ENGLISH — GRADE X

Narrative Text Structure

Identifying Orientation · Complication · Climax · Resolution · Coda

Instructions
Read each of the five short stories below, which are adapted from classic English novels. After
reading each story, complete the task table by identifying which paragraph contains each
narrative stage and providing a short quote or summary as evidence.
The five narrative stages you are looking for are:

Stage What to Look For

Orientation The opening of the story. Introduces the characters, setting, and
situation.
Complication The problem or conflict that disrupts the stability of the story.
Climax The most tense or decisive moment — the turning point of the
narrative.
Resolution The point where the conflict is solved, settled, or transformed.
Coda A closing reflection, moral lesson, or message to the reader.

Name: ________________________________ Class: _________ Date: ___________

S to ry 1 o f 5

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen · 1813

[1] The Bennet family lived in the quiet English countryside of Hertfordshire at the turn of the
nineteenth century. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet had five daughters — Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and
Lydia — and their mother had but one ambition in life: to see each of them married to a wealthy
man. When the grand Netherfield Park was let to the young and charming Mr. Charles Bingley,
Mrs. Bennet declared it the finest news she had heard in years. It was in this lively, domestic
world that the story of love, pride, and misunderstanding began.
[2] At a local ball, Elizabeth Bennet met Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy and handsome
gentleman from Derbyshire. Yet instead of admiration, Darcy's proud manner and cold silence
offended nearly everyone in the room — Elizabeth most of all. He, in turn, found himself
unwillingly attracted to her sharp wit and lively eyes, though he fought the feeling, believing her
family's lower social standing was a serious obstacle. Meanwhile, the charming Mr. Wickham told
Elizabeth troubling stories about Darcy's past, darkening her opinion of him further.
Misunderstandings, bruised pride, and the sting of first impressions set both hearts on a collision
course.
[3] The climax arrived when Darcy, unable to suppress his feelings any longer, made a deeply
flawed proposal to Elizabeth — offering his love while simultaneously insulting her family and
social position. Elizabeth rejected him sharply, accusing him of ruining Jane's happiness with
Bingley and of treating Wickham cruelly. Darcy was shaken to his core. Later, he wrote Elizabeth
a long and honest letter revealing the truth about Wickham's deceptions and his own reasons for
separating Jane and Bingley. For Elizabeth, reading the letter was a moment of profound self-
realisation: "Till this moment I never knew myself."
[4] Slowly, as the truth came to light, both Elizabeth and Darcy changed. Elizabeth saw her own
prejudice clearly. Darcy, humbled by her rejection, became more considerate and helped quietly
to save Lydia from scandal when she eloped with the dishonest Wickham. Seeing his true
character, Elizabeth's feelings shifted from contempt to genuine admiration. When Darcy
proposed again — this time with humility and sincerity — Elizabeth accepted him with a full and
happy heart. Bingley, too, returned to Jane, and two weddings were joyfully anticipated.
[5] In the end, both couples found happiness not in spite of their flaws, but because they were
willing to face them. Pride and Prejudice reminds us that love cannot flourish where pride blinds
us to others' worth or where prejudice prevents us from seeing the truth. The greatest journey in
this story is not one of travel, but of self-knowledge — the kind that opens the heart.

📋 Task — Identify the Narrative Structure

Complete the table below. For each narrative stage, write the paragraph number where it appears
and provide a short quote or summary from the text as your evidence.

Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary

No.

Orientation
Introduction of characters, Para. ___
setting, time

Complication
Problem or conflict that Para. ___
disrupts the situation

Climax
The peak / most intense Para. ___
moment of the conflict

Resolution
How the problem is solved or Para. ___
settled

Coda
Final message, moral, or Para. ___
reflection
Reading Comprehension
Access and Retrieve
(A)
Find information directly stated in the story.

1. Are the sentences True (T), False (F), or Unstated (U)? Tick the correct box.
Statement T F U

a. The Bennet family lived in Derbyshire, a town in northern

☐ ☐ ☐
England.
b. Mrs. Bennet's greatest wish was for all her daughters to
☐ ☐ ☐
marry wealthy men.
c. Elizabeth Bennet immediately liked Mr. Darcy when she
☐ ☐ ☐
met him at the ball.
d. Darcy wrote Elizabeth a letter explaining the truth about
☐ ☐ ☐
Wickham and Jane.
e. Elizabeth accepted Darcy's first marriage proposal with
☐ ☐ ☐
great happiness.

