Move from following a story to analysing one — how texts are built, the devices writers lean on, and how to write about them convincingly.
Getting more out of a text than the plot: working out unstated meaning and why the writer made it that way.
Strategies, inference and main idea
Reading between the lines and drawing conclusions from evidence.
Using surrounding text to work out the meaning of unknown words.
Identifying whether a text aims to inform, persuade, entertain, or explain.
The machinery underneath a narrative — who is telling it, who it happens to, and how it is arranged.
How authors reveal who a character is through direct statement, action, speech, thought, and the reactions of others.
How first-person, second-person, and third-person narration shape what readers know, feel, and trust about a story.
How authors hint at future events to build suspense, and how to identify and write foreshadowing effectively.
The six devices that carry most of the meaning in literary writing, from a simple metaphor to sustained satire.
Metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, and more.
Understanding how authors use objects, colours, and images to represent deeper meanings beyond their literal value.
Understanding verbal, situational, and dramatic irony — how authors create meaning through the gap between expectation and reality.
Understanding how authors convey attitude through tone, and how readers experience emotional atmosphere through mood.
How writers make brief, indirect references to history, mythology, the Bible, or other works to add meaning without explanation.
How writers use humour, irony, and exaggeration to criticise people, institutions, and society.
Turning a reading into an argument — the analysis conventions expected in essays and exams.