English Language Paper 1 Structures and Example Answers

GCSE English Language Paper One Fiction: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing.

Learn these structures!

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English Language, Paper 1 (50% of overall GCSE) Q:

Skill assessed:

Time Marks available allowed:

Extra time:

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Information retrieval

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5

5

2

Writer’s use of language

8

15

20

3

Writer’s use of structure

8

15

20

4

Evaluating texts

20

25

30

5

Descriptive/narrative writing

40

45

55

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2 Source A

This extract is from the beginning of a short story by H E Bates, set in the 1930s. Hartop and his wife own a van from which they sell produce to people in their local area, and their daughter, Alice, works with them.

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A Ford motor-van, old and re-painted green with ‘Jos. Hartop, greengrocer, rabbits’ scratched in streaky white lettering on a flattened-out biscuit tin nailed to the side, was slowly travelling across a high, treeless stretch of country in squally November half-darkness. Rain hailed on the windscreen and periodically swished like a seawave on the sheaves of pink chrysanthemums* strung on the van roof.

Hartop was driving: a thin, angular man, starved-faced. He seemed to occupy almost all the seat, sprawling awkwardly; so that his wife and their daughter Alice sat squeezed up, the girl with her arms flat as though ironed against her side, her thin legs pressed tight together into the size of one. The Hartops’ faces seemed moulded in clay and in the light from the van-lamps were a flat swede-colour. Like the man, the two women were thin, with a screwed-up thinness that made them look both hard and frightened.

Hartop drove with great caution, grasping the wheel tightly, braking hard at the bends, his big yellowish eyes fixed ahead, protuberantly, with vigilance. His hands, visible in the faint dashboard light, were marked on the backs with dark smears of dried rabbits’ blood. The van fussed and rattled, the chrysanthemums always swishing, rain-soaked, in the sudden high wind-squalls. And the two women sat in a state of silent apprehension, their bodies not moving except to lurch with the van, their clayish faces continuously intent, almost scared, in the lamp-gloom. And after some time, Hartop gave a slight start, and then drew the van to the roadside and stopped it.

‘Hear anything drop?’ he said. ‘I thought I heard something.’

‘It’s the wind,’ the woman said. ‘I can hear it all the time.’

‘No, something dropped.’

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They sat listening. But the engine still ticked, and they could hear nothing beyond it but the wind and rain squalling in the dead grass along the roadside.

‘Alice, you get out,’ Hartop said.

The girl began to move herself almost before he had spoken.

‘Get out and see if you can see anything.’

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Alice stepped across her mother’s legs, groped with blind instinct for the step, and then got out. It was raining furiously. The darkness seemed solid with rain.

IB/G/Jun19/8700/1

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‘See anything?’ Hartop said.

‘No.’ 34 35

Hartop leaned across his wife and shouted: ‘Go back a bit and see what it was.’ The woman moved to protest, but Hartop was already speaking again. ‘Something dropped. We’ll stop at Drake’s Turn. You’ll catch up. I know something dropped.’

He let in the clutch as he was speaking and the van began to move away.

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Soon, to Alice, it seemed to be moving very rapidly. In the rain and the darkness all she could see was the tail-light, smoothly receding. She watched it for a moment and then began to walk back along the road. The wind was behind her; but repeatedly it seemed to veer and smash her, with the rain, full in the face. She walked without hurrying. She seemed to accept the journey as she accepted the rain and her father’s words, quite stoically. She walked in the middle of the road, looking directly ahead, as though she had a long journey before her. She could see nothing.

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And then, after a time, she stumbled against something in the road. She stooped and picked up a bunch of pink chrysanthemums, and then she began to walk back with them along the road. Before very long she could see the red tail-light of the van again. It was stationary. She could also see the lights of houses, little squares of yellow which the recurrent rain on her lashes transformed into sudden stars.

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When she reached the van, Mrs Hartop said: ‘What was it?’

‘Only a bunch of chrysanthemums.’

Hartop himself appeared at the very moment she was speaking.

‘Only?’ he said. ‘Only? What d’ye mean by only? Eh?’ 55

Alice stood mute. Then Hartop raised his voice.

‘Well, don’t stand there! Do something. Go on. Go on! Go and see who wants a bunch o’ chrysanthemums. Move yourself!’

