Topic 1 of 6 · Form 1
Reading for meaning: comprehension skills
Identify the technique, quote briefly, and explain the effect on the reader – what it suggests and how it makes the reader feel.
Notes for this topic 1 file, in order
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Types of question
- Explicit retrieval: find stated information.
- Implicit understanding: infer feelings, attitudes or reasons from clues.
- Vocabulary in context: explain the meaning of words and phrases as used in the passage.
- Writer's craft: explain how language (imagery, word choice, sentence structure) creates effects.
Approach
- Read the whole passage for overall meaning.
- Read each question carefully; note the line references and the number of marks.
- Answer in your own words when asked – do not copy whole sentences.
- For inference questions, give the inference AND the evidence.
Writer's effects
Identify the technique, quote briefly, and explain the effect on the reader – what it suggests and how it makes the reader feel.
Worked example: Explain the effect of “the market roared into life at dawn”.
“Roared” is a metaphor comparing the market to a powerful animal; it suggests sudden, loud and energetic activity and makes the scene vivid.
Common mistakes
Lifting long sections, giving one point for a two-mark question, and explaining a word using the same word.
Exam tip: The number of marks usually tells you how many separate points to make.
Check yourself
- What does “in your own words” require?
- How should you answer an inference question?
- What three elements make a good answer about a writer's effect?
Show answers
- Rewording the ideas from the passage rather than copying the writer's phrases.
- State what is implied and support it with evidence from the text.
- Name the technique, quote briefly, and explain its effect on the reader.
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