Features to Track in the Paper 1 Exam

Feature	Frequently suggests
Pronouns	We = together, group, communal (possibly author with reader)
	I = isolated, alone, separate, personal
	You = persuasive & inclusive, accusatory (also separate)
Polysyndeton / Asyndeton	Chaos, overwhelming profusion, lots of things happening, boredom, mundanity
Triads	Persuasive, lots of things
! or ?	Shock, anger, outrage, uncertainty, persuasion
Caesura (, … or -)	A pause to emphasise a key idea, create certainty or suggest confusion
Foregrounding	Often the most important things are brought to the front of a sentence / line
Short sentences	Anger, violence, factual, importance, finality, high speed, panic, sadness
Long sentences	Lots of things, complex thoughts, time to develop ideas
Length change	Sudden switches from short to long / long to short – an important change
Paragraph length	Basically the same as sentences – again look for sudden changes in length
Lots of commas	Stuttering, stumbling, broken up ideas, taking things slowly, relaxation
Complex diction	(often polysyllabic, Latinate) Educated, expertise, complex, rational, calm
Simple diction	(often monosyllabic) Childish, uncomplicated, emotional – especially angry
Repetition	A key idea, confusion, simplicity, emphasis
Imagery	Similes and metaphors often attempt to reveal a truth hard to state directly
Pathetic fallacy	Often used to create moods of happiness, or sadness – sometimes tension
Sibilance	Soothing, gentle, sinister, threatening
Fricatives	Angry, vicious, cruel
Harsh consonants	Violent, angry, curt
Soft, long vowels	Soothing, gentle, dull, boring
Onomatopoeia	Shock, sudden changes, softness
First person narrator	Subjective, uncertain, unreliable, vivid, more realistic, personal
Third person	Objective, reliable, certain, factual, omniscient, distanced, cold, isolated
Narrator intervention	Truth, a different perspective, comment on the world
Narrative perspective	Does the third person narrator side more with one character than another
Big Buts	Especially when foregrounded at the start of sentence – mood change
Modal verbs	‘Might’, ‘Will’, ‘May’ - different degrees of certainty
Present tense	Immediate, real, lively, now
Past tense	Recollection, unchangeable
Tense change	Switch from present / past / future – an important change, new perspective
Enjambment	Richness of ideas running into one another, no structure / order
End Stopping	Definite ending, imposition of structure
Rhyme	Can suggest pretty much anything – absence may suggest freedom, disorder
Rhythm	Hard to spot – but repeated rhythm may suggest repetition, cycles, monotony
Breakdown of R&R	Change or breakdown in rhyme & rhythm – an important change, disruption
Flashback / Foreshadowing	Structural alteration, often for tension or explanation of key ideas
Humour / irony	Ridicule, mock or attack, to entertain, amuse, to reveal painful truths
Tone	The emotion of the persona / character - do we sympathise or disagree?
Ambiguity	Why have things have been left ambiguous – uncertainty or mystery?