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Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students and parents.
- Should I take the Advanced Placement exam?
- What can I do to prepare for the A..P. English exam?
- How do I analyze the point of view of a poem, prose passage, or play?
- How do I analyze the tone of a poem, prose passage, or play?
- How do I analyze style, diction, syntax, and structure?
- What other ideas will help students to pass the exam?
Should I take the Advanced Placement exam? Each year in early May students take the A.P. English exam, and each year we
have a high number of students qualifying with a 3, 4, or 5. Before deciding
whether to take the exam, you might want to ask college admissions officers
what score you would need to be exempt from courses, which specific college
English courses you would be exempt from, and how many credits you would
receive for a particular score. Payments for the exam are due by mid-March,
so from the beginning of the year you have several months to decide.
What can I do to prepare for the A..P. English exam? To prepare for the exam, students should work diligently throughout the year
and study specifically for the exam from practice books and former exams,
including multiple choice questions, poetry analyses, prose analyses, and
free response essays from past exams. In addition, they should review
literary terms, notes and critical commentary from this year's novels and
plays, values of various eras, and last minute reminder tips. They also
should study vertical teams information regarding tone, point of view, and
style, diction, syntax, and structure. Students may see me to check out both
a practice book and a CD-ROM. Though they are different, both contain
practice exams.
How do I analyze the point of view of a poem, prose passage, or play? Point of view
Adapted from the College Board Vertical Teams booklet
A piece of literature is told or recorded by a narrator, who has a particular
identity. The story is rarely told by the writer speaking in his own
personality; usually, it is told through an assumed point of view, an assumed
eye and mind, or persona.
The author determines whose perspective will be used, whose words are being
read, where the narrator stands in relation to the events, and whether the
events are viewed from a fixed or mobile position. Students sometimes have
difficulty understanding that the choice is deliberate, that a different
point of view would change the story significantly, and that the author
chooses the point of view for its precise effect on the meaning of the story.
Sometimes an Advanced Placement English exam question may ask the reader to
identify the narrative techniques the author has used in a given passage.
Narrative techniques are the methods used in telling the story; these
techniques would include, but are not limited to, point of view,
characterization, manipulation of time, dialogue, and interior monologue.
Types of point of view:
A participant or first-person point of view may occur with a major or
minor character. Some first-person narrators are innocent-eye narrators,
who are naive, which may produce an ironic effect, while some present their
ideas through stream of consciousness or interior monologue.
Nonparticipant or third-person point of view may be divided into three types:
an omniscient narrator enters the minds of all characters, the selective or
limited omniscient narrator sees into the minds of selected characters or a
single character, and an objective narrator records what can be seen
objectively without entering the minds of characters. The first-person point
of view creates immediacy, and these narrators interact with other characters
and reflect on their experiences. Limitations to this point of view include
unnreliable narrators, inaccuracy of understanding or judgment, and inability
to know what other characters are thinking. If the audience knows what the
first-person narrator fails to see, dramatic irony results.
Purposes of the non-participant or third-person narrator include a knowledge
of characters' thoughts, a potential to shift from one character's
perspective to that of another, and more objectivity on the part of the
narrator. Among the purposes for the limited omniscient narrator is that, as
the perspective is more limited, the story is more unified than with the
omniscient narrator.
How do I analyze the tone of a poem, prose passage, or play? Tone/Attitude Terms
One of the more difficult subjects for students to discuss in analyzing
literature is tone, the author's attitude toward the subject and characters
of a work of literature. Frequently, the problem is that the student is
simply not being specific enough.
Tone: Key Issues:
Often a single adjective will not adequately express the tone of a work, and
tone may change from chapter to chapter, or from line to line.
Sometimes, as in Wordsworth's "The Prelude", Book I, the speaker's tone
changes midway through the poem.
Clues to watch for shifts in tone:
Key words, such as but, yet, nevertheless, however, and although
punctuation, such as dashes, periods, and colons
stanza and paragraph divisions
changes in line and stanza or in sentence length
sharp contrasts in diction
Though generally tone will refer to the author's or speaker's attitude
towards his subject, sometimes the author may have one attitude toward the
audience and another toward his subject.
Generally, tone is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language,
imagery,irony, symbol, syntax. and style.
Below is a list of possible terms to use in discussing tone.
accusatory - charging of wrongdoing
apathetic - indifferent due to lack of interest or concern
in awe-solemn wonder
bitter - exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief
cynical - questions the basic sincerity and goodness of people
condescending - looking down on or feeling superior to someone or something
callous or unfeeling; insensitive to the feelings of others
contemplative - studying, reflecting on an issue or character
critical - finding fault
choleric - hot-tempered; easily angered
contemptuous - showing or feeling that something is worthless
caustic - stinging, biting; intense use of sarcasm
disdainful - scornful
didactic - author attempts to educate, instruct, or lecture the reader.
