St Joseph’s English Department

GCSE English Language Paper 1

Revision Booklet

Explorations in creative reading and writing

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Summary of the exam

 This exam lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes

 The total mark for this exam is 80: 40 marks for section A and 40
marks for section B
 This exam requires you to respond to an unseen literary, fictional
text.
 You will also be required to produce a piece of descriptive or
narrative writing

Overall marking descriptors for Section A

Level Skills Descriptors
Level 4 Detailed, perceptive analysis
Level 3 Clear, relevant explanation
Level 2 Some understanding and comment
Level 1 Simple, limited comment

Overall marking descriptors for Section B

Level Skills Descriptors
Level 4 Compelling, convincing
Level 3 Consistent, clear
Level 2 Some success
Level 1 Simple, limited

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How to use this booklet:
 Read the guidance for each question carefully
 Use the extracts in each section to revise and practice important
skills
 Read the example answers and make sure you understand how to
produce a good answer
 Practise producing an answer for each question
 Use the key reminders section for each question to guide your
revision

How to interpret and understand the extract

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Who What
 Who is narrating the extract? Is  What is happening in the
this narrator unreliable or limited extract?
in any way?  What importance might these
 What type of narrator is the writer events have?
using? Why might this be  What do we think might have
important? taken place before it?
 Who else is in the extract? How  What do we think might take
are the characters connected? place after it?

Where When
 Where is the extract set?  When is the extract taking
 Is the setting urban or rural? place?
 Is the setting very busy and  Is the extract taking place in the
crowded or is it isolated? daytime or night time? Why
 What is the weather like in the might this be important?
extract?  How much time passes during
the extract?

Question 2: Writing about language

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To succeed in question 2, you must be able to identify and accurately label a wide range of
language features. You need to make sure that you learn all of the techniques listed below
and that you can identify them correctly within a text.
Language Definition Example How confident do I
technique feel about this
feature?

Adverb A word that describes She stood silently.

how a verb is done
Adjective A word that describes The lion had a fiery, bushy
mane.
Pronouns A word that takes the What would you do?(2nd
place of a noun person pronoun)
We can do it; together (1st
person pronoun)
But with our help, we can
stop this injustice (possessive
pronoun)
Modal verbs An auxiliary verb that You could revise for your
expresses necessity or English exam
possibility. It appears You should revise for your
before the main verb English exam
in the sentence You must revise for your
English exam

Imperatives A verb that commands Talk to your friends about

how they feel.
Simile Using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to The water poured into the
describe something by village as swift as the rushing
comparing it to wind.
something else
Metaphor Where you describe The water was a hurricane,
something as if it destroying everything in its
actually is something path.
else
Onomatopoeia Using the sound Crash! Buildings tumbled to
the ground.
Personification A descriptive The gentle, calming breeze
technique – give fluttered through the city.
something that isn’t
human, human
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 qualities
Rhyme Using words that have What you need to
the same vowel sound understand is they all just
need a helping hand from us.
Anecdotes Using a story to You still don’t think your
illustrate, reinforce a health is important? Take
point Sarah…
Alliteration Beginning words with The rampaging, rushing river
the same sound, often ripped its way through the
words that are next to mountain village.
each other
Fact Something which is Kenya is one of the largest
true and can be African countries.
backed up by evidence
Opinion A writer says what Animal testing is plain
they think wrong.
Repetition Repeating words or a Animal testing is wrong; plain
phrase wrong.
Rhetorical A question that Would you like to live in a
question doesn’t need to be town plagued by death and
answered disease?
Emotive language Words that have an Every night, thousands of
emotional effect on children in Syria come home
the reader to freezing, filthy conditions.
Exaggeration Embellishing or This is surely the most
overstating a horrendous example of
point/idea/opinion animal neglect that we have
seen in the last ten years.
Statistics Using numbers, 66% of young adults said that
percentages and/or they were worried about
fractions debt.
(Rule of) Three Using a sequence of But with your help, we can
three words (usually provide clean water, tools to
adjectives) grow food and shelter for the
most needy.
Pun A play on Ronaldo is going to kick
words/double himself for missing that open
meaning goal.
Question 2: Writing about language
To achieve excellent marks in this section of the exam it is essential that you not only
accurately identify a range of language features, but that you also analyse the effects of the
features that you find in detail. Therefore, the following phrases are banned. If you use
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these phrases you are limiting your chances of achieving anything above Level 1 (the
lowest level)

