Close Reading

1. Close Reading Standard Grade Revision

2. Question Types • Word Choice- quote and comment on connotations • Technique Questions- Imagery- quote and comment on connotations • Structure Questions • In Your Own Words- try to avoid using words from passage • Tone- memorise tones • Linking- remember the ‘winning formula’ • Context- quote and comment on connotations

3. Word Choice • Iain crouched behind one of the stooks listening, watching for deepening shadows, his face and hands sweaty, his knees trembling with excitement. Then quite suddenly he heard the voices fading away from him, as if the boys had tired of their game and gone home, leaving him undetected. • Q1: In Paragraph 1, the writer suggests Iain’s feeling of excitement. By referring to one example from Paragraph 1, explain how word choice is used to achieve this.

4. Answer: • (face and hands) sweaty/(knees) trembling (1) • + suitable explanation (1)

5. He looked up at the moon which was quite cold in the sky. He could see the dark spots on it and it seemed to move backwards into the sky as he looked. What an extraordinary calm was everywhere. It was as if he had been left in charge of the night, as if he was the only person alive, as if he must take responsibility for the whole world. No sound of footsteps could be heard from the road that lay between the wall and the houses. The silence lasted so long that he was afraid to move. He formed his lips as if to speak but he didn’t have the courage. It was as if the night didn’t want him to speak, were forbidding him to do so, as if it were saying to him, This is my kingdom, you are not to do anything I don’t wish you to do. He could no longer hear the noise of the sea, as if it too had been commanded to be quiet. It was like a yellow shield in the distance, flat and made of hammered gold.

6. Q2: Explain how word choice is used to indicate the power of the night.

7. Answer • “forbidding”/“(my) kingdom”/“you are not to do”/“I don’t wish you to do”/“commanded” (1) and suitable explanation e.g. night as a ruler/night making demands OR threats (1)

8. Then they came closer together, and the boys seemed suddenly very far away. The stooks were pressed against each other, composing a thorny spiky wall. He screamed suddenly and stopped, for at the sound the stooks had resumed their original positions. They were like pieces on a board. He began to count them again, his heart beating irregularly. Thirteen, where there had been twelve before. Where had the thirteenth come from? Q3: Show how the writer conveys the idea that Iain feels threatened by the stooks.

9. Answer • reference to “came closer together”/“pressed against each other”/“thorny” OR “spiky (wall)”/“screamed”/extra stook/unlucky number/ “heart beating irregularly” 2 1 0 Any two (1) + (1)

10. Technique Questions • The moonlight shimmered among the stooks so that they looked like men, or women, who had fallen asleep upright. The silence gathered around him, except that now and again he could hear the bark of a dog and the noise of the sea. He touched the stubble with his finger and felt it sharp and thorny as if it might draw blood. From where he was he could see the lights of the houses but there was no human shape to be seen anywhere. The moon made a white road across the distant sea.

11. Technique Questions Q4: “The moon made a white road across the distant sea.” (Paragraph 2) • (a) What technique is used in this expression? • (b) Explain fully what this expression suggests about the moonlight.

12. Answer • metaphor (2) • straight/long OR stretches into the distance/(almost) “solid” quality/bright/ contrasts with darkness • Any two (1) + (1)

13. The stooks weren’t all at the same angle to the earth. As he listened in the quietness he seemed to hear them talking in strawy voices, speaking in a sort of sharp, strawy language. They were whispering to each other, deep and rough and sharp. Their language sounded very odd, not at all liquid and running, but like the voice of stones, thorns. The field was alive with their conversation. Perhaps they were discussing the scythe that had cut them down, the boys that played hide and seek among them. They were busy and hissing as if they had to speak as much as possible before the light strengthened around them.

14. “. . . he seemed to hear them talking . . .” (Paragraph 11) Q5. By referring to the passage, identify and explain one technique the writer uses to describe the stooks’ language.

