GCSE English Language Paper 2 Revision Booklet, Slides of English Language

Download GCSE English Language Paper 2 Revision Booklet and more Slides English Language in PDF only on Docsity! GCSE English Language Paper 2 Revision Booklet This exam paper is worth half of your English language grade. This paper will be based on two non-fiction texts. The non-fiction texts will include writing from the 19th century and 20th or 21st century text. The non-fiction may be in the format of a letter, an article, a blog, an extract of travel writing or from an autobiography. The non-fiction you read will display attitudes and opinions. You will answer 4 questions on these two extracts based around:  Your ability to understand different attitudes, beliefs and opinions  Your ability to compare different attitudes  Your ability to synthesise the important ideas and infer meaning  Your ability to analyse language  Your ability to compare how different writer’s affect their readers You will also write a non-fiction piece in which you will explain, argue or persuade an audience of your point of view. In this booklet you will find:  Outline of the questions you will be asked  Two example exam papers  Advice on how to tackle the questions  Revision tasks and techniques Name: ____________________________________________________________ English teacher:_____________________________________________________ How to use this booklet 1. Read the sources and example questions on the theme of ghosts. Have a go at each of the questions in timed conditions. Read the top tips to remind you what to include. 2. Now look at the example answers for each question and compare your own answer. Is yours of the same standard? If not, what do you need to do to improve it? 3. Work through the activities for Q3 on analysing language and Q5 on practising sentence types. 4. Have a go at the practice paper on the theme of rail disasters. Before you start, check back over the top tips so that you know what to include for each question. Complete the questions in timed conditions so that you are practising properly for the exam. 5. Condense the key things to remember for each question onto flashcards and learn what you need to include. Test yourself and/or ask a family member of friend to test you. Source B 19" Century literary non-fiction: an extract from a book called From Matter to Spirit in which the writer, Sophia Elizabeth de Morgan, published the results of her research into people who could communicate with the spirit world. 4 | now offer a trustworthy account, which has come to my own knowledge, of an appearance to someone present at the time of death. Many years ago, Mrs D-——, a person in humble life, but of tried and proved truthfulness, and rather matter of fact, said to me in a conversation about ghosts and ghost-seeing, ‘| never saw 5 aghost, but! have seen a spirit rise." ‘If you tell me what you saw,’ | said, ‘I will write it as you speak, and will beg you to sign your name." This she did, and the present account is copied from her own words as | wrote them, and she put her signature: 10 ‘When | was sixteen years old, | was nursing a child of seven who had been ill since his birth with disease of the head. He had been for some days expected to die, but was quite sensible. About noon | left him in a little back parlour on the ground floor. His mother and a friend were with him. | was returning from the kitchen to the child, and had just reached the top of the staircase, when | saw, coming from the door of the room, the form of a little child. It did not step 15 on the ground, but immediately went up over the staircase and disappeared from me. The bed on which the sick child had been lying was close to the door of the room, and that door was not more than about a foot from the top of the staircase which | came up. As | entered the room, his mother said, ‘He is just gone." The figure that | saw was a little child, fair and fresh-looking, and perfectly healthy. It looked fatter and younger than the little sick boy, and had a very 20 animated, happy expression. It was like a living child, only so light’ ‘Compare the above account of a vision by a girl of sixteen with the following narration of an imperfect vision of the same kind, which occurred, later in life, to the same person. ‘More than twenty years after that, | was sitting up with the mother of a child who had been ill three or four days with fits. It was no more than two years old. The mother had one arm under 25 ‘the child’s head. | was on the other side of the bed, lying by the side of the baby, and the fire was burning brightly on the same side of the room as that on which the mother sat. Suddenly | saw the fire darkened by something that seemed to flutter or move backwards and forwards before it. | noticed this to the mother, who was between the bed and the fire; but she did not see it, and declared that the fire was bright. The fits left the child about six o'clock, and it lay 30 perfectly still till it had ceased to breathe about half-past ten. | saw the darkening of the fire for an hour before the child died, and the instant it expired the fire was distinctly visible.’ The seer of the above was an uneducated woman who could not account for the variation in her two visions, and who had certainly never heard of the different degrees of opening of the spirit sight. To me, therefore, the account of the second vision confirmed the truth of the first. 35 Had she invented both stories, she would most likely have made the second instance appear the most striking and wonderful. But she was not given to invention. | have known this woman for many years and her character for truthfulness is quite above suspicion. Read again Source A from lines 1 to 13. ‘Choose four statements below which are TRUE. « Shade the boxes of the ones that you think are true * Choose a maximum of four statements. [4 marks] A People living in an old house were scared when they heard music fe] at night B The only clue to the mystery that Andrew Green found was mouse fe] droppings. C The cause of the ‘music’ was mice chewing on the felt pads of the fe] piano. D The writer is surprised when Andrew Green solved the mystery te] E Most of Andrew Green's ghost investigations are nothing to do [2] with the supernatural, F Andrew Green lives in an old cottage next to a churchyard. [e] 6 Four motorists claimed they saw a ghost and they were correct. fe] H Families with very young children are most likely to experience fe] poltergeists. ‘You need to refer to Source A and Source B for this question. The strange things that happen in both Sources are different. Use details from both Sources to write a summary of the different strange things that happen. [8 marks] You now need to refer only to Source A from lines 14 to 21 How does the writer use language to describe the strange things witnessed by the ghost-hunter? [12 marks] For this question, you need to refer to the whole of Source A, together with the whole of Source B. Compare how the writers convey their different views on the strange things that happen In your answer, you could: * compare their different views on the strange things that happen * compare the methods the writers use to convey their different views * support your response with references to both texts. [16 marks] ‘Ghosts don't exist. Anyone who believes in them is being fooled.’ Write an article for your school magazine or website in which you argue for or against the statement. (24 marks for content and organisation 16 marks for technical accuracy) [40 marks] Advice for Question 2 Write a summary of the differences (or similarities) in the two articles. You could be asked to focus on thoughts, feelings and ideas (abstract) or facts about something described in the texts (concrete). This question is asking you to:  Summarise the main arguments the writer makes (about 3)  Provide evidence to support your ideas  Compare similarities or differences  Synthesise quotes and ideas from across the text  Make perceptive inferences How to structure your response Sentence summing up the key differences or similarities Paragraph 1 Statement about Source A Quotations from Source A CONNECTIVE Statement about Source B Quotations from Source B INFERENCE Paragraph 2 Statement about Source A Quotations from Source A CONNECTIVE Statement about Source B Quotations from Source B INFERENCE Key Tips: There may be a general similarity, but also a subtle difference – The two article both suggest that the event they went to was chaotic and noisy. However in source one the chaos and the noise is also described as polite, where in source two it almost seems threatening in places. To revise independently for this question:  Read opinion articles and highlight the main points the writer makes.  Summarise these ideas and put them in your own words.  Practice writing a summary of the sources you find.  Read non-fiction articles regularly. Good readers practice reading. This response gets almost full marks, getting more perceptive as it goes on. Can you identify words and phrases you could use to show you are making links between the texts? Top tips for question 3 How does the writer use language to describe/present/suggest… The question is asking you to:  Explain the effect of the writer’s language choices  Explain the impression created by the choice of language  Identify language techniques  Identify word classes  Zoom in on key words and explain their effects and connotations Explain how the language creates the effects Key tips:  The question is about the writer’s use of language rather than just being about analysing a single word or a phrase. Wherever possible look for links to similar language use in the extract and develop your analysis.  You need to aim to be very specific and precise. If you find an example of a technique being used, you should also closely analyse the words that create the effect as well as the effect of the technique or the overall phrase. E.g. ‘like the survivors of a terrible natural disaster’ Noun ‘Survivors’ – creates the impression that they have been through a terrible, even life threatening experience. Noun ‘disaster’ – something has gone badly wrong and created much suffering Adjective – ‘natural’ disaster – could suggest the destructive power associated with powerful weather events. Simile – makes a comparison to exaggerate how bad the situation was. The writer describes the scene at Glastonbury using the simile, ‘like the survivors of a terrible natural disaster.’ The nouns ‘survivors’ and ‘disaster’ create the impression of an experience that causes great suffering and even life threatening. This is further emphasised by the adjective ‘natural’ in the phrase ‘natural disaster’ which has connotations of an extreme and powerful event which is very destructive. As a result the comparison implied by the simile can be seen to be exaggerating just how bad her experience of the festival was. To revise  You need to know and be able to confidently identify language techniques and word classes. You can revise this by creating a list and then researching others on the internet. You should then try to find examples of each of the techniques, before writing your own.  Find a piece of opinion writing, choose a paragraph and analyse the language the writer uses to create effect. Look for where this student makes precise links between the question, the methods and the effects. Look at how they make links between quotations and then zoom in. Which techniques might create these effects? Suggest something is Impressive Emphasis Create agreement Suggest the ideas are reliable Imply something is overwhelming Generate anger Generate desire (Create an impression of balance Create sympathy Imply guilt Give a clear direction Create mystery Impact Dramatic Shock Contrast Comparison Exaggerate Create a connection Direct Personal Impersonal Confusion Stress importance These are some of the language techniques you may want to know Noun Active verb Passive Verb Modal verb Adverb Adjective Preposition Imperative Pronoun Possessive pronoun Connectives Names and references Metaphor Simile Personification Imagery Symbolism Lists Formal vocabulary Informal words and slang Alliteration Plosive Alliteration Onomatopoeia Repetition Group of three Rhetorical Question Emotive words Hyperbole Semantic field Allusion Pun Facts and stats For this question, you need to refer to the whole of Source A, together with the whole of Source B. Compare how the writers convey their different views on the strange things that happen. In your answer, you could: * compare their different views on the strange things that happen * compare the methods the writers use to convey their different views * support your response with references to both texts. [16 marks) Clear unders writer's perspe valid interp and re textua tive — retation evant 11 details. 19 Ge ot a+ intrested ba" fy toro te Geburn ” + theves 15 howeuet Some Grbcaitine Wada lay Phil tanding of _!S mived god 1b 1S nde vee St pn Stone, tinat the bebawt pe. Ce Lay oS ws ‘cfe “  Top tips for Question 5  Establish a clearly identifiable point of view from the start, then follow this through with a coherent series of points to support your central argument  Write less and craft more  Link paragraphs using connectives and discourse markers  Don’t: o Fail to offer a clearly identifiable argument AQA English Language Paper 2: Writers’ Views and Perspectives RAIL DISASTERS Two non-fiction texts based on the same theme or topic The Victorian era saw an horrific number of fatal train crashes. The writer Charles Dickens was involved ina train crash in Staplehurst on 9th June 1865 but fortunately survived. Here is his eyewitness account in a letter written to a friend: SOURCE A My dear Mitton, | should have written to you yesterday or the day before, if | had been quite up to writing. | am a little shaken, not by the beating and dragging of the carriage in which I was, but by the hard work afterwards in getting out the dying and dead, which was most horrible. | was in the only carriage that did not go over into the stream. It was caught upon the turn by some of the ruin of the bridge, and hung suspended and balanced in an apparently impossible manner. Two ladies were my fellow passengers; an old one, and a young one. This is exactly what passed:- you may judge from it the precise length of the suspense. Suddenly we were off the rail and beating the ground as the car of a half emptied balloon might. The old lady cried out “My God!” and the young one screamed. | caught hold of them both (the old lady sat opposite, and the young one on my left) and said: “We can’t help ourselves, but we can be quiet and composed. Pray don’t cry out.” They both answered quite collectedly, “Yes,” and | got out without the least notion of what had happened. Fortunately, | got out with great caution and stood upon the step. Looking down, | saw the bridge gone and nothing below me but the line of the rail. Some people in the two other compartments were madly trying to plunge out of the window, and had no idea there was an open swampy field 15 feet down below them and nothing else! The two guards (one with his face cut) were running up and down on the down side of the bridge (which was not torn up) quite wildly. | called out to them “Look at me. Do stop an instant and look at me, and tell me whether you don’t know me.” One of them answered, “We know you very well, Mr Dickens.” “Then,” | said, “my good fellow for God’s sake give me your key, and send one of those labourers here, and I'll empty this carriage.” We did it quite safely, by means of a plank or two and when it was done | saw all the rest of the train except the two baggage cars down in the stream. | got into the carriage again for my brandy flask, took off my travelling hat for