UNDERSTANDING QUESTIONS
Understanding questions will be set to test your understanding of a text ( what is being said).
Understanding questions will be set to test your understanding of a text ( what is being said).
nThe most common task is to be asked to pick out a fact from the text and express it in your own words.
nHere is an example:
nThe topic of this text was ‘a notorious species of spider’, the tarantula, and the narrator was the spider itself.
n‘I’m nocturnal. I love the moonlight, the shadows, the dark places, the dappled murk. I’m not being poetic. I’m simply being true to my nature, my nocturnal nature. Like all tarantulas.’
nQuestion: In your own words, in what way is the speaker ‘like all tarantulas’ according to the first paragraph? (1 Mark)
nStep One:
nLook in the text for the information which will answer the question. In this case, it is provided by the word ‘nocturnal’.
nStep Two:
nExpress the information in your own words in a simple sentence which fits the way the question is worded. In this example you had to change from 1st person (‘I’) into 3rd person (‘the speaker’).
nAn acceptable answer to gain the mark would be:
n‘The speaker is active by night.’
Remember, if you were simply to say ‘The speaker is nocturnal’ or ‘He is nocturnal’ you would get no marks since you would have failed to do step two, namely to use your own words.
Understanding Questions-practice
Answer the questions attached
to the following pieces of text. Check carefully the number of marks available.
Remember to express the answers in your own words.
1. Stories about haunted
places are always fascinating. What goes on there, and how, and why? Some
hauntings can be explained as the results of normal trickery. In others some
natural cause is at work, though it has not been traced.
Question:
What 2 explanations does the writer suggest to account
for the belief that some places are haunted? (2 marks)
2. Harrison
started out as a carpenter. He completed his first pendulum clock in 1713,
before he was twenty years old. Why he came to take on this project and how he
excelled at it with no experience as a watchmaker’s apprentice remain
mysteries. Aside from the fact that the great John Harrison built it, the clock
claims uniqueness for another feature: it is constructed almost entirely of
wood. Harrison, ever practical and
resourceful, took what materials came to hand and handled them well. This is a
carpenter’s clock.
Questions:
a. What are the
two ‘mysteries’ which puzzle the writer concerning the building of JH’s first
clock? (2 marks)
b. What is
unusual about the construction of the clock, and why did Harrison
choose this form of construction? (2 marks)
n Summary Questions
A variation of this task is a question which asks you to pick out a number of points the writer makes and repeat them briefly in your own words.
nSuch a question frequently includes the word ‘summarise’. An example from the 2000 Intermediate 2 paper had three as the number of marks available which suggests the number of pieces of evidence to be found.
nAlways remember to look carefully at the number of marks. A summary question may be worth as many as 5 marks, and you must try to persuade the examiner to give you all of these.
nYou might choose to present your answer in a numbered format.
n1…
n2…
n3…
nThis will help gain you a mark for each separate point made.
n
Understanding Question- Summary Question Practice
Read the passage and
answer the following questions in your jotter.
My childhood was a not
altogether happy one. Circumstances conspired to make me shy and solitary. My
father and mother died before I was capable of remembering them. I was an only
child, entrusted to the care of an unmarried aunt who lived quietly in the
country. My aunt was no longer young when I began to live with her in her
comfortable old-fashioned house with its large, untidy garden. She had settled
down to her local interests, seldom had anyone to stay with her and rarely left
home. She was fond of her two persian cats, busied herself with the garden and
was charitably interested in the old inhabitants of the village. Beyond this, the
radius of her activities extended no further than eight or ten miles.
The author gives
several reasons for his childhood being 'not altogether happy'.
a. Summarise the main
ones (4 marks)
b. Suggest one
thing he mentions that might have cheered him up, and explain why you think it
might have done so.
Meanings of Words Questions
nAnother task set to test understanding is to explain the meaning of a word or phrase used in the text.
nSometimes you will be asked to pick out a clue near to the word or phrase in the text which- makes this meaning clear.
nThe word context may be used here. The context means the part of the text where the word is used.
nLook again at the opening paragraph of the text on the tarantula:
n‘I’m nocturnal. I love the moonlight, the shadows, the dark places, the dappled murk. I’m not being poetic. I’m simply being true to my nature, my nocturnal nature. Like all tarantulas.’
nConsider this question:
nShow how the context helps you understand the meaning of ‘nocturnal’. (2 marks)
nStep One: Explain the meaning of the word.
nStep Two: Show how the rest of the text makes this clear by quoting the word or words which provide clues.
nAn acceptable answer might be:
nNocturnal’ means being active by night. The writer refers to his preference for ‘moonlight’ and ‘dark’ which both suggest night-time.
ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
Analysis questions ask you to think about how the writer is expressing his ideas.
A common fault of exam technique is to treat an analysis question as if it is one of understanding.
Marks are often lost in these questions because candidates explain what is being said rather than how it is said.
Remember that analysis questions will be marked with an ‘A’ to jog your memory about this.
Analysis questions will deal with aspects of style:
- sentence structure and punctuation;
- expression and word choice;
- figures of speech;
- the structure of the argument;
- and tone
Look very carefully at the wording of the question to find out what is wanted. If the question asks you to ‘Quote’, you may simply pick out a word or expression from the text. Such questions are usually worth only 1 mark.
Almost always you will be expected to:
- .Give a quote;
- And provide an explanation of that quote in your own words.
A question on word choice will always require both quotation and explanation.
(continued in comments)
SENTENCE STRUCTURE
ReplyDeleteThe most important thing is to know what is meant by sentence structure, and what an answer on it should refer to.
You should not only:
A) describe the main features of sentence structure
B) but also explain their effect.
Basically, the structure of a sentence’ means the way in which it is made up, and how the various elements are arranged.
The punctuation can be helpful in giving clues to the structure.
Look out for the types of sentence the writer uses.
Here are the main types and the effect each type is likely to have:
Statements — tell you something.
They end in a full stop.
Most sentences are statements, so it is usually if other types of sentence are used that you will need to comment.
Writing which is made up of statements alone may have a calm or impersonal tone.
Questions — ask something.
They always end with a question mark.
Using questions may challenge the reader, or show uncertainty in the writer.
Look out for rhetorical questions, which do not expect an answer, e.g., ‘What kind of an answer is that?’ Such questions aim to stir up strong feelings in the reader, such as anger.
They create what is called an emotive tone, which simply means one which stirs up feelings or emotions.
Commands — tell you to do something.
ReplyDelete‘Think of a number’. They end with either a full stop or an exclamation mark.
They are often used in advertisements or where the writer tries to create the effect of talking directly to the reader
Exclamations — express excitement or surprise.
‘How beautiful it was!’ ‘What a place!’ ‘Goodness gracious!’
Exclamations do not always contain verbs. They often begin with ‘What’ or ‘How’, like the first two examples, and end in either an exclamation mark or a full stop.
Exclamations may also create an emotive or dramatic tone.
Minor Sentences — don’t contain a verb. Since they are abbreviations of other types of sentence they may end in a full stop or a question mark.
‘What now?’ ‘Time for a rest’. Such sentences will be very short and may create a tense or dramatic mood.
They are typical of informal language and may be used in direct speech, notes or diary entries. Such writing without verbs may also be called note form.
Consider whether sentences are long and complex or short and simple:
Long sentences containing several verbs and therefore several clauses are called complex. These are typical of written English, and usually, the more complex the sentences, the more formal the language.
e.g., It/s merely to suspect that physicians marry quality with quantity when they judge how far to intervene.
Sentences with only one verb are called simple (or minor sentences). These are typical of speech and types of language which aim to communicate very quickly and directly.
Young children, for example, tend to use mainly simple sentences.
e.g., The older generation are a canny bunch.
Look at the arrangement of words within the sentence, particularly in longer ones.
Some of the following features may be worth commenting on.
A) Word Order
B) Particular Patterns in Sentences
C) Parts of Speech
D) Parenthesis
E) First or Third person
F) Punctuation
Word Order-
The best advice is that anything unusual probably deserves a comment.
A reversal of the normal word order is known as inversion,
e.g., ‘back we went’ instead of ‘we went back’.
Using inversion throws emphasis on to a particular part of the sentence — in this example it is the word ‘back’ which is stressed.
Patterns:
Often a pattern will be clear to see in a sentence.
Three patterns are specially common:
list
repetition
climax
Julius Caesar’s legendary saying ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’ is an example of all three of these techniques at once.
The list of verbs ‘came, saw and conquered’ creates a sense of action.
The repetition of the personal pronoun ‘I’ suggests a speaker who is egotistical and dominating.
The verbs in the list have a sense of progress and end with the most powerful, leading to the effect of a climax.
Parts of Speech-
ReplyDeleteThe words which make up a sentence are called parts of speech.
There are seven parts of speech in English, which all have different functions:
nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions.
It can be useful to be able to identify these so that you can comment if any part of speech is used in an unusual way to create a particular effect.
Conjunctions, which have a linking function, are often worthy of comment. In the case of verbs, recognising the tense can be useful.
In most narrative writing the past tense is used.