Banned phrases:
It makes the reader want to read on
It makes the reader think
It is effective
It has an effect
It puts a picture in the reader’s head
It stands out
It draws the reader in
It grabs the reader’s attention

Look at this extract from Survivor by Chuck Palahniuck. It is from the opening of the novel.

Testing, testing. One, two, three.

Testing, testing. One, two, three.
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Maybe this is working. I don’t know. If you can even hear me, I don’t know.
But if you can hear me, listen. And if you’re listening then what you’ve found is the story of
everything that went wrong. This is what you’d call the flight recorder of Flight 2039. The
black box, people call it, even though its orange and on the inside is a loop of wire that’s the
permanent record of all that’s left. What you’ve found is the story of what happened.
Feature Quotation Effect

Repetition “I don’t know. If you The repetition of “I don’t know” reinforces the
can even hear me, I panic and desperation felt by the narrator. It
don’t know.” highlights the sense of chaos established within
the extract, which is further emphasised by the
fact that the narrator is on a crashing plane.
Imperative verb

2nd person
pronoun

Add in your own

language
feature

How to produce a successful answer

Look at this extract from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stephenson.
Here, a young girl is describing her encounter with the character Mr Hyde.

Question 2: How does the writer use language here to describe Mr Hyde?
 words and phrases

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  language features and techniques
 sentence forms

Presently her eye wandered to the other, and she was surprised to recognise in him a
certain Mr Hyde, who had once visited her master, and for whom she had conceived
a dislike. He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he
answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And
then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot,
brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The
very old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a
trifle hurt; and at that Mr Hyde broke out of all bounds, and clubbed him to the
earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot,
and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered
and the body jumped upon the roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds,
the maid fainted.

The writer uses verbs to demonstrate the ferocity of Mr Hyde and emphasise his
animalistic qualities. For example, the present participle verb “trampling” implies that the
character is able to use significant force and in fact is able to almost flatten his victim,
suggesting that this character is devoid of any human emotion or empathy for his victim.
His inhumane qualities are also reinforced by the adverb “audibly” which further
demonstrates his almost superhuman, abnormal abilities and heightens the danger and
threat that he poses.
This answer demonstrates level 4 skills. The student is able to pick out relevant features,
quote them precisely and offer a detailed and perceptive analysis of their effect. They have
clearly thought about the connotations of the words and then use these to explain what
effect this has on the reader and what it implies about the character.
You should now write two more paragraphs demonstrating these skills.

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Key reminders for question 2

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 In my answer have I….
or X
Focused specifically on language
Used precise terminology when naming a language
feature
Used a small and relevant quotation
Discussed the effects of the language feature: how
it makes the reader feel/what it implies or
suggests/what sort of atmosphere it creates
Discussed the connotations of a word/words within
the quotation and linked this back to the effect

Question 3: Writing about structure

Structure Toolkit
Chronological/ Linear Structure: ordering of events in the order that they occur
Flashback: where characters/ narrators remember and retell events that have happened in the past
Parallel Narrative: a narrative structure that switches between two narrative perspectives