Alice obeyed at once. She picked up the flowers, walked away and vanished, all without a word.

END OF SOURCE Glossary * chrysanthemums – a type of flower

IB/G/Jun19/8700/1

Q1: List 4 things you learn about… [4 marks].

You are told to read a certain part of the extract and list 4 things you learn about a specific thing [4 marks].

You must: • Retrieve information from the correct part of the extract.

• Answer in full sentences.

• Make sure you list 4 things about the thing you have been asked to write about.

Fetch!

List 4 things you learn about the dog.

1. The dog is laying down.

2. The dog is looking at the camera.

3. The dog’s mouth is open.

4. The dog is laying on the grass.

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Q2: How does the writer use language to…?

[8 marks].

Point: The writer presents (focus on question)…

Evidence: This is evident in the line…

Explore: The use of (method)…

Develop: … Zoom in on another word/method from your evidence.

Grade

4+ Academic verbs: Shows Suggests Indicates Implies Furthermore

X2 y Vocabular Imagery types Sentence hod! t e m E G A U Any LANG Vocabulary Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs

Imagery Similes Metaphor Personification Sensory imagery

Sentence types Short and simple Long and complex

Any other LANGUAGE method used to create meaning (e.g. alliteration, repetition, exaggeration etc.)

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Q2: How does the writer use language to…?

[8 marks].

Grade

7+

Point: The writer presents (topic sentence needs to focus on question)…

Evidence: This is evident … (embed your evidence).

Explore: The use of (name method!)…

Develop: … Zoom in on another method from your chosen evidence/introduce another quote that reinforces your point and fully explore methods.

Vocabulary Imagery Sentence types method!

E G A U G N A L y n A Vocabulary Nouns Adjectives Verbs Adverbs Preposition Conjunction Pronoun Determiner

Imagery Similes Metaphor Personification Sensory imagery Natural imagery

X2

Sentence types Simple Compound Complex Exclamatory Declarative Interrogative Imperative

Academic verbs: Indicates Implies Demonstrates Highlights Reflects Symbolises Connotes Mirrors Furthermore Reinforces This is intensified by the use of…

Any other LANGUAGE method used to create meaning (e.g. alliteration, repetition, hyperbole etc.)

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Q3. How does the writer use structure to interest you as a reader? [8 marks].

Point: At the beginning of the extract, the writer focuses on…

Evidence: Add specific evidence from the extract…

Explore: The use of (structural method)…Discuss effect on reader.

Develop: Discuss an additional effect on the reader of the structural method you have chosen.

Terminology to use:

Grade

4+ Effect on reader: Helps the reader to understand/ empathise…

Creates a sense of…

Explains why…

Furthermore

X3

• Use of first person narrator…

• Use of third person narrator…

• Shifts from…to…

• This foreshadows…

• Flashback is used to…

• Flashforward is used to…

• This is repeated throughout the text…

• Contrasting characters • Noisy vs quiet • Calm vs chaotic

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3 out of 8 marks

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5 out of 8 marks

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Q3. How does the writer use structure to interest you as a reader? [8 marks].

Grade

7+

Point: At the beginning of the extract, the writer focuses on…

Evidence: Add specific evidence from the extract…

Explore: The use of (structural method)…

Discuss effect on reader.

Develop: Discuss an additional effect on the reader of the structural method you have chosen. Introduce another example of a structural methods that reinforces your point and fully explore the effects.

X3

Effect on reader: Helps the reader to understand/ empathise…

Creates a sense of…

Explains why…

Discuss reader positioning Furthermore

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Q4. A student said “……..”

To what extent do you agree? [20 marks].

Grade

4+

Point: I agree/partially agree/disagree that… (focus on question).

Evidence & Evaluate: This is evident in/when … which shows … (evaluate the statement made by the student).

Explore: The use of (method)/The fact that (infer from evidence)…

Develop: … Zoom in on another word/method from your evidence and link back to the statement made by the student.

Language

Tone

Academic verbs: Shows Suggests Indicates Implies Furthermore

X4

Inference Structure

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Q4. A student said “……..”

To what extent do you agree? [20 marks].

Grade

7+

Point: I agree/partially agree/disagree that… (focus on question).

Evidence & Evaluate: This is evident in/when … which shows … (evaluate the statement made by the student).

