5. In what order does the author present the information included into the story? What is the effect achieved by this or that kind of presentational sequencing?

A story may have a straight-line narrative presentation, when the events are arranged as they occur, in chronological order, or the writer may prefer to use other structures.

The writer may withhold some information and keep the reader guessing. Such withholding of information until the appropriate time is called retardation. It heightens suspense.

A flashback is a scene of the past inserted into the narrative.

Foreshadowing is a look towards the future, a remark or hint that prepares the reader for what is to follow. This device heightens suspense.

6. Comment on the tonal system of the text. Describe the tone/"voice" of the passage. What feelings do you have as you read the text? What atmosphere is created by the author in the text/in different parts of the passage?

The author's attitude toward what is being said in a story determines the tone, or the "voice" of a story, which can be sympathetic, cynical, matter-of-fact, etc. On the other hand, tone expresses the relationship between the author/narrator and the reader. Thus it can be impolite, offensive, etc. The tone of the passage is what it sounds like to you. The tone is mainly conveyed verbally, primarily by emotionally coloured words.

One should distinguish between the prevailing tone of a literary work and emotional overtones, which may accompany particular scenes in the story. They all form a tonal system which reflects the changes of the narrator's attitude to his subject matter.

Atmosphere is the general mood of a literary work. The mood of a story or a passage is the feel­ing you get as you read it. A writer sets the mood by his or her choice of words, images, and figures of speech.

7. Comment on the main and minor characters and the author's method of characterisation. What is the author's attitude to the characters? In what way is it revealed? What is your attitude to the characters?

In most stories one character is clearly central and dominates the story from the beginning up to the end. Such a character is generally called the main, central, or major character, or the protagonist. The main character may also be called hero or heroine, if he or she deserves to be called so.

The antagonist is the personage opposing the protagonist or hero.

The villain is a character with marked negative features.

Sometimes in a literary work the writer will give us two characters with distinctly opposing features, we then say that one character serves as a foil to the other.

When a character expresses the author's viewpoint directly, he is said to be the author's mouthpiece.

If a character is developed round one or several features, he becomes a type or a caricature. A type is characterised by qualities that are typical of a certain social group or class. A caricature is a character so exaggerated that he appears ridiculous and distorted, yet recognisable.

Characters may be simple (flat) or complex (well-rounded). Simple characters are constructed round a single trait. Complex characters undergo change and growth, reveal various sides of their personalities.

The characters can be described from different aspects: physical, emotional, moral, spiritual, social. The description of the different aspects of a character is known as characterisation. There are two main types of characterisation: direct and indirect. When the author rates the character himself, it is direct characterisation. Direct characterisation may be made by a character in the story. When the author shows us the character in action, lets us hear him, watch him and evaluate him for ourselves, the author uses the indirect method of characterisation.

The various means of characterisation are as follows:

1. Presentation of the character through action.

Actions include small gestures, a thought, a word, a decision, an impulse, and a whole event.

2. Speech characteristics.

Speech characteristics reveal the social and intellectual standing of the character, his age, education and occupation, his state of mind and feelings, his attitude and relationship with his interlocutors.

When analysing speech characteristics, one should be alert for:

1. style markers, such as (a) markers of official style; (b) markers of informal conversational style: contracted forms, colloquialisms, elliptical sentences, tag constructions, initiating signals, hesitation pauses, false starts;

2. markers of the emotional state of the character: emphatic inversion, the use of emotionally coloured words, the use of breaks-in-the-narrative that stand for silence, the use of italics, interjections;

3. attitudinal markers: words denoting attitudes, intensifiers (as "very", "absolutely" etc.);

4. markers of the character's educational level: bookish words, rough words, slang, vulgarisms, deviations from the standard;

5. markers of regional and dialectal speech, which define the speaker as to his origin, nationality and social standing: foreign words, local words;

6. markers of the character's occupation; terms, jargonisms;

7. markers of the speaker's idiolect (i.e. his individual speech peculiarities), which serve as a means of individualisation.

3. Psychological portrayal and analysis of motive.

The penetration into the mind of the character, description of his mental process and subtle psychological changes that motivate his actions, the penetration into his thoughts - all that is an effective means of characterisation that writers very often resort to. The psychological state of a character is generally revealed by means of inner represented speech.

4. Description of the outward appearance.

In literature physical portrayal often suggests moral, mental or spiritual characteristics.

4. Description of the world of things that surround the character.

5. The use of a foil.

6. The naming of characters.

The name can be deliberately chosen to fit a certain character.