This question is changing from the 2026 exams onwards. In today’s video I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the new structure analysis question. AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 3 is an 8-mark question, analysing the writer’s use of structure and assessing the structure element of assessment objective 2. Let’s look at a sample question, based on the extract you can download free, linked in the description. 03 You now need to think about the whole of the source. This text is from the middle of a novel. How has the writer structured the text to create tension? You could write about: • How tension goes up or down throughout the extract • How the writer uses structure for effect • Any other structural features, such as changes in mood, tone or perspective [8 marks] So what does it actually mean to analyse structure in an extract? Put simply, structure is about how the text is organised: the order things take place in. Structure analysis is less about what’s happening in a source, and more about where it’s happening and why. Here are some of the most common structural features: Flashbacks and flashforwards - where we go back in time or forward in time from the current moment in the story Shifts in focus and perspective - where the focus changes perhaps from outside to it, or from setting to character, from action to dialogue Zooming in and out - where the description moves like with a camera zooming in close to one detail and then zooming out to a broader, bigger description Repetitions - where something appears throughout the text, for example continual references to weather Cyclical structure - where a story begins or ends in the same place Foreshadowing - an advance hint of something that is to come later And what about these three things mentioned in the last bullet point: changes in mood, tone or perspective. Now I’ve spoken to AQA about these three bullet points and it seems there could be some variation to the way they are worded- particularly to this first one-depending on what the effect is, ‘decreasing and increasing’ might not be used. My understanding is that the second one is likely to be the same- it’s reminding you to analyse structure, not language, and the third one will be the same but that doesn’t mean the extract will always have relevant things to say about changes in mood, tone and narrative perspective every time- these are generic structural features that you COULD possibly comment on. It’s the same as we see in paper 1 question 2 where we have ‘words, phrases, language features and techniques and sentence forms’, but we’ve had years like November 2018 where there were no sentence forms worthy of analysis. The key word is ‘could’. The bullet points give you some ideas of what you COULD write about, but they might not all be there and even if they are there’s no expectation that you must write about them all. So for the purposes of this video we’ll look at these bullet points but just be prepared for some possible variation in your exam. How tension increases and decreases throughout the extract. This is a great prompt because it helps us to think about the text as a whole, rather than view bits in isolation. We might think first about how the extract starts, because of course that precise moment has been chosen by AQA for a reason. So in this opening sentence, ‘For a short time, I walked slowly on, determined to stick to my path until I came out onto the safety of the country road.’ There’s a sense of determination, and not really any tension in this moment. But that very quickly changes, and remember: how things shift and move and change is what structure is all about. That changes to the narrator realising they ‘should as likely as not become very quickly lost’. So there’s a structural feature – a shift, a change, a move from determination to vulnerability. We’ve identified a structural feature, and next we have to ask ourselves if and how it creates tension. I think it does, because it establishes a false sense of security before abruptly undermining it. The initial determination of the narrator makes the reader believe this character has control over their situation, but the shift to the realisation that they could become ‘very quickly lost’ destabilises this certainty. This sudden change increases tension by making the reader feel the narrator’s vulnerability—just moments ago, they were confident, but now they are faced with an sense of danger. This structural shift is effective because it mirrors the narrator’s psychological state, pulling the reader into their growing tension. And it’s not a gradual loss of direction, but an immediate and overwhelming sense of being trapped. So the SPEED of this shift, from determined to vulnerable, ramps up the tension, reinforcing the idea that the narrator is losing control of their surroundings. Now in our extract, I think it pretty much stays tense the whole way through, but there is one moment where the narrator hears Keckwick coming: ‘So Keckwick was unperturbed by the mist, quite used to traveling through the lanes and across the causeway in darkness.’ This sentence provides a moment of logical reasoning and reassures the narrator—at least temporarily—that someone else knows how to handle these conditions. Structurally, this functions as a brief pause in the rising tension, offering a contrast to the narrator’s fear. But what’s so clever is that this turns out not to be Keckwick, and so this pause in the tension, this moment of clarity, is actually used by the writer to heighten the tension when we discover the narrator was wrong – their friend isn’t coming to save them at all. So this first bullet point really gets us thinking about how things progress across the text. The second bullet point is much more open: how the writer uses structure for effect. So what else do we have in the extract? There’s a lot of repetition in the extract, with continual references to mist: shifting… swirling mist’, ‘mist played tricks’. Again, we would ask ourselves if and