Questions will focus on:

WHAT the writer is saying (UNDERSTANDING) HOW and WHY the writer is saying it (ANALYSIS) HOW EFFECTIVELY he/she is saying it (EVALUATION)

Understanding questions ask you WHAT the writer is saying. This is simply to test whether you have fully understood the passage.

1. FACTUAL QUESTIONS

Here you are asked to pick out a fact from the text and write it IN YOUR OWN WORDS. To answer this:  Look in the text for the information that will provide the answer.  Express this information in your own words in a simple sentence, probably using the wording of the question. Look at the number of marks allocated to guide you.

For example, a question might ask:

‘Look at lines 14-19. Name two possible causes of global warming suggested by Professor Robertson.’

All you would have to do is look back at lines 14-19 in the passage, find the two pieces of information and write them down on your answer paper using your own words, e.g.

‘Increased CO2 emissions and changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.’

2. MEANINGS OF WORDS

Sometimes you are asked to explain the meaning of a word in the text. Usually the word CONTEXT is used here. This means you are being asked to explain what the word means from the CLUES given by the words around it, e.g.

‘ Show how the context helps you understand the meaning of the word ‘putrefied’.’

2 To answer this you have to say:  What you think the word means.  Show how the rest of the words around it helped you to guess the meaning by QUOTING the word or words that provided the clues, e.g.

‘The word ‘putrefied’ means decayed. The words in the passage which helped me identify this meaning are ‘rotten’ and ‘decomposed’.’

Analysis questions ask you HOW the writer has written the passage. This is to test your ability to identify writing techniques and comment on their effect.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

An answer to this kind of analysis question should always:  Describe the main features of the sentence structure.  Explain the effect this is meant to have.

SENTENCES LENGTHS

LONG SENTENCES – if the sentence is long, the pace of the sentence will be slow, creating a relaxed, flowing effect to the writing, e.g.

‘She walked down the side of the hill as the summer sun blazed in the sky above her, causing her to shield her eyes, such was the brightness of that beautiful afternoon.’

SHORT SENTENCES – if the sentence is short, the writer may be want to create tension or describe a fast moving action, e.g.

‘The girl paused. She listened intently. Nothing. She ran on. She stopped. This time she heard footsteps.’

TYPES OF SENTENCE

The function of a sentence can be:  To make a statement.  To ask a question.

3  To issue a command.  To utter an exclamation.

STATEMENTS  A statement will have a full stop at the end, e.g. ‘My hands are freezing.’  Writing made up of statements alone can have a calm or impersonal tone.

QUESTIONS  Ask something and always end with a question mark, e.g. ‘Are your hands freezing?’  Using questions may show uncertainty in the writer or may be that he is challenging the reader.

COMMANDS  Tell you to do something, e.g. ‘Please close that door.’ ‘Get out of here!’  They usually end in a full stop or an exclamation mark. They are often used in advertising or when the writer is directly talking to the reader.

EXCLAMATIONS  Express excitement or surprise, e.g. ‘How beautiful!’ ‘What a place!’  They do not always contain verbs and usually end in an exclamation mark.  Writers use them to create a dramatic or emotive tone.

MINOR SENTENCES  Do not contain a verb. They are abbreviations of other types of sentence, so may end in a full stop or question mark, e.g. ‘What now?’ ‘Time for a rest.’  These sentences will be very short and may create a tense or dramatic mood. They are typical of informal language and can be used in direct speech.  Writing without verbs can also be called note form.

Decide whether sentences are long and complex or short and simple. Short and simple sentences are typical of direct & quick communication. Long and complex sentences are usually used in more formal serious language.

PUNCTUATION

EXCLAMATION MARKS – create the effect that the writer is shouting, or that they are making a joke. It also gives the impression that the writer is shocked or surprised.

4 LOTS OF COMMAS – break up the paragraph and slow down the pace.

A DASH – emphasises the word that comes after it.

INVERTED COMMAS – mark quotations, exact words spoken, direct speech, foreign words or words used in an unusual way. Also used to suggest ‘so called’ expression. For example: He was a ‘hero’, suggest that he wasn’t really a hero at all. The word is being used ironically or sarcastically.

PARENTHESIS – is an extra piece of information inserted into a sentence and enclosed by a pair of commas, brackets or dashes, e.g.

‘John Wilson (who is in class 2X) won the prize for best pupil of the ear.’

‘ The CN Tower – the highest man-made structure in the world – is Toronto’s most visited tourist attraction.’