If the present tense is used, or if the tense changes at some point, this may well be worth commenting on.
Be precise in describing the effects. You will get little credit for vague comments such as ‘the writer uses a lot of adjectives’.
Parenthesis:
A parenthesis is an extra piece of information inserted into a sentence and enclosed by a pair of commas, brackets or dashes.
The plural of this word is parentheses.
A parenthesis may be a single word, a phrase or a whole clause.
While the grammar and basic sense of the sentence would remain intact if the parenthesis were omitted, it will add something significant.
Parenthesis may make the meaning clearer, by adding an explanation or clarifying detail:
e.g., ‘A girl, not of her set, called Judith, giggled.’
In this example from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the first parenthesis implies a reason why the girl was impertinent enough to giggle, while the second makes clear which girl it was.
Alternatively, parenthesis may affect the tone by adding a comment, which might be humorous or ironic; for example:
‘On the friendly Greek island of Cephalonia, the Elephtherious (try saying that with a mouthful of moussaka) will welcome you with open arms.’
‘The responsibility of the officer is to look after, to supervise, to lead (whatever that means).’
Punctuation:
Commas (,) separate phrases and clauses within a sentence.
A number of commas may well indicate a list.
A colon (:) introduces a quotation or a list; an explanation or elaboration; or a summing up.
There will often be a balance between the two parts of the sentence it divides.
A semi-colon (;) finishes off one part of a sentence. it may be used instead of a conjunction to separate two principal clauses in a sentence.
Slows the writing, pausing it, breaking it up for the reader, and allowing them to digest each part separately
Inverted commas (‘’)(“”)mark quotations, direct speech, foreign words or words used in an unusual way. (Italics may sometimes be used similarly.)
A dash (—) can function like a colon to introduce a quotation, list, explanation, elaboration or summing up; two dashes can mark off a parenthesis. (In typography, a dash is longer than a hyphen.)
A hyphen (-) joins two words to make a compound word, or indicates a split word at the end of a line. Redefines a word, making it more explicit. Can draw emphasis to a certain word, idea or to the connection/contrast between the words.
Other sentence structures to note:
ReplyDeleteAntithesis- Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases: i.e. ‘his silence was heard’ or ‘folks who have no vices have very few virtues’ or ‘You agree to disagree to the solution.’
Polysyndetic listing- lists that use continuous conjunctions i.e. ‘and’, ‘but’ etc.
Asyndetic listing- lists with no conjunctions.
Remember:
What should we look for?
Short/minor sentences
Exclamation/command/statement/ question (rhetorical)
Repetition – clause, phrase, word, sound
Parallelism-sentences or phrases that have symmetry used to create contrast or balance- to give force to a point i.e.’ she did not want to learn. She did not want to succeed’.
Antithesis/ balance
Triads- lists of three for emphasis (used in persuasive language)
Lists (to show quantity, range etc)
inversion
Climax/anti-climax
Parenthesis
Use of conjunctions- polysyndetic, asyndetic listing.
EXAMPLE
Question: How does the writer use sentence structure to create a tense atmosphere?
‘Out went the lights. This couldn’t be happening – her husband should have been at home with her by now. She was alone. Shadows danced across the half set dinner table; shadows danced across the cold pine floors; shadows danced across the bare walls. She could hear soft scratching noises coming from the front door, growing in volume as the would-be intruder appeared to become more frustrated and aggressive in his actions. She would have to get help. Have to get in touch with someone. Have to get to the phone. The bedroom. As she heard the lock and door jam break under pressure, she dashed for the half open door, bolted for the staircase, skidded in her sock soled feet across the polished floor, heart racing, gasping for breath as she took the stairs two at a time. Too late. He was inside. Crouched behind the dresser she lay. Steps coming up the stairs. Steps across the hall. Steps outside the door. Slowly, the door creaked open as she looked up into the face of her fear. ‘Bloody awful day at work! Didn’t I say that that lock needed fixed? Why are you in the dark? What’s wrong?’’
Steps:
Identify the feature of the sentence that you will be analysing.
Explain why the writer used this feature and what effect it has.
Use of short sentences to create drama and tension.
Climnatic listing
Anti-climatic structre as a whole...
TONE
Tone, as tone of voice is the way someone says something, is the way someone writes something- the emotion behind it. A piece of writing has a voice, and this voice can have various tones.
Tone Vocab:
humorous
tongue-in-cheek
sarcastic
ironic
emotional -name the emotion eg angry, depressed, elated,moody, indignant,
conversational
business-like
curious
chatty/friendly
mocking
disapproving
critical
contemptuous
menacing
dismissive
approving