← English Literature syllabus

SingaporeEnglish Literature

Reading Prose Fiction

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do writers build character in prose, and how do you analyse characterisation as a constructed effect rather than treating characters as real people?

Analyse the methods of characterisation in prose fiction (direct description, speech and dialogue, action, interior thought, and how others respond) and read character as a deliberate authorial construction
A focused answer to the H2 Literature skill of analysing characterisation in prose fiction. Direct and indirect methods, dialogue and interiority, showing versus telling, and how to read character as a constructed effect serving the writer's meaning.
9 min answer →

Who tells the story, how much do they know, and how does the choice of narrator shape what a reader understands and feels?

Analyse narrative perspective and point of view (first and third person, omniscient and limited, the unreliable narrator, free indirect style) and explain how the choice of narrator controls meaning and sympathy
A focused answer to the H2 Literature skill of analysing narrative perspective in prose fiction. First and third person, omniscient versus limited narration, the unreliable narrator, free indirect discourse, and how point of view shapes meaning and sympathy.
9 min answer →

How do a writer's sentences themselves - their length, rhythm, syntax and diction - create meaning and effect in prose?

Analyse prose style at the level of the sentence (syntax, sentence length and rhythm, diction and register, repetition and parallelism) and explain how style itself creates meaning
A focused answer to the H2 Literature skill of analysing prose style. Sentence length and rhythm, syntax and word order, diction and register, repetition and parallelism, and how the texture of the prose itself carries meaning and effect.
9 min answer →

How do writers use setting and description to create atmosphere and meaning, rather than merely providing a backdrop?

Analyse how setting, place and descriptive detail create atmosphere, reflect character and theme, and carry symbolic and pathetic-fallacy meaning in prose fiction
A focused answer to the H2 Literature skill of analysing setting and atmosphere in prose fiction. How description creates mood, pathetic fallacy, setting as symbol and as a mirror of character and theme, and the selection of detail.
9 min answer →

How do writers shape time and structure in a narrative - order, pace, openings and endings - to control what a reader understands and feels?

Analyse narrative structure and the handling of time (chronology and flashback, pace and ellipsis, foreshadowing, openings and endings, and framing) and explain how structural choices create meaning
A focused answer to the H2 Literature skill of analysing narrative structure and time in prose fiction. Chronology and flashback, pace and ellipsis, foreshadowing, the work of openings and endings, framing, and how structure shapes meaning.
9 min answer →