derisive - ridiculing, mocking
earnest - intensely sincere
erudite - learned, scholarly, polished
fanciful - using the imagination; light
forthright - directly frank without hesitation
gloomy - dark, sad, rejected
haughty - proud and vain to the point of arrogance
indignant- marked by anger caused by injustice
judgmental - authoritative and often having a critical opinion
jovial - happy, cheerful
lyrical - expressing a writer's inner feelings; song-like; full of imagery
matter-of-fact - accepting of conditions; not fanciful or emotional
mocking - treating with contempt or ridicule
morose- despondent, sullen, surly, gloomy
malicious - pusposely hurtful
objective - having an unbiased view
patronizing - having an air of condescension
pessimistic - seeing the worst side of things
ribald - coarse, vulgar, irreverent
reverent - treating a subject or character with honor and respect
sarcastic - sneering, caustic
sardonic - bitter or scornful; mocking
solemn - deeply earnest, grave
sanguine - optimistic and cheerful
whimsical - having capricious humor
How do I analyze style, diction, syntax, and structure? Style: Dicton, Syntax, Structure, and Treatment of Subject Matter
Adapted from the College Board Vertical Teams booklet
Style: The arrangement of words in a manner which at once expresses the
individuality of the author and the idea and intent in his mind. For the
purpose of analysis, a study of styles will include many factors, including
diction, sentence structure, and variety, imagery, rhythm of language,
repetition, coherence, emphasis, and arrangement of ideas.
Especially significant in an analysis of style are diction, sentence
structure, syntax, structure, and treatment of subject matter.
Diction, briefly defined, is choice of word or detail. Specific diction
includes the following categories:
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.
Allusion: a reference to a person, place, or thing from mythology,
literature, history, or the Bible.
Antithesis: a direct contrast of structurally parallel word groupings,
generally for the purpose of contrast.
Apostrophe: a form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken
to as if present and the inanimate, as if animate.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words.
Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds within a series of words to
produce a harmonious effect.
Hyperbole: a deliberate, extravagant exaggeration.
Imagery: details appealing to one or more of the five senses.
Irony:
Verbal Irony: the result of a statement making one comment while
meaning the opposite; its purpose is usually to criticize.
Situational Irony: when a situation turns out differently from what
one would normally expect, though often the twist is oddly
appropriate.
Dramatic Irony: when a character says or does something that has
meanings other than what he intends or understands, though the
audience and/or other characters understand the full ramification of
his speech or action. The audience is aware of what the character
is not.
Metaphor: a comparison without the use of like or as. This is often a
comparison between something that is concrete and something that is abstract.
Metonymy: the name of one item is used for another, which it suggests or
resembles.
Onomatopoeia: the use of words in which the sounds seem to resemble the
words they describe.
Oxymoron: a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a
single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking
the reader into awareness.
Paradox: a statement that contradicts itself. Though the statement may at
first appear contradictory, it usually turns out to have a meaningful truth
behind it.
Personification: a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract
ideas human characteristics.
Sarcasm: a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something
but is actually insulting it. Its purpose is to injure or hurt.
Simile: a comparison of two different items or ideas through the use of the
words like or as. It is a definitely stated comparison in which the poet
says that one item is like another.
Synecdoche: a part of something is used to signify the whole.
Understatement: the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that
deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is.
Note: Sometimes a question on the Advanced Placement exam may ask what
devices of sound, figures of speech (figurative language), or rhetorical
devices the author uses to achieve a certain effect. Study this list
carefully:
Sound devices: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, internal
rhyme, repetition of words or phrases.
Figures of speech include antithesis, apostrophe, hyperbole, irony, metaphor,
metonymy, oxymoron, paradox, personification, simile, synecdoche, and
understatement.
Rhetorical devices include figurative language in addition to contrast,
repetition, understatement, sarcasm, and the rhetorical question.
Remember, you must not only identify the type of device, but also know its
purpose, the "so what" of literature. Sometimes the purpose is to compare
something common to something unusual, to make something abstract appear
concrete, or to make something not human appear more connected to humanity.
Syntax: At its simplest level, syntax consists of sentence structure, the
arrangement of words within the sentence, but analysis of style and meaning
never relies on one concept alone.
Components of syntax include sentence length, sentence variety, and the
arrangement of ideas in a sentence and in a paragraph.
Sentence patterns:
Loose - makes complete sense if brought to a close before the actual ending.
Periodic: makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached.
Balanced: The phrases or clauses balance each other by virtue of their
likeness of structure, meaning, or length.
Natural order of a sentence: the author constructs the sentence so that the
subject comes before the predicate.
Split order of a sentence: the author divides the predicate into two parts
with the subject appearing between them.
Juxtaposition: a poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated
ideas, words, or phrses are placed next to one another, creating an effect of
surprise and wit.
Parallel structure: a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences
or parts of a sentence. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases,
sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally
developed and similarly phrased.
Repetition: a device in which words, sounds, and ideas are used more than
once to enhance rhythm and create emphasis.
Rhetorical question: a question that expects no answer, used to draw
attention to a point and generally stronger than a direct statement.
Remember that the structure of the passage and the treatment of subject
matter are also a part of syntax, and, as they imply, tie back to tone and
point of view. Nothing occurs in isolation.
Remember that this description is not as complete as your vertical teams
packet, which you need to review carefully.
What other ideas will help students to pass the exam? Keeping a positive attitude, diligence, being consistently thorough,
integrating your thinking. Think how new ideas you learn in this class
relate to information you already know. To do this takes considerable time
for reflection. In a sense you are preparing a large outline in your head,
which ties back to the study skills mentioned under FAQ. The more integrated
your thinking as you learn, the more likely you are to retain information
and make it meaningful for you.
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