15. Answer • repetition of “strawy”/“sharp” OR list: “deep and rough and sharp” • OR contrast: “not at all ... thorns” OR simile: “like the voice of stones, thorns” • OR onomatopoeia: eg “(busy and) hissing”/“whispering” OR alliteration: “strawy voices ... strawy language” OR word choice eg “deep”, “rough”, “sharp”, “whispering” (1) and suitable explanation (1) • NB identification of technique alone without reference to passage = 0

16. Then quite suddenly he heard the voices fading away from him, as if the boys had tired of their game and gone home, leaving him undetected. Their voices were like bells in the distance, each answering the other and then falling silent. He was alone.

17. Q6. • a) Iain hears the voices of the other boys. Quote a simile which describes their voices. • b) What does it suggest about their voices?

18. Answer • “(Their voices were) like bells in the distance” (1) • Echoing/fading/musical/in sequence/carrying (over the fields) (1)

19. Structure Questions This brought me down the staircase at great speed. I jumped the last four steps and circled round the adults, flapping my arms in impersonation of a bird of prey. As I did so, to my delight, I heard my mother laughing; laughing in a way I had not heard her laugh for a while. In fact it is possible it was this very atmosphere—this feeling that things were perhaps starting to return to what they had been—which played a significant part in causing me to “lower my guard”. I asked Uncle Philip when we could go, to which he shrugged and said:

20. Q7. Explain the function of the dashes in “. . . this very atmosphere—this feeling that things were perhaps starting to return to what they had been—which played . . .” (Paragraph 4)

21. Answer • parenthesis/gives extra information (1) • about the atmosphere/Christopher’s feelings OR situation (1)

22. For the next few moments I remained standing there in the crowd, trying not to pursue the logic of what had just occurred. Then suddenly I began to move, back in the direction we had just come, to the street in which we had left the carriage. Abandoning all sense of decorum, I forced my way through the crowds, sometimes pushing violently, sometimes squeezing myself through gaps, so that people laughed or called angrily after me. I reached the street to discover of course that the carriage had long since gone on its way.

23. Q8. “Then suddenly I began to move ...” (Paragraph 19) Comment on the writer’s use of word choice and sentence structure in this paragraph to describe Christopher’s journey back.

24. Answer • Word choice: “forced”/“pushing”/“violently”/“squeezing”/“abandoning” (1) indicating his desperation/urgency/difficulty (1) OR “people laughed”/“called angrily” (1) suggests indifference of those 2 1 0 around him to his misery (1) OR “confused”/“trying to form in my head” (1) suggest uncertainty (1)

25. Sentence structure: reference to long sentence/many phrases (punctuated by commas (1) suggests long journey home/struggle (1) OR repetition of “sometimes” (with verb) (1) suggests difficulty of getting 2 1 0 through crowds (1) OR short sentence at end of paragraph (1) suggests dramatic climax (1)

26. The play—for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of a folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crêpe paper—was written by her in a two-day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch. When the preparations were complete, she had nothing to do but contemplate her finished draft and wait for the appearance of her cousins from the distant north. There would be time for only one day of rehearsal before her brother, Leon, arrived.

27. Q9. In Paragraph 1, the writer shows how committed Briony has been to this task. Explain how sentence structure and word choice indicate Briony’s high level of commitment.

28. Answer • sentence structure: list (of things she has done)/repetition (of verb structure)/parenthesis (to include extra tasks)/long sentence (1) emphasises multiple nature of tasks identification of technique and explanation required for 2 marks NB Explanation alone = 0

29. word choice: (two-day) tempest (of composition) (1) suggests energetic/feverish/dedicated approach (1) NB No quotation of “tempest” = 0

30. In the box were treasures that dated back four years, to her ninth birthday when she began collecting: a mutant double acorn, fool’s gold, a rain-making spell bought at a funfair, a squirrel’s skull as light as a leaf. • Q10. Explain why a colon is used in the expression “when she began collecting:” (Paragraph 6)

