Prose: Fiction and Nonfiction-Narrative, Argument, and Style
What the questions ask
Prose passages on this exam are excerpts from stories, novels, essays, and speeches. Questions probe point of view (first person, third limited, third omniscient, unreliable narrator), characterization (direct vs. indirect; what a character reveals through action and dialogue), plot and conflict, setting and atmosphere, narrative tone and irony, and style (sentence rhythm, diction, figurative language). For nonfiction, expect thesis and purpose, evidence and reasoning, rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), organization, and tone toward the audience.
Traps to expect
- Confusing narrator with author: in first-person fiction the narrator's limitations are the point; an answer that assumes the narrator is the author's voice is usually wrong.
- Mistaking irony for sincerity: if a passage praises something extravagantly while undercutting it, the tone is ironic.
- Confusing purpose with topic: the topic is what the passage is about; the purpose is what the writer wants to accomplish.
- Ignoring qualifiers: words like however, although, and yet signal the writer's real emphasis.
- Overgeneralizing from one detail: the correct inference is the smallest one the evidence supports.
Rule of thumb
For any prose item, ask: Who is speaking, to whom, and why now? Then locate the sentence that carries the main idea-often the first or last in a paragraph-and test each choice against it.
Worked example
An essayist writes, "Our town has generously decided that a new parking lot is the surest route to civic greatness." The word generously plus the inflated claim signals irony: the writer doubts the plan. A question about tone should be answered "skeptical" or "mocking," not "admiring," and a question about purpose should point to persuading readers to question the decision.