2. Why did Elizabeth reject Darcy's first marriage proposal? Give TWO reasons from the story.
Answer:

3. What role did the letter Darcy wrote to Elizabeth play in changing the story?
Answer:

4. How did Darcy prove he had truly changed his character after Elizabeth's rejection?
Answer:

Integrate and Interpret

(B)
Think deeper — compare, analyse, and explain the meaning of the story.

5. How did Elizabeth's feelings towards Darcy change from the beginning to the end of the story?
What caused this change?
Answer:
6. Compare the characters of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. How are their personalities both
similar and different from each other?
Answer:

Reflect and Evaluate

(C)
Connect the story to your own life, opinions, and experiences.

7. Have you ever judged someone unfairly based on a first impression, as Elizabeth judged
Darcy? Tell us about what happened and what you learned from the experience.
Answer:

8. Pride can sometimes prevent us from seeing the truth clearly. Have you ever experienced a
moment when your own pride got in the way of something important? Describe what happened
and how you handled it.
Answer:
S to ry 2 o f 5

Hamlet
William Shakespeare · 1603

[1] In the dark and troubled kingdom of Denmark, Prince Hamlet was haunted by grief. His
beloved father, King Hamlet, had died suddenly — and within two months, his mother Gertrude
had married his uncle Claudius, who now sat on the throne. The royal court carried on as though
all were well, but Hamlet felt a deep unease. One cold night on the castle battlements, the ghost
of his father appeared to him with a devastating message: he had not died of a snakebite as
reported, but had been murdered — by Claudius himself, with poison poured into his ear while he
slept.
[2] Consumed by grief and fury, Hamlet vowed revenge. Yet he was a man of deep thought, not
quick action, and he was tormented by doubt — could the ghost be trusted? Was it truly his
father, or a devil in disguise? To find the truth, Hamlet arranged for a troupe of actors to perform a
play mirroring his father's murder before the court. He watched Claudius closely as the scene
unfolded. The king's horrified reaction confirmed his guilt, and Hamlet's suspicions hardened into
certainty. Yet even then, he hesitated to act, and in a moment of misdirection, he killed the wrong
man — the innocent Polonius, hiding behind a curtain.
[3] The tragedy reached its devastating peak in the final scene. Claudius, fearing Hamlet's
growing danger to him, engineered a deadly duel between Hamlet and Polonius's son, Laertes,
whose blade was secretly poisoned. In the chaos of the duel, Gertrude drank from a poisoned
cup meant for Hamlet, and Laertes wounded him with the venomous sword. As the truth of
Claudius's treachery erupted into the open, Hamlet finally acted with decisive force — he stabbed
and poisoned the king, avenging his father at last. But it was too late for all of them.
[4] By the end, Hamlet, Gertrude, Laertes, and Claudius all lay dead in the hall. It was left to the
loyal Horatio, Hamlet's dearest friend, to survive and tell the story of what had truly happened.
The Norwegian prince Fortinbras arrived to claim the Danish throne, ordering a soldier's burial for
Hamlet — a final, solemn gesture of respect for a prince brought low not by lack of courage, but
by the crushing weight of conscience.
[5] Hamlet endures as one of the greatest stories ever told because it speaks to universal truths:
the paralysing weight of grief, the corruption of power, and the impossible burden of doing what is
right when the world around us is rotten. As Hamlet himself mused, "To be, or not to be — that is
the question." It is a question each reader must answer for themselves.

📋 Task — Identify the Narrative Structure

Complete the table below. For each narrative stage, write the paragraph number where it appears
and provide a short quote or summary from the text as your evidence.

Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary

No.

Orientation
Introduction of characters, Para. ___
setting, time

Complication Para. ___

Problem or conflict that
disrupts the situation
 Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary
No.

Climax
The peak / most intense Para. ___
moment of the conflict

Resolution
How the problem is solved or Para. ___
settled

Coda
Final message, moral, or Para. ___
reflection

Reading Comprehension
Access and Retrieve
(A)
Find information directly stated in the story.

1. Are the sentences True (T), False (F), or Unstated (U)? Tick the correct box.
Statement T F U

a. King Hamlet was killed by his brother Claudius who

☐ ☐ ☐
poured poison in his ear.
b. Hamlet immediately took revenge on Claudius after
☐ ☐ ☐
hearing the ghost's message.
c. Hamlet arranged a play to test whether Claudius was truly
☐ ☐ ☐
guilty of murder.
d. Hamlet accidentally killed Polonius while intending to kill
☐ ☐ ☐
Claudius.
e. In the final scene, Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and
☐ ☐ ☐
Laertes all survived.