how that creates tension. And imagine this was you in the exam and you’ve spotted the repetition but can’t think how it creates tension, well don’t write about it – look for something structural where you CAN clearly link it to the effect mentioned in the question. For me, I think I can link this to tension – I’ll show a full answer at the end where I do just that. Why not put a comment in the comments section of any other structural features you spot in there, and explain how they create tension? This third bullet point introduces terms that might be new to some: tone, mood and perspective. Let’s go through them one by one: TONE refers to the attitude or feelings conveyed by the writer through the text. Writers use tone to subtly guide how readers respond to a text. Tone can shift throughout a text. In the extract: At the start, the tone is uneasy but determined: ‘For a short time, I walked slowly on, determined to stick to my path.’ Soon, the tone becomes increasingly fearful and panicked: ‘That walk back was a nightmare.’ As the source develops, the tone is frantic and despairing: ‘I began to yell until I thought my lungs would burst.’ This physical reaction to fear, along with the escalating actions, heightens the tension. Why is this important? These changes in tone reflect the narrator’s emotional descent from unease to terror, mirroring the tension in the experience. PERSPECTIVE refers to whose point of view the story is told from and how it shapes the reader’s understanding. In this extract, the perspective is that of a first-person narrator. The use of ‘I’ immerses the reader in the narrator’s fear, making the tension feel immediate and personal. As the extract progresses, the perspective becomes increasingly unreliable due to panic. This is one of the things with a first person narrator – we only get the first person narrator’s perspective, and have no omniscient third person narrator to tell us what is actually happening. The narrator describes the sounds of the trap as moving unpredictably: ‘not from directly behind me... but instead to be away to my right.’ The confusion about where the sounds are coming from heightens the tension, as both the narrator and the reader are unsure of what is real. Why is this important? The writer uses the first-person perspective to make the reader experience events as the narrator does, increasing the tension by limiting our knowledge and making everything feel more uncertain and threatening. We also begin to question the reliability of the narrator as the extract develops – that wouldn’t happen with a third person omniscient narrator. MOOD refers to the atmosphere or feeling that the text creates for the reader. Writers use structural choices to establish mood and develop it as the text progresses. In the extract, the mood is quite quickly filled with uncertainty ‘It began to dawn on me that I should as likely as not become very quickly lost.’ The uncertainty here creates tension because it suggests the narrator is beginning to doubt their ability to navigate safely. This foreshadows the fear and chaos that will soon follow, making the reader anticipate danger, and therefore creating tension. Towards the end, the mood shifts to full panic: ‘Shuddering at the dreadful thoughts racing through my mind.’ This vivid description of physical fear reinforces the increasing tension. Why is this important? The shifting mood keeps the reader emotionally engaged, moving from unease to horror to panic, and sustaining tension the whole way through. It mirrors the narrator’s emotions and heightens the tension throughout the extract by creating an almost constant sense of dread. The reader is drawn into the narrator’s escalating fear, making the tension feel immediate and immersive. And of course, finding structural features is only half the challenge -once we’ve spotted something we want to ask ourselves, does this structural feature create the effect mentioned in the question – in our example tension. If not, we don’t want to write about it, even if it is a clear structural feature. OK so let’s put some of this into an answer: The writer uses structure to create tension in the opening of the extract. The narrator is ‘determined to stick to my path’, suggesting control. However, this is abruptly undermined by the realisation that they could become ‘very quickly lost’, creating a sudden sense of danger. This rapid shift mirrors the narrator’s psychological state, making the reader feel their disorientation. The speed of this change heightens tension, immersing the reader in the narrator’s growing fear and loss of control. The tension intensifies in the second half of the extract as the pony and trap approaches. Structurally, the momentary relief offered by the belief that ‘Keckwick was unperturbed’ functions as a deliberate pause, allowing the reader to lower their guard before the tension spikes again when the realisation dawns that Keckwick is not there. This misdirection is particularly effective in increasing tension, as it plays on the reader’s expectations—what seemed like a moment of safety is quickly undermined, deepening the narrator’s isolation and fear. The sudden shift in mood, from fleeting reassurance to overwhelming dread, mirrors the narrative’s structural shifts and maintains the tension. Finally, the unresolved conclusion ensures that the tension lingers beyond the extract. The narrator’s final actions—‘shuddering at the dreadful thoughts’ and ‘fumbling his way blindly’—suggest that the fear remains, even after the immediate danger has passed. The ambiguity surrounding the ‘pony and trap’ leaves the reader unsettled, as the lack of clear resolution prevents any release of tension. Structurally, this functions as a cliffhanger, ensuring that the reader remains in a state of uncertainty, mirroring the narrator’s ongoing terror. The absence of closure reinforces the tension by leaving the reader, like the narrator, grasping for answers that never come. If you found this video useful, please do subscribe to the channel.