Look out for these techniques to place emphasis on a word or phrase:

CAPITAL LETTERS – emphasise something important or suggest the way something is said. It gives the impression that the writer is shouting or is very surprised.

ITALICS – emphasise something important or suggest the way something is said.

PATTERNS IN SENTENCES

Look for these particular patterns in sentences:

INVERSION – is when the order of words is not as you would expect. This can be useful in creating suspense when the subject is only understood at the end of the sentence, e.g.

‘Eerily, from the mist on the moor, came a low whistle.’

It also emphasises the word or phrase at the beginning of the sentence, e.g.

‘Down swept the axe.’ ‘A sad day it will be for everyone.’

LISTS – emphasises how many examples there are of a certain thing, or emphasises a point that may have been in the sentence before, e.g.

‘Scotland is an unhealthy country. It has problems with heart-disease, strokes, cancer, obesity and drug overdoses.’

5 This list emphasises how many serious health problems Scotland has, and backs up the point made in the previous sentences.

REPETITION – in a sentence, certain words may be used more than once. This draws attention to that particular word to stress its significance or make a point, e.g.

‘They, and they alone.’

The sentence construction may also be repeated. This is often used by politicians in public speeches because it drives home a point effectively, e.g.

‘We will not be dictated to by the government. We will not be satisfied with any compromises. We will not be satisfied until our demands are met.’

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS – are also used frequently in public speaking and consist of a question to which no answer is called for because the speaker assumes that all are agreed on the answer. They are used by writers who want to argue a point, e.g.

‘Who do they think they are?’ ‘Would you like a punishment exercise?’

They stir up strong feelings creating an emotive tone.

Sentences that begin with an ADVERB or an ADVERBIAL PHRASE emphasise exactly how an action takes place, e.g.

‘Slowly, stealthily, the cat inched forward.’ ‘With a roar, the wave shattered onto the rocks.’

WORD CHOICE

Questions regarding expression and word choice ask you to look at the effect created by the particular words and expressions the writer has chosen. The writer’s tone and style will depend on these choices.

EMOTIVE LANGUAGE – language that is directly aimed at provoking an emotional response from the reader. Feelings such as anger, sadness and pity are roused using extreme examples of words connected to these emotions, e.g. ‘disgraceful’, ‘appalling’, ‘magnificent’, ‘heart-breaking’, ‘ecstatic’.

FORMAL LANGUAGE

Formal language is used when applying for a job or writing a letter to an important person. It is impersonal and never uses slang terms or contractions (e.g. ‘can’t’ rather than ‘cannot’). This distances the reader from the writer and gives a cold, emotionless

6 effect. Vocabulary may be more complex, but simple sentences are used rather than complex ones.

INFORMAL LANGUAGE

Informal language is the sort of everyday language you use when you talk to your friends and family. Informal language sounds like someone is speaking to you rather than writing. Writers use this to try to persuade the reader to agree with them on a certain point – it brings the writer and the reader closer together as if they are having an intimate conversation.

Types of informal language are:

COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE – this is an informal style more like speaking than writing. Expressions such as ‘well’, ‘by the way’ or slang words such as ‘kid’ or ‘guy’. Often you are asked to identify, quote or comment on this type of language. Remember it is informal and creates the impression that the writer is chatting to us.

DIALECT – this is the name given to the style of English spoken in a particular area, e.g. in Scots dialect ‘auld’ for old or ‘wean’ for young child. As you can see, sometimes dialect is just the way a word is pronounced differently (‘auld’ for old) but it can also be a completely different word (‘wean’ for young child). Again, you may be asked to compare the use of dialect to Standard English or to comment on the effect the use of dialect has on the reader.

SLANG – this is very informal language and is often short lived and affected by changing generations, e.g. in the 1950s a pupil might have said, ‘Want to winch my pal?’ but years later the phrase became, ‘Want to nip my pal?’ What will it be in ten years time?!

VERY FORMAL INFORMAL VERY DIALECT & FORMAL INFORMAL SLANG (COLLOQUIAL) Vomit Be sick Throw up Puke ?

Magnificent Fantastic Great Cool ?