a basin, climbed down the brickwork, and filled my hat with water. Suddenly | came upona staggering man covered with blood (I think he must have been flung clean out of his carriage) with such a frightful cut across the skull that | couldn’t bear to look at him. | poured some water over his face, and gave him some to drink, and gave him some brandy, and laid him down on the grass, and he said, “| am gone”, and died afterwards. Then | stumbled over a lady lying on her back against a little pollard tree, with the blood streaming over her face (which was lead colour) in a number of distinct little streams from the head. | asked her if she could swallow a little brandy, and she just nodded, and | gave her some and left her for somebody else. The next time | passed her, she was dead. No imagination can conceive the ruin of the carriages, or the extraordinary weights under which the people were lying, or the complications into which they were twisted up among iron and wood, and mud and water. | don’t want to be examined at the Inquests and | don’t want to write about it. It could do no good either way, and | could only seem to speak about myself, which, of course, | would rather not do. But in writing these scanty words of recollection, | feel the shake and am obliged to stop. Ever faithfully, Charles Dickens 10 15 20 25 30 35 SOURCE B: A newspaper interview with the parents of a woman who was killed in a train crash 15 years earlier known as the Paddington Rail Disaster, which occurred in London on October 5th 1999 Those present at the scene of the Paddington rail crash have said that the worst memory they have endured over the past 15 years is the sound of mobile phones ringing from the bodies of the dead. Among the scorched metal carcases of the two trains involved in one of Britain’s worst-ever rail disasters, a cacophony of telephones bleeped and buzzed. At the other end of the line were anxious family and friends, their desperation building with each missed call. 5 Denman Groves first phoned his daughter, Juliet, at around 8.30am on October 5 1999. He and his wife Maureen had woken up in their home in the village of Ashleworth, near Gloucester, and as usual, switched on the television news. Like the rest of the nation watching that crisp autumn morning, they stared in shock at the plume of smoke rising from the wreckage of the two passenger trains that had collided just outside Paddington station. Neither could even imagine that their 25-year-old daughter might have been on board. 10 “| didn’t even think she was anywhere near Paddington that day,” says Denman. Still, when he left for work, he tried to phone her from the car — just to make sure. There was no answer. “I thought I’d try again, but then I was so busy that | forgot. It wasn’t until lunchtime that | called. | still couldn’t get an answer, so phoned her company. They said: 'We’re afraid she hasn't arrived yet, Mr Groves, and we're very worried.’ At that point my heart sank.” 15 Juliet Groves, an accountant with Ernst & Young, was one of hundreds aboard a Thames Trains commuter service from Paddington station at 8.06am that morning. Petite, pretty and fiercely intelligent — the previous year she had come seventh in the entire country in her chartered accountancy exams, Juliet lived in Chiswick but was travelling by train to Slough, where she was winding up a company. Despite her young age, she was already a specialist in bankruptcy and was being fast-tracked to become a partner in the company. From birth 20 she had suffered from partial blindness and was unable to drive. As a result, she travelled everywhere by rail. She was in the front carriage of the train when it passed through a red signal at Ladbroke Grove and into the path of the oncoming Paddington-bound First Great Western express travelling from Cheltenham Spa in Gloucestershire. Both drivers were killed, as well as 29 passengers, and 400 others were injured. Juliet’s body was one of the last to be discovered. She was finally found on the eighth day. 25 The outcry that followed led to the biggest-ever safety shake-up of the country’s rail network. In 2007, after years of campaigning by the families, Network Rail was fined £4 million for health and safety breaches. The outcry that followed led to the biggest-ever safety shake-up of the country’s rail network. In 2007, after years of campaigning by the families, Network Rail was fined £4 million for health and safety breaches. Travelling by train on the same line from Paddington towards Gloucestershire, it is easy to imagine the scene in those carriages seconds before the impact. Passengers gaze out of windows across the snaking railway lines bordered by city scrub. A few talk business into mobile phones; others sip coffees and browse through their 30 newspapers. The disaster, says Network Rail, “simply could not happen today”. But that promise is not enough for Denman and Maureen Groves. Neither have boarded a British train since the crash, and never will again. Their grief would not allow it, nor the sense of lingering injustice. “I can’t doit, | won't do it,” says Denman. “| don’t want any involvement with Network Rail. The last contact | had with them was at the trial in 2007. | told the chairman he ought to be ashamed of himself.” 35