Answer and explanation:
Foreshadowing is a technique in which a piece of information is given to the audience that will later on unfold into something more important, even though it seemed trivial in the beginning.
In a story about a criminal who ends up getting caught, one example of foreshadowing would be as follows:
- Let's suppose our criminal is a perfectionist. In his normal day-to-day life, he keeps a normal job at a company, he has a romantic partner, hobbies etc. He is known to be a perfectionist by those who know him. He never makes a mistake at work, never forgets an appointment, never arrives late.
- One day, he is accused of making a mistake. He wrote a report at work and his superior - who happens to dislike him a bit - calls him in to explain himself. Our criminal proves there is nothing wrong with the data in his report and the superior, truly bitter and frustrated, says, "One of these days, you'll make a mistake, and I'll be there to catch you."
- As the story unfolds, our criminal finally commits the crime and, this time, he does make a mistake. His superior, who finds his perfect behavior suspicious, has been keeping an eye on him and ends up finding out about the crime. After almost getting caught and killed by our criminal, his superior is able to prove his crime and get him arrested by the police.
--> What the superior said - "One of these days, you'll make a mistake and I'll be there to catch you." - is an example of foreshadowing since it does predict, at an early stage of the story, what will effectively take place later on.
