• Alliteration: Memorable phrases that stick in the reader's mind.
• Facts: Concrete information that supports your argument.
• Opinions: Your viewpoint, clearly stated.
• Rhetorical questions: Questions that make the reader think and engage.
• Emotive language: Words that appeal to the reader's emotions.
• Statistics: Numerical data that adds weight to your argument.
• Three (Rule of): Listing things in threes for emphasis and rhythm.

Technical Accuracy (SPaG)

Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar (SPaG) are crucial. They account for a significant portion of the marks in the writing sections. Aim for flawless spelling and use a range of punctuation for effect. Ambitious punctuation like semicolons, colons, and dashes, when used correctly, will be rewarded by examiners.

Ambitious Punctuation:

• Semicolons (;): Link two closely related independent clauses without a conjunction.
• Colons (:): Introduce a list, explanation, or quotation.
• Dashes (—): Create emphasis, add an aside, or show an interruption.
• Parenthetical commas: Set off additional information within a sentence.