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Multiple Narrative: a narrative structure that switches between several narrative perspectives
Nonlinear Narrative/ Disjointed Narrative/ Disrupted Narrative: a narrative technique, where events are
portrayed out of chronological order, often moving backwards and forwards in time
Cyclical Narrative: A narrative structure that revisits the idea at the end of the text which was presented at
the start
Framed Narrative: where a story is presented within the overall narrative e.g. within a letter or diary entry
Comparison and Contrast: where comparisons and contrasts are drawn within a text
Cause and Effect: where consequences of events are detailed
Inductive Structure: where detail moves from the specific to the more general
Deductive Structure: where details move from the more general to the specific
Shifting of focus: other movement within a text e.g. from outside to inside, from inside to outside, from
the collective to the individual etc.
Exposition: the part of a text where setting, characters and background information is introduced
Rising Action: the part of a text where some form of problem or crisis begins to emerge
Climax: the part of the text where there is the highest level of tension, usually involving a turning point
Falling Action: the part of a text where characters begin to solve their problems or crisis
Resolution/ Denouement: the part of the text which offers closure and problems/ crises are resolved
Foreshadowing: where future events of the text are hinted at (usually in early parts of a narrative)
Foreboding: a suggestion or hint that something bad or dangerous might occur later in a text
Plot: story or sequence of events
Anticlimax: where expectations of dramatic events are raised, and then dashed
Accumulation: where lists of details are piled up to create a cumulative effect
Anaphora: a type or repetition where the opening detail of a phrase is repeated
Perspective Shifts: where the narrative perspective (e.g. first ‘I’, second ‘you’, third ‘he’ / ‘she’) changes
Topic sentence: the opening sentence of a paragraph which introduces the focus on that paragraph
Repetition: where a word, phrase or idea is repeated through a text
Beginnings and Endings: these should be considered when analysing introductions, changes,
developments and resolutions in texts
Paragraphs: sections that a text is broken down into, often separated by changes in topic, time, person or
place
Paragraph length: consider the length of the paragraph and how this impacts upon the idea and shape of
the text as a whole

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Clause: a group of words that include a verb. Clauses can sometimes be complete sentences e.g. ‘It was
raining’
Main Clause: sentences are made up of at least one main clause – the main idea of a sentence e.g. ‘It was
raining’ Sometimes sentences can be made up of more that one main clause e.g. ‘It was raining but the sun
was shining’.
Subordinate Clause: A clause which is subordinate to another part of the same sentence e.g. ‘The apple
that I ate was sour but it looked very tasty’.
Single-clause Sentence: A sentence made up from one main clause e.g. ‘It was raining’.
Multi-clause Sentence: A sentence that includes two or more clauses e.g. ‘She went shopping but took
back everything she had bought because she didn’t like any of it.’ Multi clause sentences can be made up
of sentences of more than one main clause e.g. ‘It was raining but the sun was shining.’ Multi-clause
sentences can also be made up of main and subordinate clauses e.g. ‘The apple that I ate was sour but it
looked very tasty’.
Declarative Sentence / Statements: sentences that are statements e.g. ‘You are my friend.’
Commands: Sentences that give commands e.g. ‘Be my friend!’
Interrogative Sentences / Questions: sentences that ask questions e.g. ‘Are you my friend?’

Exclamatory Sentence / Exclamation: sentences that exclaim e.g. ‘You are such a good friend!’

Question 3: Writing about structure

In this section of the exam you will be required to look at the whole of an
extract and analyse how it is structured to interest the reader. You will be asked
to focus on what is written about in the beginning, middle and end of the
extract as well as picking out any other structural features.
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Key questions to ask myself:
 What does the writer focus my attention on at the beginning, middle and
end? What does the writer zoom in on?
 How does the focus of the extract change as the text progresses? Does the
writer zoom out to look at the whole at any point?
 What are the effects of the change in focus?
Look at this extract from ‘To kill a mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. In this extract, the character
Scout is describing her father, Atticus.
Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started
late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our
school contemporaries, and there was nothing Jem or I could say about him when our classmates said, ‘My
father – ’
Jem was football crazy. Atticus was never too tired to play keep-away, but when Jem wanted to tackle him
Atticus would say, ‘I’m too old for that, son.’
Our father didn’t do anything. He worked in an office, not in a drugstore. Atticus did not drive a dump-truck
for the county, he was not the sheriff, he did not farm, work in a garage, or do anything that could possibly
arouse the admiration of anyone.
Besides that, he wore glasses. He was nearly blind in his left eye, and said left eyes were the tribal curse of
the Finches. Whenever he wanted to see something well, he turned his head and looked from his right eye.
He did not do the things our schoolmates’ fathers did; he never went hunting, he did not play poker or fish
or drink or smoke. He sat in the living-room and read.
With these attributes, however, he would not remain as inconspicuous as we wished him to; that year, the
school buzzed with talk about him defending Tom Robinson, none of which was complimentary. After my
bout with Cecil Jacobs when I committed myself to a policy of cowardice, word got around that Scout Finch
wouldn’t fight any more, her daddy wouldn’t let her. This was not entirely correct: I wouldn’t fight publicly
for Atticus, but the family was private ground. I would fight anyone from a third cousin upwards tooth and
nail. Francis Hancock, for example, knew that.
When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn’t teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments
thereof; he said Atticus wasn’t interested in guns, Atticus said to Jem one day, ‘I’d rather you shot at tin
cans in the back yard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em,
but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
That was the only time I heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.
‘Your father’s right,’ she said. ‘Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t
eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.
That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’

