Key Idea: Your HL oral starts from a literary extract. This topic is about reading it closely and talking about it in precise French. Unit 7 covers the format and timings.
Analysing a literary extract
- Que se passe-t-il ? — The what, in one sentence.
- Comment est-ce écrit ? — Voice, tone and devices.
- Qu'est-ce que cela signifie ? — The theme and the effect. Spend most of your time on these last two.
| Element | What to do |
|---|---|
| Place in the work | Before, after, and why this moment: opening, turning point, climax or ending |
| Characters | Find a clue (action, words, a thought), quote it, say what it reveals |
| Narrator | First person, inside one character, outside, or all-knowing |
| Setting and tone | Link the place to a feeling; name the tone and where it shifts |
| Key moment | Look for «mais», «soudain» or a very short sentence |
| Quotations | Two to six words inside your sentence, then the effect |
| Job | Phrases |
|---|---|
| Describe | «l'auteur montre…», «la scène présente…» |
| Interpret | «cela suggère que…», «on peut comprendre que…», «cela symbolise…» |
| Respond | «à mon avis…», «ce qui me frappe le plus, c'est… parce que…» |
| Add nuance (conditional) | «je dirais que…», «on pourrait comprendre…» |
| Analyse (passive) | «… est représentée par…» |
Every comment follows one pattern: name the device, quote it, explain its effect.
Who is the «je» in a first-person novel? The narrator, a character. Not the author.
How long should a quotation be? A few words, set inside your own sentence.
Is «j'aime bien ce texte» enough? No. Say why, with a reason from the text.
Which tense do you use to describe the scene? The literary present: «l'auteur montre».
Where does an extract usually turn? At a «mais», a «soudain», a short sentence or a change of tense.