Explore: The use of (method)/The fact that (infer from evidence)…

Develop: … Zoom in on another method from your chosen evidence/introduce further evidence that reinforces your point and fully explore methods. Link back to the statement made by the student.

X4

Language

Tone

Academic verbs: Indicates Implies Demonstrates Highlights Reflects Symbolises Connotes Mirrors Furthermore Reinforces This is intensified by the use of…

Inference Structure

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Q5 Creative Writing

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Snap…

…and Zoom Look at this beautiful leaf, fringed with frost What could you say about the colours?

Warm colours, perhaps suggesting a ray of hope in a desolate, black and white landscape?

Spot the alliteration?

Soft sounds to reflect the softness of the 34 frost.

Think carefully how you will STRUCTURE your piece of writing: beginnings and endings.

In your final paragraph, you can confirm the mood that you conveyed in the first paragraph and therefore create a cyclical structure OR you can change the mood: Beginning: Underneath my feet, the grass has gone to sleep. A wide bleak passage leading to a white dead end. The snow is a white funeral and all are invited. It goes for the weak first taking them one by one. By the sides of the path, there are trees determined to stay still and not be noticed by nature’s greatest predator…

End: A single blade of grass emerges from the oppression. Spring is in the air.

Think carefully how you will STRUCTURE your piece of writing: internal and external.

Internal: thoughts, feelings, memories.

External Threadbare hat Rat-grey beard Splintered bench

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Plan your answer…

…and write in paragraphs.

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Get your VISA card out again!

Use a range of methods in YOUR OWN writing.

y Vocabular Imagery pe s y t e c n e t n Se ethod! m E G A U Any LANG

Improve your SPaG mark by using ambitious SPaG.

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Q5. Descriptive/Narrative Writing [40 marks].

Grade

4+

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Grade

4+

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Grade

4+

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Q5. Descriptive/Narrative Writing [40 marks].

Grade

7+

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The Middleton method brings lots of these skills into a structure you can learn!

1. The first sentence. Create a powerful opening…

Triple noun colon Fury, anger dismay: he felt his sadness slip away and become gradually replaced with more damaging emotions.

2. Now SNAP the whole scene and describe it.

Use a creative simile to help to construct an atmosphere. Use sensory language.

3. Choose a point of focus in the picture.

Zoom in and describe in intimate detail. Use the colour palette and create colour equations.

Adjective + Shade + Colour Wrinkled skin of pewter-grey Rough skin of dove-grey His skin, the colour of ash, rough and grey.

Skin, made tough through years of rough-living: iron-grey, with a thin coating of bone-white slime.

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4. Have a bird turn up and describe it… Carefully select your bird to allow for symbolism.

5. Describe two things that the bird looks down upon…and then a man.

6. Describe the man in detail using a range of sentence types, vocabulary and toolbox techniques.

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6. Continued…At the end of the paragraph, have them settle down and allow their mind to wander off.

He allowed his mind to wander to happier times…

Use the ellipsis (…) to show their mind wandering. All good SPaG! 7. Flashback! Vague memories. The same location at a different time? Memories of another person?

As it’s a memory, it’s okay to be stylistically different. Vague even.

Stream of consciousness? Muddled thoughts? Short sentences for effect.

The same location at a different time or season? Describe the location.

A memory of another person? Describe the person.

Build the paragraph up to a climax?

Take this opportunity to show your ability to use a range of punctuation.

Show, not tell: “A scarlet ribbon. A second-hand engagement ring, thrown in a river. A crying child. No more smiles…”

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8. Flashforward. A sudden breeze brought him back to his senses… The sky was beginning to bruise. He pulled his ashgrey overcoat closer against the biting wind and stood up to leave…

Begin by interrupting your character: ‘A sudden breeze brought him to his senses. It was getting late.’

Describe the scene again, showing how time has passed.

It’s okay to revisit the same focus points (or the bird). Create a subtle circular narrative.

Direct speech (to him/herself)? Single word sentence? Statue prompts?

Finally, have your character stand up and walk out of the scene.

Remember. No need to suddenly “round off” the narrative.

It’s okay to leave your audience wondering.

DO NOT end with: It was all a dream!

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Grade

7+

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Grade

7+

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