What emotion, idea or concept is suggested in the opening, middle and end of
the extract? The three boxes below have been completed for you.

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Look at this extract from ‘To kill a mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. In this extract, the character
Scout is describing her father, Atticus.

How has the text been structured to interest you as a reader?

Example Effect Link to the question
In the opening For This suggests that the This would interest the
of the extract, example, character of Atticus is regarded audience because it is a
the writer “Atticus as weak, certainly in the eyes contrast to a stereotypical
focuses the was of his children. They do not father figure who the reader
reader on the feeble” seem to value the qualities would expect to be strong
idea of that he has and instead wish and highly respected.
disappointment he was like the parents of their Therefore, the character of
. classmates. Atticus is not what we
expect, which could
potentially foreshadow his
role within the novel.
Then, the writer
shifts our
attention to the
many ways in
which Atticus is
viewed as
different.

However, at the
end the writer
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finishes with a
warning.

How has the text been structured to interest you as a reader?

Example Effect Link to the question
In the opening
of the extract,
the writer
focuses the
reader on

Then, the
writer shifts
our attention
to

However, at

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 the end the
writer focuses
my attention
on

Look at this extract from ‘1984’ by George Orwell. The novel is set in a dystopian future set
in the fictional super-state of Oceania.
'Comrades!' cried an eager youthful voice. 'Attention, comrades! We have glorious news for you.
We have won the battle for production! Returns now completed of the output of all classes of
consumption goods show that the standard of living has risen by no less than 20 per cent over the past
year. All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous demonstrations when workers
marched out of factories and offices and paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude
to Big Brother for the new, happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon us. Here are some of
the completed figures. Foodstuffs-'

The phrase 'our new, happy life' recurred several times. It had been a favourite of late with the Ministry of
Plenty. Parsons, his attention caught by the trumpet call, sat listening with a sort of gaping solemnity, a
sort of edified boredom. He could not follow the figures, but he was aware that they were in some way a
cause for satisfaction. He had lugged out a huge and filthy pipe which was already half full of charred
tobacco. With the tobacco ration at 100 grammes a week it was seldom possible to fill a pipe to the top.
Winston was smoking a Victory Cigarette which he held carefully horizontal. The new ration did not start
till tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left. For the moment he had shut his ears to the remoter
noises and was listening to the stuff that streamed out of the telescreen. It appeared that there had even
been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And
only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes
a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.
Parsons swallowed it easily, with the stupidity of an animal. The eyeless creature at the other table
swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone
who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grammes. Syme, too-in some more complex
way, involving doublethink, Syme swallowed it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?

