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SingaporeEnglish LiteratureQuick questions
The Unseen Poetry and Prose
Quick questions on Analysing an unseen prose passage explained: O-Level Literature in English
7short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are the unseen prose passage uses the prose skills?Show answer
Analysing unseen prose means doing exactly what you do with any prose: identifying the narrative voice and point of view, reading how characters are built, analysing the writer's style and language, and noticing how setting creates atmosphere, then moving from each feature to its effect. The only difference from a studied text is that you bring no prior knowledge. The prose skills are general and transferable, so they apply directly to an unfamiliar passage.
What is bring the prose toolkit to bear?Show answer
A strong unseen prose analysis draws on several skills, not one. Look for:
What is start with the narrative voice?Show answer
A useful first move in unseen prose is to identify the narrative voice, because it shapes everything else. Is it first person, putting us inside one mind? Close third person, sharing a character's thoughts? Omniscient, standing above the story?
What is build a reading, support every point?Show answer
As with all close reading, the aim is a reading, an argued sense of what the writer is doing and to what effect, not a list of devices or a plot summary. Settle on a one-sentence reading after your first approach and annotation, and let every point support it. Quote short phrases, name the method, explain the effect, and organise by idea (the narrative voice, the characterisation, the atmosphere) rather than line by line.
What is q1?Show answer
What is a good first move when analysing an unseen prose passage, and why? [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Why is retelling the plot a weak way to answer an unseen prose question? [2 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
What do unseen prose and unseen poetry have in common, and how do they differ? [3 marks]
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