Reading & Comprehension

Read: 'The sun blazed and the cracked earth begged for rain.' What does this suggest?

• AIt is cold and wet outside
• BIt is snowing very heavily
• CThere is a drought✓
• DIt is the middle of the night

Answer: 'Blazed', 'cracked earth' and 'begged for rain' suggest very dry, hot conditions — a drought.

In a story, the 'narrator' is:

• AThe most powerful villain in the plot
• BThe voice telling the story✓
• CThe person who inspired the author
• DThe title printed on the front cover

Answer: The narrator is the voice or character who tells the story to the reader.

A text that tries to convince you to think or act a certain way is:

• AA list
• BA recount
• CA poem
• DA persuasive text✓

Answer: Persuasive texts (adverts, speeches, letters) aim to convince the reader.

What is the main purpose of a set of instructions?

• ATo entertain the reader with a funny story
• BTo tell you how to do something✓
• CTo argue for one side of a debate
• DTo describe a place in vivid detail

Answer: Instructions explain, step by step, how to do or make something.

Read: 'Maria's heart pounded as the door creaked open.' How is Maria most likely feeling?

• ABored
• BHungry
• CFrightened✓
• DSleepy

Answer: A pounding heart and a creaking door build tension — Maria feels frightened.

What is the 'topic sentence' of a paragraph?

• AWhichever sentence in the paragraph is longest
• BAny sentence that happens to contain a comma
• CThe sentence that introduces the main idea✓
• DThe last sentence

Answer: The topic sentence states the paragraph's main idea, usually near the start.

Which sentence is the most formal?

• AFood now??
• BWanna come round mine and get some grub?
• CGonna grab some food later if you fancy it?
• DWould you like to join us for dinner?✓

Answer: Formal language avoids slang and contractions like 'gonna'/'wanna'.

What does 'infer' mean when reading?

• ACopy out the text exactly, word for word
• BSkip over any words that look too difficult
• CRead aloud
• DWork out something not directly stated✓

Answer: To infer is to use clues in the text to work out meaning that is implied, not stated.

Read this sentence: 'Sam pushed the plate away, still full, and looked at the clock again.' What can the reader infer about Sam?

• AHe is enjoying his meal
• BHe is anxious about something✓
• CHe has already eaten
• DHe is angry with the cook

Answer: Nothing states how Sam feels, but leaving a full plate untouched and checking the clock repeatedly are the actions of somebody whose mind is elsewhere. Inference means building on clues like these rather than on what is stated outright.

A PEE paragraph is built from a point, evidence and explanation. What must the evidence be?

• AA summary of the whole story in your own words
• BYour personal opinion of the character
• CA description of the writer's life
• DA short quotation taken from the text✓

Answer: Evidence has to come from the text itself, so it is a brief, carefully chosen quotation. The explanation that follows is where you say what the writer's exact words suggest and why they were chosen.

You are arguing that a character is lonely. Which quotation is the strongest evidence?

• A'She was fifteen years old last September'
• B'It was a cold Tuesday in the middle of November'
• C'The bell rang at half past twelve, as it always did'
• D'She ate her lunch alone, as always'✓

Answer: Strong evidence must show the very quality being claimed. Eating lunch alone, and doing so habitually, points straight at loneliness, whereas the weather, the time and her age reveal nothing about how isolated she is.

A writer ends a tense chapter with a single-sentence paragraph: 'The door was already open.' Why use a paragraph of only one sentence?

• ATo make the reader notice it✓
• BTo show the chapter is unfinished
• CTo save space on the page and shorten the chapter
• DTo introduce a new character in the next chapter

Answer: Isolating a sentence surrounds it with white space so the eye rests on it and the detail lands with extra weight. Writers use this structural trick to deliver a shock or a turning point.

A story opens and closes with the same image of a girl waiting at a bus stop in the rain. What is this structural feature called?

• AA flashback
• BA cliffhanger
• CForeshadowing
• DA cyclical structure✓

Answer: When the ending deliberately returns to the image the writing began with, the structure is described as cyclical. It invites the reader to compare the two moments and notice what has changed in between.

Halfway through a description the writing moves from a bright, crowded market to a silent, empty alley. What is this change called?

• AA resolution
• BA subplot
• CA shift in focus✓
• DA stage direction

Answer: A shift is a deliberate change of focus, mood or perspective partway through a text. Spotting where the shift falls is a large part of writing about structure rather than just about language.

What is a writer usually trying to do in the opening paragraph of a novel?

• AExplain what every character will do later
• BList all the settings used in the book
• CDraw the reader in and raise a question✓
• DSummarise how the story ends

Answer: An effective opening makes the reader want to continue, normally by establishing an atmosphere or dropping in something unexplained that the reader now wants answered.

'I could hear them talking about me, though I pretended not to notice.' Which narrative viewpoint is used?

• AFirst person✓
• BThird person limited
• CThird person omniscient
• DSecond person

Answer: The narrator says 'I' and reports their own experience, which is first-person narration. It keeps the reader inside one character's head and limits what the reader is allowed to know.

A narrator tells the reader what several different characters are secretly thinking. Which viewpoint is this?

• AFirst person
• BThird person omniscient✓
• CSecond person
• DThird person limited

Answer: An omniscient narrator knows everything, including the private thoughts of more than one character. A limited third-person narrator can follow only one character's thoughts at a time.

Read this: 'The queue snaked around the corner, swallowing the pavement whole.' What is the writer doing?

• AGiving the reader exact figures for the number waiting
• BUsing verbs that make the queue seem alive✓
• CComparing the queue directly to a snake using a simile
• DExplaining why so many people had joined the queue

Answer: 'Snaked' and 'swallowing' both belong to a living animal, so the queue is made to seem alive and faintly threatening. There is no 'like' or 'as' anywhere in the line, so this is not a simile.

Which of these is stated explicitly in the sentence: 'Ravi's coat was soaked and he shivered as he sat down'?

• ARavi had no umbrella
• BRavi had walked a long way
• CRavi's coat was wet✓
• DRavi was late for the lesson

Answer: Explicit information is stated in the words themselves, and the sentence says directly that the coat was soaked. How far he walked, whether he owned an umbrella and whether he was late are all guesses the sentence never confirms.