The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more
food, more clothes, more houses, more furniture, more cooking-pots, more fuel, more ships, more
helicopters, more books, more babies -- more of everything except disease, crime, and insanity. Year by
year and minute by minute, everybody and everything was whizzing rapidly upwards. As Syme had done
earlier Winston had taken up his spoon and was dabbling in the pale-coloured gravy that dribbled across
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the table, drawing a long streak of it out into a pattern. He meditated resentfully on the physical texture of
life. Had it always been like this? Had food always tasted like this? He looked round the canteen. A low-
ceilinged, crowded room, its walls grimy from the contact of innumerable bodies; battered metal tables
and chairs, placed so close together that you sat with elbows touching; bent spoons, dented trays, coarse
white mugs; all surfaces greasy, grime in every crack; and a sourish, composite smell of bad gin and bad
coffee and metallic stew and dirty clothes. Always in your stomach and in your skin there was a sort of
protest, a feeling that you had been cheated of something that you had a right to. It was true that he had
no memories of anything greatly different. In any time that he could accurately remember, there had never
been quite enough to eat, one had never had socks or underclothes that were not full of holes, furniture
had always been battered and rickety, rooms underheated, tube trains crowded, houses falling to pieces,
bread dark-coloured, tea a rarity, coffee filthy-tasting, cigarettes insufficient -- nothing cheap and plentiful
except synthetic gin. And though, of course, it grew worse as one's body aged, was it not a sign that this
was not the natural order of things, if one's heart sickened at the discomfort and dirt and scarcity, the
interminable winters, the stickiness of one's socks, the lifts that never worked, the cold water, the gritty
soap, the cigarettes that came to pieces, the food with its strange evil tastes? Why should one feel it to be
intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that things had once been different?

He looked round the canteen again. Nearly everyone was ugly, and would still have been ugly even if
dressed otherwise than in the uniform blue overalls. On the far side of the room, sitting at a table alone, a
small, curiously beetle-like man was drinking a cup of coffee, his little eyes darting suspicious glances from
side to side. How easy it was, thought Winston, if you did not look about you, to believe that the physical
type set up by the Party as an ideal-tall muscular youths and deep-bosomed maidens, blond-haired, vital,
sunburnt, carefree - existed and even predominated. Actually, so far as he could judge, the majority of
people in Airstrip One were small, dark, and ill-favoured. It was curious how that beetle-like type
proliferated in the Ministries: little dumpy men, growing stout very early in life, with short legs, swift
scuttling movements, and fat inscrutable faces with very small eyes. It was the type that seemed to flourish
best under the dominion of the Party.

How has the writer structured the text to interest you as a reader?
You could write about:
 what the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning
 how and why the writer changes this focus as the Source develops
 any other structural features that interest you.

The writer begins with somebody talking and shouting and the writer focuses our
attention on what the person says. This is interesting to the reader because they are
shouting and they want to know what they are shouting about. This is good for the first
part of the extract because it would make the reader pay attention

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This answer makes some good points and makes some reference to methods. The student
refers to the structure by mentioning what the extract “begins” with and talking about the
“first part”. They make some link back to the question and attempt to comment on the
effect. However, there is no use of quotation and no real explanation, therefore if this
answer were written in full it couldn’t be awarded more than 2/8.

In the opening of the extract the writer focuses our attention on the announcement
“Comrades! cried an eager youthful voice” The use of punctuation and short, exclamatory
sentences in the opening signals to the reader that something important is about to be
announced. It creates a sense of drama and tension as it uses words from the semantic
field of war like ‘won’, ‘battle’, ‘glorious’ and ‘comrades’ making the reader immediately
feel as if they are in place of conflict and fighting implying that this world is not a safe
one. However in the second half of the opening the “eager youthful voice” is taken out of
focus and the narrator zooms into the character’s thoughts. The fact that this shift in
narrative perspective happens mid-sentence and rather abruptly “Foodstuffs-“
emphasises the sense of disdain that the narrator feels for the announcement and imbues
a sense of cynicism and contempt. This interests the reader as it suggests it provides a
distinct contrast to the patriotic and jingoistic voice established in the opening.

This answer uses a range of relevant quotations and explains their effects in detail with a
clear focus on the structure of the text. The point that it makes about the shift in narrative
perspective is perceptive and detailed, showing a more insightful understanding of how the
text is structured. The answer also talks about other structural features such as sentence
types. If this were completed in full it would receive a minimum of 7/8.

