Language A: Literature school supported self-taught oral commentary
questions (May and November 2016)
The formal oral commentary is a close literary analysis of the passage or poem. It is expected that, in
preparing for each of the 10 questions for the two works studied, students will pay attention to the
way in which literary features such as language, style, tone and voice create particular effects.
Poetry
1. How are structural features used to create meaning in the selected poem?
2. Explore the use of emphatic elements, such as hyperbole, and the effects they produce in the chosen
poem.
3. Analyse how contrast has been used to emphasize central ideas of the selected poem.
4. Comment on the techniques used by the poet to provoke an emotional response in the reader.
5. Discuss the effects created in the selected poem by the poet’s use of syntax and punctuation.
Drama
1. Comment on the way in which the playwright creates tension or suspense in this passage.
2. Discuss the ways in which the playwright has used a character to portray a particular ideal in the chosen
passage.
3. Discuss how and to what effect the playwright has used tragic or comic elements in the chosen
passage.
4. Analyse the portrayal of power struggle in the selected extract and its significance to the work as a
whole.
5. Explore the techniques used by the playwright to reveal the characters’ secrets in the chosen passage.
Prose fiction
1. Comment on the use of urban or rural settings in the chosen passage to create a particular effect.
2. Discuss how flashback or foreshadowing have been used in this extract in relation to the work as a
whole.
3. Discuss what techniques the author has used in this passage to keep the reader interested.
4. What methods has the author used to make the narrative voice in this extract convincing?
5. Comment on how generational differences have been used in this passage to highlight a key theme of
the work as a whole.
Prose non-fiction
1. “Subjectivity is a key feature of prose non-fiction.” Discuss how this is manifested in the selected
passage and what are the effects achieved.
2. Authors of this genre often use rhetorical questions or provocative statements. Discuss how and to what
effect these techniques have been used in this extract.
3. Explore the effects of intertextuality (the use of different texts such as letters, diary entries, newspapers
articles...) in the chosen extract and its significance to the work as a whole.
4. Examine how and to what effect the author has made use of pronouns in the chosen extract.
5. Discuss how humour and/or satire have been used to create a particular effect in the selected passage.