31. Answer • indicates/introduces list (1) of things she has been collecting (1)

32. ‘In Your Own Words’ Questions In fact it is possible it was this very atmosphere—this feeling that things were perhaps starting to return to what they had been—which played a significant part in causing me to “lower my guard”. I asked Uncle Philip when we could go, to which he shrugged and said:

33. Q11. In your own words, explain what Christopher means by “lower my guard”. (Paragraph 4)

34. Answer be less or not alert for danger/be (more) trusting/be less or no longer worried (about his mother) OR similar idea (2)

35. For much of the way, the carriage followed the route my mother and I usually took to the city centre. Uncle Philip was quiet, which surprised me a little, but I assumed this was perhaps his normal custom on a journey. Whenever I pointed out to him anything we were passing, he would reply cheerfully enough; but the next moment he would be staring silently once more out at the view. • Q12. What explanation does Christopher suggest for his uncle’s silences on their journey? (Paragraph 8) Use your own words in your answer.

36. Answer • usual behaviour (gloss of “normal custom”) (1) • while travelling (gloss of “on a journey”) (1)

37. The leafy boulevards gave way to the narrow crowded streets, and our driver began to shout at the rickshaws and pedestrians in our path. As we approached the vegetable market, Uncle Philip suddenly rapped his cane to make the carriage stop. Q13. In your own words, explain how the writer indicates the changing surroundings along the route towards the city centre.

38. Answer • (wide) streets with trees OR greenery (gloss of “leafy boulevards”) (1) • small/busy streets (gloss of “narrow, crowded streets”)/reference to driver shouting to get pedestrians and traffic out of the way (1)

39. Tone Questions • Humorous or light-hearted. This will be shown through making jokes, and using techniques such as hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration). Its purpose is to amuse the reader. The writer may make fun of yourself as well as the subject being discussed. • Ironic. This tone will be present if a writer wishes to criticise or mock something in a humorous way. This can be done by saying the opposite of what is really meant. • Emotive. This is when language is used to stir up emotions such as anger, pity or sympathy. Strong, emotional word choice is used to create this. • Colloquial or chatty. The writer uses slang, abbreviations and short sentences as if chatting to the reader. • Persuasive or argumentative. Very positive expressions, such as superlative adjectives (‘best’; ‘biggest’) are typical of advertisements persuading you to buy. Emotive language may be used and rhetorical questions may be employed to draw out a certain response from the reader.

40. Linking Questions • But it is the seas, not the houses or people, that dominates the strand. • Q14: Explain how this sentence is an effective link between the earlier part of the passage and the final two paragraphs.

41. Answer • The word ‘but’ is a linking word. It shows that the sea is not going to be discussed in comparison to the people and houses which formed the focus of the previous paragraph.

42. Yet this violent, uncared-for, desecrated place looks out on the longest, widest and most beautiful of all the reaches of the Thames. • Q15: Show how the word ‘yet’ makes an important turning-point in the writer’s line of thought.

43. Answer • ‘Yet’ shows change in argument. The writer is going to discuss what has been stated before

44. Context Questions The building nowadays known as Maes Howe is a Neolithic chambered cairn, a tomb where, 5000 years ago, they interred the bones of the dead. In its long, long existence it has been more forgotten about than known, but in our era it is open to the public, with tickets and guides and explanatory booklets. It stands, a mere grassy hump in a field, in the central plain of Mainland Orkney. There is a startling collection of other Neolithic sites nearby. Q. Give the meaning of “interred” and show how the context helped you to arrive at that meaning. Meaning: Context:

45. Answer • Meaning: buried (1) • Context: ref. to chambered cairn/tomb/bones of the dead (1)

46. Final Advice • Do not repeat the question in your answer • Write in your own words as much as possible • Remember you can start answers with ‘Because…’ • Manage your time and be aware of the ‘half-way mark’ • Know your techniques and question types