Now continue this answer, reflecting the skills demonstrated in the second sample
response.
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Key reminders for question 3

In my answer have I….

or X
Focused specifically on structure
Written about what my attention is focused on at
the beginning, middle and end of the extract.
Used small and relevant quotations
Discussed the effects of quotations, with a focus on
how the extract changes as the text develops
Linked back to the question and explained how this
interests the reader

Remember! You can also write about any structural features that you
think are worthy of note. Use your structure toolkit to help you pick
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out these features.

Question 4: evaluating an interpretation of the text

In this section of the exam you will be provided with a statement about part of the text. The
statement will be a comment that a student has made about their own personal
interpretation of the text. You will need to decide to what extent you agree with the
statement and provide detailed evidence to back up your response.

The first step to succeeding in this question is to make sure that you understand the
statement. Underline and annotate key words in the statement:

A student having read this section of the text said ‘The writer creates a horrifying image
of a brutal attack. The writer creates the impression that Mr Hyde is a highly dangerous,
almost inhuman character’.

In your answer, try to address every part of the statement and focus on how the writer
creates this effect.

Look again at this extract from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stephenson.
Here, a young girl is describing her encounter with the character Mr Hyde.

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 Presently her eye wandered to the other, and she was surprised to recognise in him a
certain Mr Hyde, who had once visited her master, and for whom she had conceived
a dislike. He had in his hand a heavy cane, with which he was trifling; but he
answered never a word, and seemed to listen with an ill-contained impatience. And
then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot,
brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman. The
very old gentleman took a step back, with the air of one very much surprised and a
trifle hurt; and at that Mr Hyde broke out of all bounds, and clubbed him to the
earth. And next moment, with ape-like fury, he was trampling his victim under foot,
and hailing down a storm of blows, under which the bones were audibly shattered
and the body jumped upon the roadway. At the horror of these sights and sounds,
the maid fainted.

I agree with the statement because in the text it says “with ape-like fury” which makes
me feel really scared about what the character of Mr Hyde can do. He seems like a
merciless man who can destroy any enemy that stands in his path. Also the fact that the
maid “fainted” tells me that the attack was horrific as it shocked her so much that she
actually passed out so it must have been awful for the victim.

This answer has a lot of positive points. It addresses points of the statement (although not
directly) and uses relevant quotations with some explanations. However, it makes no
reference to methods that the writer uses and doesn’t explain in enough detail. If this
answer was in full then it would receive a minimum of 8/20.

I agree with the statement because the metaphorical description of “ape-like fury”
implies that the character of Mr Hyde is more animal than human. This suggests that he
is wild and primitive and doesn’t possess any human qualities such as morality or
rationality. This in turn makes the reader feel that he is devoid of any regard for his
victim’s feelings, making him even more threatening and dangerous. Therefore I also fully
agree that this was a brutal attack, as the verb “fainted” implies that the character of the
maid was so overwhelmed by the viciousness that it caused her to lose consciousness.
This implies that the maid was unable to comprehend how someone could treat another
human being in such a way conveying the sense that Mr Hyde is cold and callous.

This answer, importantly, focuses on methods mentioning ‘metaphorical description and

‘verb’. It also analyses the effect of the quotations it selects in depth and then links these
back to why they agree with the statement in clear detail. If this answer was longer it would
achieve a minimum of 16/20.

Write at least three more detailed paragraphs continuing the answer.

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To what extent do I
agree?

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In most cases, it is likely that you will agree with the statement. However, as a
final paragraph you may want to disagree with the statement or find another
way to interpret the text. Only include this in your answer if you can think of
valid and insightful ideas. An example has been done for you below.

However, in some ways I also disagree with the statement. Whilst there is no doubt that
the attack described was brutal, as emphasised by “audibly shattered”, to some extent I
do not agree that the character of Mr Hyde is ‘almost inhuman’. Rather, I think that the
writer is trying to show the reader just how human Mr Hyde is and reveal to the reader
the cruel and terrible side of human nature: that human beings are capable of inflicting
horrible pain and suffering. The writer might be using the character of Mr Hyde to imply
that there is both a very good and indeed very bad side to humanity.