2. Why did Hamlet hesitate to take revenge on Claudius, even after the ghost confirmed
Claudius's guilt?
Answer:

3. What was the purpose of the play that Hamlet arranged, and how did it help him?
Answer:
4. Describe what happened in the final scene of the story. Who died, and how?
Answer:

Integrate and Interpret

(B)
Think deeper — compare, analyse, and explain the meaning of the story.

5. How does Hamlet's character develop throughout the story? Do you think his deep thinking
made him a stronger or weaker person? Give reasons.
Answer:

6. Compare the characters of Hamlet and Claudius. How do their approaches to power and
decision-making differ from each other?
Answer:

Reflect and Evaluate

(C)
Connect the story to your own life, opinions, and experiences.

7. Hamlet struggled to take action even when he knew what was right. Have you ever had a
situation where you knew you should do something but found it difficult to act? Describe what
happened.
Answer:

8. The story shows that corruption and dishonesty eventually destroy those who practise them.
Do you believe this is true in real life? Share an experience or example that supports your view.
Answer:
S to ry 3 o f 5

Animal Farm
George Orwell · 1945

[1] On Manor Farm in rural England, the animals lived under the harsh rule of their drunken,
neglectful owner, Mr. Jones. One night, Old Major — a wise and respected old boar — gathered
all the animals in the barn and shared a dream: a vision of a world where animals were free,
where the land belonged to those who worked it, and where no human would ever exploit them
again. Though Old Major died shortly after, his dream lived on. The pigs — most notably
Napoleon and Snowball — took charge of organising the other animals, and when Mr. Jones
forgot to feed them one evening, the animals rebelled. They drove him off the farm and declared
it their own.
[2] In the joyful days that followed, the animals worked together and renamed the farm "Animal
Farm." The pigs wrote the Seven Commandments of Animalism on the barn wall, the most
important of which was: "All animals are equal." For a time, life was better — the harvest was
plentiful, and a spirit of community filled the farm. But trouble soon stirred beneath the surface.
Napoleon and Snowball clashed over every decision, most bitterly over the plan to build a
windmill that Snowball believed would bring electricity and ease their labour. When Napoleon
secretly trained a pack of dogs, it became clear that the dream of equality was already under
threat.
[3] The conflict reached its darkest hour when Napoleon used his dogs to violently expel
Snowball from the farm, claiming he was a traitor. From that point, Napoleon ruled alone, aided
by the propaganda of the smooth-talking pig Squealer, who twisted every truth to serve
Napoleon's power. The commandments were quietly altered — first to justify the pigs drinking
alcohol and sleeping in beds, then, most chillingly, to read: "All animals are equal, but some
animals are more equal than others." Animals who questioned Napoleon were condemned as
enemies of the farm and publicly executed.
[4] Years passed. The windmill was built and rebuilt after storms, but the animals' lives never
improved as promised. The pigs grew fat and walked on two legs; they carried whips and wore
human clothes. One evening, the other animals looked through the farmhouse window and
watched the pigs dining with neighbouring human farmers — laughing, cheating at cards, and
signing business deals. As the animals stared, they realised, with a cold shock, that they could no
longer tell the pigs from the men.
[5] Animal Farm is a powerful warning about the nature of power and revolution. When those
who claim to fight for the oppressed become the oppressors themselves, the dream dies — and
those who once suffered find themselves trapped in the same cage, only with new guards.
Orwell's final lesson is as sharp today as it was in 1945: power without accountability always
corrupts, and the first casualty is always the truth.

📋 Task — Identify the Narrative Structure

Complete the table below. For each narrative stage, write the paragraph number where it appears
and provide a short quote or summary from the text as your evidence.
 Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary
No.

Orientation
Introduction of characters, Para. ___
setting, time

Complication
Problem or conflict that Para. ___
disrupts the situation

Climax
The peak / most intense Para. ___
moment of the conflict

Resolution
How the problem is solved or Para. ___
settled

Coda
Final message, moral, or Para. ___
reflection

Reading Comprehension
Access and Retrieve
(A)
Find information directly stated in the story.

1. Are the sentences True (T), False (F), or Unstated (U)? Tick the correct box.
Statement T F U

a. Old Major was a young pig who inspired the animals to

☐ ☐ ☐
rebel against Mr. Jones.
b. After the rebellion, the animals renamed the farm 'Animal
☐ ☐ ☐
Farm.'
c. Napoleon and Snowball always agreed on how to run the
☐ ☐ ☐
farm.
d. The Seven Commandments were gradually changed to
☐ ☐ ☐
benefit the pigs.
e. By the end of the story, the pigs had become exactly like
☐ ☐ ☐
the humans they replaced.

