These questions ask why the author uses particular words, phrases, or structures. Essentially, what purpose do such choices serve in a literary sense? What effect is created? These questions often include words like “serves chiefly to,” “effect,” “evoke,” and “in order to.”

These questions ask about specific structural elements of the passage. Often you’ll be asked about shifts in tone, digressions, or the specific form of a poem. Sometimes these questions will point to a specific part of the passage/poem and ask you to identify what that part of the passage is accomplishing within in the larger excerpt.

These questions take you one step beyond simple reading comprehension and ask you to make an inference based on the evidence in the passage—you may be asked about a character or narrator’s implied opinion, the author’s attitude, etc. This will be something that isn’t stated directly in the passage, but that you can assume based on what is actually said in the passage. These questions generally use words like “infer” and “imply.”

These questions ask you to either identify figurative language within the passage or to interpret what figurative language means in the context of the passage. These questions are identifiable because they will either outright mention figurative language or a figurative device, or there will be a figurative language phrase in the question itself.

Very specific questions about the meter of a poem (i.e. iambic pentameter) would also fall into this category. These questions are not so much about literary artistry and more about the dry technique requisite for a fluent command of the English language.

These questions will require you to take a “bird’s-eye view” of the passage and identify or describe a characteristic of the passage as a whole: its purpose, tone, genre, and so on. These can be difficult because you can’t simply go back to a specific place in the passage to find the best answer; you need to consider the passage in its entirety.

These questions will ask you to identify something about a character—their opinions, attitudes, beliefs, relationships with other characters, and so on. In many ways this is a special type of inference questions, because you are inferring broader traits of the character based on the evidence presented in the passage.

The following example is what type of question?
Which best describes the speaker’s implication in lines 11-12 ?
(A) Only someone remarkably devoted can retain the memory of an absent loved one over time.
(B) Only people who embrace a higher faith can successfully live with their grief.
(C) Pain strengthens the soul so that the sufferer can move forward.
(D) The bereaved must choose to forget the past in order to bear their losses.
(E) People who dwell on the past are usually unable to move beyond their personal losses.

The following example is what type of question?
According to the passage, why does Satan not enter the garden by the gate? (A) The gate is protected by God.
(B) The gate is hidden by overgrown shrubbery.
(C) He is too large to fit through the gate.
(D) He is contemptuous of proper procedures.
(E) He fears an encounter with other creatures.

The following example is what type of question?
Line 6 contains which of the following? (A) Onomatopoeia
(B) Antithesis
(C) Alliteration
(D) A simile
(E) An oxymoron

 The following example is what type of question?
In the sentence “Never . . . circuses” (lines 36-38), which of Charles Tansley’s qualities is most apparent?
(A) A desire for sympathy
(B) Intellectual snobbery
(C) Fearless candor
(D) Genuine empathy
(E) A capacity for self-deception

The following example is what type of question?
The final sentence (lines 74-80) differs from the rest of the passage in that it (A) uses a more colloquial style
(B) has a more didactic tone
(C) makes greater use of metaphoric language
(D) introduces a new narrator
(E) offers a summary of previous exposition

The following example is what type of question?
Which of the following best describes the way the passage is narrated?
(A) The reader’s perspective is limited to Mrs. Ramsay’s point of view.
(B) The reader views the scene the way that Charles Tansley does.
(C) The narrator comments directly on the moral significance of events.
(D) The narrator shifts the point of view from one character to the other.
(E) The narrator maintains an ironic distance from both characters.

The following example is what type of question?
Which of the following is true of Mrs. Ramsay’s attitude toward Charles Tansley throughout the passage?
(A) It changes from bemused tolerance to passionate longing.
(B) It vacillates between liking and disliking.
(C) It becomes increasingly mocking.
(D) It changes suddenly from contempt to pity.
(E) It alternates between admiration and indifference.

The following example is what type of question?
Line 6 contains which of the following? (A) Onomatopoeia
(B) Antithesis
(C) Alliteration 
(D) A simile
(E) An oxymoron

The following example is what type of question?
The poem makes use of which of the following?
I. Tercet stanzas
II. Run-on lines
III. Refrains
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III