Key reminders for question 4

In my answer have I….

or X
Made sure I understand the statement and its
relevant parts
Focused my attention on why I agree or don’t agree
with the statement
Focused on methods
Used small and relevant quotations
Analysed the effects of the quotations and linked
these back to the statement

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Section B: Question 5. Writing to describe or narrate

This section of the exam requires you to produce a piece of narrative or descriptive writing
that is based on an image or a story prompt/idea. You need to produce a piece of writing
that is structured, engaging, well planned and written with a high level of accuracy.

Writing to describe, suggested by/inspired by an image

How to plan your answer:

 Divide your image up using a grid. An example has been done for you
 Pick a between 5-8 boxes or key details to write about
 Annotate each of the boxes/details with adjectives, similes, metaphors, examples of
personification and impressive examples of vocabulary.
Each of these annotated boxes will form a paragraph, ensuring that each paragraph of your
writing has a different focus. Most importantly, it will ensure that you write a lot about a
little.

Annotate between 5 and 8 of the boxes below.

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Read the example paragraph completed for you. This is based on the bottom left hand box.

In the shadows, the crowd gathers to look upon the hulking, towering monument. Huddled
together for warmth and comfort, dirty, grimy shoes scuff the shining, cream paving stones.
In the distance, a dome gleams gold in the sunlight, contrasting the darkness of the crowds.
The hectic, busy city turns ever-onwards; the city is forever alive and glowing with life. Not
here though. Here, there is a dimness, a stillness, a peacefulness. The gaudy and showy
lights of the city don’t permeate here – rather, there is an aura of contemplation, as hushed
tourists gather to gaze at the monolith that glowers over them.

Now, write a minimum of three more paragraphs, based on three boxes that you have
annotated. Like the above paragraph, your aim is to use lists of adjectives and varied
punctuation. These techniques have been underlined for you.

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Write a description suggested by this image:

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Annotate between 5-8 of the boxes/details in the grid with your writing ideas

The man walks. The girl walks. The boy, inquisitive and curious walks. His youthful, fragile
face stares at the man with interest. His shirt and chino shorts are a pristine white, not too
dissimilar to the man sitting on the ground. The boy cannot help but notice however, that
his own shirt is pressed and ironed, his own shirt is clean and free from dirt, his own shirt is
one of many. Not so the man on the ground. His shirt is crumpled and creased, his shirt is
stained and old, his shirt is the only one he has. The boy stares at the man with wide, naïve
eyes, gawps at his well-worn feet, his calloused hands. The boy, young and stupid, does not
understand; he has not yet known the cruelties of life.
Now, write a minimum of three more paragraphs, based on three boxes that you have
annotated. Like the above paragraph, your aim is to use the short, short stretch technique,
embedded clauses and repetition for effect. These have been underlined for you.

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Practise annotating and planning ideas inspired by an image using the photographs below.

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Writing to narrate

Use the following tasks to help you practise writing to narrate:

Write the opening to a short story that is set in place that is new to the narrator.

Write a story that begins “Just one look outside told me that it was a bad idea”.

Write a story that ends with the sentence “The door slammed shut, never to be opened
again”.

Write a short story that is inspired by a colour.

Write the opening to a short story in which something unexpected happens.

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Write about a place that is very different at night in comparison to the day time.

Write a story that begins “The world was different now, it would never be the same again”.

Write the opening to a short story that is set in a famous place.

Write the opening to a short story that involves water in some way.

Write a story that ends with the sentence “He would never go back to that place, not even
if his life depended on it”.

Write the opening to a short story that begins with a journey.

Key reminders for question 5

In my answer have I….

or X
Planned each paragraph
Used engaging and impressive examples of
vocabulary throughout
Used a range of language techniques (check your
language toolkit)
Used a range of structural techniques (check your
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structure toolkit)
Checked that my punctuation is accurate
Written in paragraphs that link together and used
features like one sentence paragraphs for effect
Carefully checked my spelling and grammar to
ensure that it is as accurate as possible
Used a range of punctuation accurately and for
effect

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