TONE – just like you can speak in different tones of voice, a writer can adopt several different tones to suit the topic he/she is writing about. A writer’s tone could be: Humorous / Comic / Funny Sad Mocking Ironic (Sounds sarcastic)

7 Sentimental Conversational Colloquial (Informal, possibly using words from a dialect or slang) Serious / Formal CONNOTATIONS – all words have certain associations (called connotations). A word’s direct and obvious meaning is called its denotation. The word ‘pig’ means a four- legged farm animal with a curly tail, but when used in the sentence ‘Male chauvinist pig’ it has a very different meaning (i.e. a man that is sexist and demeaning to women). This is its connotation. You may be asked to explain the connotations/shades of meaning of a particular word or words, e.g. think of the sentence:

‘The man walked down the street.’

If we substitute the word ‘walked’ for ‘skipped’ then we imagine that the man is happy because the word ‘skipped’ has connotations of happiness and joy. If we substitute ‘walked’ for ‘staggered’ then we imagine that he is either drunk or injured. If we used the word ‘swaggered’ this would suggest that the man is confident, popular and tough. When a writer uses these words instead of just ‘walked’, you have to comment on the difference in meaning this brings.

WORD CHOICE TO CREATE ATMOSPHERE

Often a writer will try to create a particular atmosphere by using many words that have the same sort of meaning, e.g.

‘ It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard.’

This is the opening sentence of an essay in which the narrator is about to witness an execution. As you can see there are words and phrases that help create an eerie, uneasy atmosphere. Questions of this type sometimes ask you to identify the words/phrases and comment on the effect they create.

FIGURES OF SPEECH FOCUSING ON IMAGERY

Are used to say something in an elaborate or imaginative way. It might involve a comparison of one thing to another or an exaggeration of something. These figures of speech create an image in the reader’s head, helping the reader imagine the object or person being described.

SIMILE – when one thing is said to be ‘as’ or ‘like’ another, e.g.

‘Partick Thistle’s goalkeeper is as nimble as a cat.’

8 The goalkeeper is compared to a cat. This does not mean that he looks like a cat; the point the writer is making is that he is as quick and agile as a cat.

METAPHOR – a comparison of one thing with another where we say it is that other thing, e.g.

‘An army of football supporters arrived in the town.’

The supporters are being compared to an army, suggesting that they were similarly dressed, marched together confidently and perhaps frighteningly.

PERSONIFICATION – is when an inanimate object or non-human animal is said to have the qualities or emotions of a human being, e.g.

‘The cold bit into my skin.’ ‘The wind sighed sorrowfully.’

Coldness can’t actually bite you, but it is an effective way to describe the unpleasant feeling of intense cold on your skin.

In questions about figures of speech you need to identify the image and then explain why it is effective (the ‘image’ is the term used to describe whatever it is the subject is being compared to).

FIGURES OF SPEECH FOCUSING ON SOUND

ALLITERATION – repetition of the first letter of a series of words to increase the impact of a phrase, e.g.

‘Cold command’ ‘Sammy the snake slithered silently towards the south.’

Try to focus on the sounds being made and the effect the writer is trying to achieve. Alliteration may be used to emphasise this sound; or the writer may want to draw attention to a group of words or make a connection between those words.

ASSONANCE – the term used to describe a similar repetition of vowel sounds e.g. ‘doomed youth’ (note: it is the sound that is important, not the spelling).

ONOMATOPOEIA – this is when a word actually sounds the same as its meaning, e.g.

‘The pots and pans clattered and clashed to the floor.’ ‘The baby hiccupped and gurgled happily.’

9 Evaluation questions ask you HOW EFFECTIVE the writer has achieved their purpose. To do this, you will have to refer to the writer’s word choice or other techniques and comment on how this contributes to the success or failure of the passage.

Every writer / piece of writing has a purpose. The Financial Times’ purpose is to inform businessmen/women about the stock-exchange and the economic situation in the world. It is not written to entertain in any way. The Beano’s purpose however, is to make the reader laugh – nothing else!

To answer Evaluation questions, you must consider how effectively the writer has achieved his/her purpose.

You can also express your judgement by using words like: effective, moving, satisfying, exciting, interesting, amusing, humorous, convincing, persuasive, shocking, disturbing, entertaining, enjoyable and so on.

However, it is not enough to merely give your opinion in this way. You must also refer to specific areas and techniques within the text that you thought contributed to this success or failure of the text. Such techniques could be:

 Imagery.  Word choice.  Sentence structure.  Tone.

So, to answer the question, follow these steps:

1. Pick out a technique from the passage. 2. Say what effect it has. 3. Say why you think this helps the writer achieve their purpose/express their opinion.

REPEAT THE PROCESS AS MANY TIMES AS NECESSARY TO GAIN FULL MARKS FOR THAT QUESTION.

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