When a writer deviates from the chronological arrangement of events in a literary piece, he uses ...

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for the term describing a writer's departure from the chronological (time-ordered) sequence of events in a story.

Step 2: Explain each term

• Anadiplosis: a figure of speech where the last word of one clause is repeated at the start of the next. Example: "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hatred." This concerns word repetition, not plot order.
• Anachrony: a narrative technique in which the order of events in the telling differs from the order in which they happened. It includes flashback (analepsis) and flash-forward (prolepsis). This matches the question.
• Chrestomathy: a collection of selected literary passages, usually used for learning a language or studying an author. It has nothing to do with plot order.
• Anagnorisis: the moment of recognition or discovery in a tragedy, when a character realizes the truth about their identity or situation (Aristotle's Poetics). An example is Oedipus discovering who he really is.

Step 3: Match the definition The word anachrony comes from Greek ana (backward or against) and chronos (time). So it literally means "against time", which is exactly what a writer does when they break the chronological order, for instance by opening with a later event and then using flashbacks.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is B. Anachrony.

Tip for the exam: Look at the roots of the word.

• Chron- = time, so anachrony relates to time order.
• Anagnorisis sounds similar but comes from gnosis (knowledge), so it means recognition.
• Anadiplosis involves repetition of words.
• Chrestomathy is a collection of texts (it comes from "useful learning").

Linking each term to its root makes it easy to avoid look-alike options.