IB English A Lit Literary Forms Questionbank

Identify the exact simile Muir uses to describe the Great Central Valley.

Describe the name Muir gives the Sierra Nevada by the end of the extract, in place of "the Nevada or Snowy Range."

Explore the effect of the simile in "wholly composed of it, like the wall of some celestial city."

Discuss how Muir's extended colour imagery, from "pearl-gray" to "rose-purple," contributes to the extract's tone of wonder.

Analyse how Muir's diction, in words such as "gloriously colored" and "ineffably fine," constructs a tone of reverence toward the landscape.

Using your responses above, write a full response to the guiding question: How does Muir use simile, colour imagery, and diction together to elevate the Sierra Nevada into a near-sacred presence?

Identify the two terms Nora uses for her dependent roles and the task she says she must undertake first.

Describe how Nora distinguishes happiness from merriment and what conclusion she reaches about remaining with Helmer.

Explore how the extended imagery of dolls, play, performance, and education develops Nora’s understanding of her marriage.

Discuss how Ibsen uses interruptions, questions, stage directions, and changes in sentence length to dramatise the confrontation.

Analyse how the balance of power changes from Nora’s opening accusation to her final rejection of Helmer’s authority.

Using your responses above, write a full response to the guiding question: How does Ibsen use extended metaphor, dialogue structure, stage directions, rhetorical reversal, and increasingly direct declarations to dramatise Nora’s rejection of marital authority?

Identify the exact stage direction given to both Algernon and then Jack in quick succession.

Describe what Algernon offers Jack instead of muffins, and why the gesture costs him nothing he values.

Explore two ways in which stage directions in this extract expose a gap between what Algernon says and what he does.

Discuss how the escalating stage directions surrounding the muffin dish dramatise a shift from verbal argument to physical rivalry between Jack and Algernon.

Analyse two contrasting effects created by the mirrored stage direction "[Rising.]," given first to Algernon and then to Jack.

Using your responses above, write a full response to the guiding question: How does Wilde use stage directions, rather than dialogue alone, to expose the gap between what these characters claim and what they actually do?

Identify the phrase Nick uses to describe his habit of judgement and the phrase he uses to describe Gatsby’s defining quality.

Describe the tension between Nick’s father’s advice and Nick’s later admission about his tolerance.

Explore how Nick’s diction undermines his self-presentation as a tolerant and impartial observer.

Discuss how Fitzgerald uses metaphor to make Nick’s response to Gatsby complex rather than simply admiring or hostile.

Analyse how retrospective narration, embedded speech, qualification, and foreshadowing establish Nick’s authority while encouraging the reader to question it.

Using your responses above, write a full response to the guiding question: How does Fitzgerald use retrospective first-person narration, embedded speech, evaluative diction, metaphor, qualification, and foreshadowing to construct Nick as both an authoritative and questionable narrator?

Identify the three uses Bacon assigns to studies and the three activities he links to fullness, readiness, and exactness.

Describe the three improper purposes for reading that Bacon rejects and the three levels of attention represented by his food metaphor.

Explore how Bacon balances study with experience rather than treating learning as sufficient by itself.

Discuss how parallel structures, antithesis, and metaphor turn Bacon’s advice into memorable distinctions.

Analyse how the essay’s progression from uses and abuses to reading methods and intellectual disciplines develops its argument about judgement.

Using your responses above, write a full response to the guiding question: How does Bacon use balanced syntax, antithesis, analogy, catalogue, and aphorism to present study as a practice requiring selection, experience, and judgement?