Literary passages | Organization and text structure | Achievable Praxis Core: Reading (5713)

Literature conforms to some of the same conventions that are used for nonfiction writing, but there are also a number of differences. For example, almost all science and social science writing is written in the third person, but that is not necessarily true with fiction.

Fiction is less likely to conform to specific structures than nonfiction is, so it’s helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

Who or what is the passage mainly about.?
What is the main point of the passage’s conclusion?
Where are the transition words? What relationship(s) do they suggest?
Has a character had any realizations or faced any challenges in the passage?

If the passage contains dialogue, keep the characters straight. Label them by their first initials and track the dialogue so that you are sure who says what. This is especially important when the writer has omitted tags such as “he said," or “she replied,”

Here’s an example from A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. Lucy Manette is being questioned in court during Charles Darnay’s trial for treason.

“Let me interrupt you for a moment. Had [the prisoner] come on board alone?”

“No.”

“How many were with him?”

“Two French gentlemen.”

“Had they conferred together?”

“They had conferred together until the last moment, when it was necessary for the French gentlemen to be landed in their boat.”

“Had any papers been handed about among them, similar to these lists?”

“Some papers had been handed about among them, but I don’t know what papers.”

“Like these in shape and size?”

“Possibly, but indeed I don’t know, although they stood whispering very near to me: because they stood at the top of the cabin steps to have the light of the lamp that was hanging there; it was a dull lamp, and they spoke very low, and I did not hear what they said, and saw only that they looked at papers.”

Which statement provides the best summary of the passage?

a. Lucy Manette clarifies a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she explains what she saw while also saying that she couldn’t be sure about certain details.
b. Lucy Manette clarifies a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she responds with specific descriptions of the two men and their obvious hostility towards Charles Darnay.
c. Lucy Manette is asked to clarify a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she responds with a detailed description of the treasonous papers they looked at together.
d. Lucy Manette is interrupted during her testimony about Charles Darnay and responds by insisting on the accuracy of her testimony.
e. Lucy Manette describes how the two French gentlemen were thrown off the boat for inciting Charles Darnay to commit treason.

(spoiler)

Answer: Lucy Manette clarifies a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she explains what she saw while also saying that she couldn’t be sure about certain details is correct because Lucy clarifies that Charles Darnay did not board the ship alone, says that she saw two men looking at some papers with him, and explains that she couldn’t hear what they said very well.

Lucy Manette clarifies a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she responds with specific descriptions of the two men and their obvious hostility towards Charles Darnay is incorrect because Lucy does not provide details about the men other than that they were French. She also does not say that the men were hostile towards Darnay.

Lucy Manette is asked to clarify a point about the prisoner’s arrival on board, and she responds with a detailed description of the treasonous papers they looked at together is incorrect because Lucy never saw what the papers said.

Lucy Manette is interrupted during her testimony about Charles Darnay and responds by insisting on the accuracy of her testimony is incorrect because no one questions her testimony or suggests that it isn’t true.

Lucy Manette describes how the two French gentlemen were thrown off the boat for inciting Charles Darnay to commit treason is incorrect because the French gentlemen were not thrown off the ship but left voluntarily.

First person narratives indicate that they are written from a character who is telling his or her own story. Such passages use the personal pronouns_I_, me, my, and mine to indicate that the story is being told from one character’s point of view and that the character does not know what the other characters think.

Second person narratives are less common than those written in first or third person. They contain the pronouns you and your to indicate that the writer is speaking directly to the reader.

Third person narratives are identifiable by their use of third person pronouns: he, she, it, and they. A limited third person narrative is written from the point of view of one character who does not know what the other characters are thinking or feeling. An omniscient third person narrative is told by a narrator who knows everything about all of the characters.

Many of the literary passages on the test provide an in-depth description of either the setting or a particular character’s personality and perspective. They often focus on a change that has occurred, a variation of the ”old idea, new idea” structure. This could be a change in the character’s circumstances or a realization that elicits new thoughts and reactions.

Here’s an example:

The following passage is from Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell, found at Project Gutenberg.

“Elegant economy!” How naturally one falls back into the phraseology of Cranford! There, economy was always “elegant,” and money-spending always “vulgar and ostentatious”; a sort of sour-grapeism which made us very peaceful and satisfied. I never shall forget the dismay felt when a certain Captain Brown came to live at Cranford, and openly spoke about his being poor—not in a whisper to an intimate friend, the doors and windows being previously closed, but in the public street! in a loud military voice! alleging his poverty as a reason for not taking a particular house. The ladies of Cranford were already rather moaning over the invasion of their territories by a man and a gentleman. He was a half-pay captain, and had obtained some situation on a neighbouring railroad, which had been vehemently petitioned against by the little town; and if, in addition to his masculine gender, and his connection with the obnoxious railroad, he was so brazen as to talk of being poor—why, then, indeed, he must be sent to Coventry. Death was as true and as common as poverty; yet people never spoke about that, loud out in the streets. It was a word not to be mentioned to ears polite…Of course, then, we did not know what to make of a man who could speak of poverty as if it was not a disgrace. Yet, somehow, Captain Brown made himself respected in Cranford, and was called upon, in spite of all resolutions to the contrary. I was surprised to hear his opinions quoted as authority at a visit which I paid to Cranford about a year after he had settled in the town. My own friends had been among the bitterest opponents of any proposal to visit the Captain and his daughters, only twelve months before; and now he was even admitted in the tabooed hours before twelve. True, it was to discover the cause of a smoking chimney, before the fire was lighted; but still Captain Brown walked upstairs, nothing daunted, spoke in a voice too large for the room, and joked quite in the way of a tame man about the house.

Which statement provides the best summary of the passage?
a. Captain Brown’s openness about his finances offends the women of Cranford, who plan to shun him completely, and then explains that they came to like him in spite of themselves.
b. Captain Brown was welcomed by the ladies of Cranford, who introduced him to their daughters and were subsequently surprised when he was not interested in any of them.
c. The ladies of Cranford despise the poor, blame them for their poverty, and bitterly oppose helping them.
d. The passage explains that the ladies of Cranford deplore references to money, refuse to call on Captain Brown, and believe that “Death was as true and common as poverty.”
e. The passage clarifies the meaning of “elegant economy,” explains how the residents of Cranford enforce economical austerity on Captain Brown, and ends with a description of how the captain’s voice is always too loud.

(spoiler)

Correct: Captain Brown’s openness about his finances offends the ladies of Cranford, who plan to shun him completely, and then explains that they came to like him in spite of themselves_ is correct because it says that Captain Brown admitted to being a half-pay military officer, explains that his openness made them decide not to socialize with him, and ends by saying that the Cranford ladies came to like Captain Brown in spite of their determination not to.

Captain Brown was welcomed by the ladies of Cranford, who introduced him to their daughters and were subsequently surprised when he was not interested in any of them is incorrect because the daughters in the passage are Mr. Brown’s, not the ladies’…

The ladies of Cranford despise the poor, blame them for their poverty, and bitterly oppose helping them is incorrect. The ladies believe that talking about money in public is rude. The passage does not focus on the poor, merely on Captain Brown’s straightforwardness.

The passage explains that the “ladies of Cranford” deplore references to money, refuse to call on Captain Brown, and believe that “Death was as true and common as poverty” is incorrect because the purpose of comparing death to poverty is to say that neither one is an acceptable topic of polite conversation.

The passage clarifies the meaning of “elegant economy,” explains how the residents of Cranford enforce economical austerity on Captain Brown, and ends with a description of how the captain’s voice is always too loud is incorrect because the residents of Cranford do not force Captain Brown to live economically.