2. What was Old Major's dream, and why was it so important to the other animals?
Answer:
3. How did Napoleon use Squealer and the dogs to control the other animals on the farm?
Answer:

4. What was the most important commandment of Animalism, and how was it eventually
changed? What does this change represent?
Answer:

Integrate and Interpret

(B)
Think deeper — compare, analyse, and explain the meaning of the story.

5. How did life on Animal Farm change from the beginning of the story to the end? Do you think
the animals were better or worse off than they were under Mr. Jones? Explain.
Answer:

6. Compare the characters of Napoleon and Snowball. How are their visions for Animal Farm
different? Which one do you think had the animals' best interests at heart?
Answer:

Reflect and Evaluate

(C)
Connect the story to your own life, opinions, and experiences.

7. Have you ever experienced or witnessed a situation where a leader or group in charge broke
their own rules or promises? Describe what happened and how it affected the people around
them.
Answer:

8. Animal Farm shows that power without accountability leads to corruption. Do you agree with
this idea? Give an example from your own life, your school, or the world around you to support
your answer.
Answer:
S to ry 4 o f 5

Anne of Green Gables

L. M. Montgomery · 1908

[1] On the peaceful island of Prince Edward Island in Canada, elderly siblings Matthew and
Marilla Cuthbert decided to adopt a boy from an orphanage to help on their farm, Green Gables.
But when Matthew went to collect the child, he found not a sturdy farm boy but a small, red-
haired, freckled girl with enormous grey eyes and an unstoppable torrent of words. Her name was
Anne Shirley — eleven years old, an orphan who had known little but hardship and loneliness,
and who had learned to fill the emptiness with imagination. Matthew was instantly charmed.
Marilla was far less certain.
[2] Despite Marilla's reservations, Anne stayed at Green Gables — and with her arrival came
both delight and disaster. Her imagination was boundless and her tongue even more so; she
named every tree and pond, accidentally got her best friend Diana drunk on currant wine, dyed
her hair green trying to fix it, and cracked a slate over the head of a boy named Gilbert Blythe
who had teased her about her red hair. That particular incident sparked a rivalry — and, though
Anne refused to admit it, something warmer — that would last for years. Through every mishap,
the Cuthberts grew to love Anne deeply, and she, at last, began to feel what it meant to belong
somewhere.
[3] The most painful chapter came when Matthew suffered a fatal heart attack, struck down by
the shock of losing the family's savings in a bank failure. Marilla, her eyesight failing, faced the
prospect of selling Green Gables. Anne, who had won a scholarship to attend college in the city,
made the hardest decision of her young life — she gave it up. She would stay, keep house for
Marilla, and teach at the local school instead. It was a moment of quiet, profound sacrifice, made
without fuss or self-pity.
[4] In the resolution that followed, the clouds parted slightly: Marilla's eyesight was saved by
surgery, Gilbert Blythe — now aware of Anne's sacrifice — gave up his teaching post so that she
could have the school closer to home. For Anne, this selfless gesture finally broke down the wall
of her pride. She and Gilbert shook hands, smiled, and something long overdue began. Green
Gables would not be sold, and Anne, though her path had changed, looked to the future with her
characteristic joy: "The bend in the road" was still an adventure.
[5] Anne of Green Gables is a story about the hunger to belong and the transformative power of
being truly seen. Anne arrives as an unwanted outsider and becomes, through love freely given
and received, the very heart of her community. Montgomery reminds us that home is not a place
we are born into — it is a place we earn, through imagination, loyalty, and the courage to love.

📋 Task — Identify the Narrative Structure

Complete the table below. For each narrative stage, write the paragraph number where it appears
and provide a short quote or summary from the text as your evidence.

Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary

No.

