In one line: Structure is the order a text puts things in — where it starts, how it moves, and how it ends — and that shape is a choice worth analysing.
You already feel structure without naming it.
A film that opens at the end and then rewinds, or a song that returns to its first line at the close — the order changes how it hits you. Prose and poetry work the same way.
Here's what to look for:
One clear example of each
The opening
How a text starts and hooks you. ‘By the time you read this, I'll be gone.’ — a first line that drops you straight into a mystery and makes you read on.
Order & time shifts
A jump out of order — a flashback or a scene told before its cause. ‘Years later, she'd blame that one summer.’ — the leap forward makes us read the summer knowing it matters.
Pacing
Where the text speeds up or slows down. A rush of short scenes races us through a panic; a single lingering moment slows time to make us feel its weight.
The ending / circular structure
How a text closes — sometimes echoing its own opening. A story that ends on the same street it began makes us feel how much (or how little) has changed.
The key move: Name the structural choice — the opening, a time shift, the pacing or the ending — and say what it does to the reader, not just that it's there.
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Why it matters in the exam: Structure is a top-band Paper 1 move because most students only analyse words. Point to where the text starts, jumps, races, slows or ends, and say what that shape makes the reader feel — that earns the effect mark.
Analyse the structure: “The funeral was on Tuesday. To understand the funeral, you have to go back to the previous spring, when everything was still fine — or looked fine. It looked fine right up until the Tuesday.”
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Watch out: Don't just say ‘it uses a flashback’. Name where it starts or jumps, and say what that order does — the dread, the surprise, the sense of things coming full circle.