Orientation
Introduction of characters, Para. ___
setting, time

Complication Para. ___

Problem or conflict that
 Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary
No.

disrupts the situation

Climax
The peak / most intense Para. ___
moment of the conflict

Resolution
How the problem is solved or Para. ___
settled

Coda
Final message, moral, or Para. ___
reflection

Reading Comprehension
S to ry 5 o f 5

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll · 1865

[1] On a warm, lazy afternoon, a young girl named Alice was sitting by the riverbank with her
sister when a most peculiar thing happened. A White Rabbit in a waistcoat rushed past, glancing
anxiously at his pocket watch and muttering, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Curiosity
overtook all good sense, and Alice followed him — tumbling down a deep, dark rabbit hole that
plunged her into a world unlike anything she had ever imagined. She landed gently in a long hall
lined with doors, all locked, and she found herself holding a tiny golden key to a door far too small
for her to pass through.
[2] Wonderland was a place where nothing followed the rules Alice had been taught. She ate
and drank strange things that made her grow impossibly tall or shrink terribly small. She met a
pool of her own tears, smoked-ringed conversations with a philosophical Caterpillar, a grinning
Cheshire Cat who disappeared leaving only his smile, and a Mad Hatter stuck at a tea party that
never ended because time had stopped at six o'clock. Each encounter left Alice more baffled and
more determined to find her way — though no one in Wonderland seemed to agree on anything,
least of all the rules.
[3] The crisis came when Alice reached the court of the Queen of Hearts — a tyrant whose
answer to every problem was a thundering "Off with their heads!" Alice was put on trial, accused
of stealing tarts, in a court that was pure chaos. The jury was composed of animals and insects
filling in answers they did not understand. Witnesses gave nonsense testimony. The King
muddled the rules. And then the Queen ordered Alice's head cut off. Something in Alice, who had
spent the whole journey being confused and small, finally snapped.
[4] "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" Alice cried, and at once the whole court rose up —
cards flying at her from every direction. Alice fought them off, batting them away — and then,
suddenly, she was lying on the grass by the riverbank. Her sister was gently brushing leaves from
her face. It had all been a dream. Alice sat up, shook off the last images of queens and rabbits,
and ran inside for tea, already thinking about the strange and wonderful adventure she would tell
someday.
[5] Alice's Adventures in Wonderland endures because it captures something true about
childhood — and about the human mind itself. The world is full of absurd rules, puzzling authority
figures, and situations that make no logical sense. Alice's courage is not that she was never
frightened or confused, but that she kept asking questions and refused, at the last, to be silenced.
In Wonderland, as in life, the bravest thing you can do is insist on your own voice.

📋 Task — Identify the Narrative Structure

Complete the table below. For each narrative stage, write the paragraph number where it appears
and provide a short quote or summary from the text as your evidence.

Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary

No.

Orientation
Introduction of characters, Para. ___
setting, time

Complication Para. ___

 Narrative Stage Paragraph Evidence — Quote or Brief Summary
No.

Problem or conflict that

disrupts the situation

Climax
The peak / most intense Para. ___
moment of the conflict

Resolution
How the problem is solved or Para. ___
settled

Coda
Final message, moral, or Para. ___
reflection

Reading Comprehension
Access and Retrieve
(A)
Find information directly stated in the story.

1. Are the sentences True (T), False (F), or Unstated (U)? Tick the correct box.
Statement T F U

a. Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert had originally planned to

☐ ☐ ☐
adopt a girl from the orphanage.
b. Anne's extraordinary imagination helped her fill the
☐ ☐ ☐
loneliness of her early life.
c. Anne and Gilbert Blythe became close friends
☐ ☐ ☐
immediately after meeting at school.
d. Anne gave up her scholarship to college so she could stay
☐ ☐ ☐
and care for Marilla.
e. In the end, Marilla decided to sell Green Gables because
☐ ☐ ☐
she could no longer afford it.

2. Why was Marilla initially reluctant to keep Anne when Matthew brought her home? What
changed her mind?
Answer:

3. What conflict existed between Anne and Gilbert Blythe, and what caused it? How was it
eventually resolved?
Answer:
4. Describe the sacrifice Anne made after Matthew's death. Why did she make this decision, and
what does it reveal about her character?
Answer:

Integrate and Interpret

(B)
Think deeper — compare, analyse, and explain the meaning of the story.

5. How did Anne's sense of belonging and identity change from the beginning of the story to the
end? What experiences shaped this change?
Answer:

6. Compare the characters of Anne and Marilla. How are their personalities different, and how
does each one change because of the other?
Answer:

Reflect and Evaluate

(C)
Connect the story to your own life, opinions, and experiences.

7. Anne longed to feel that she truly belonged somewhere. Have you ever felt like an outsider in
a new place or group? Describe what that felt like and how you found your place.
Answer:

8. Anne made a great personal sacrifice for someone she loved, without complaining. Have you
ever given up something important for someone else? Describe your experience and how it made
you feel.
Answer: