English Language paper practice

Jan 2012 English Language paper              Understanding and producing Non-fiction texts

Key words highlighted in bold!

1                     Based on Britain’s big problem with water [source the  Telegraph.co.uk]

What do you learn from Geoffrey Lean’s article about the issues of rainfall and flooding in Britain?

• ·         N+W get more rain than they want
• ·         S+E get less
• ·         Also most populated part of country and going to get worse.
• ·         ½ of all recent year’s development is on land prone to flooding
• ·         Flood defences neglected.
• ·         Damper areas going to get worse
• ·         Cost
• ·         Could be rationing in some areas
• ·         £2bn to £25bn potential damage costs by 2080
• ·         Some hopeful signs but not many!                                                       [8]                                                                                                                      

Implications are that getting water out of areas where it causes a problem and to areas where there isn’t enough is a serious concern and whatever is done is going to cost considerably.

2                     Based on article Four amputations, 13hours - one extraordinary swim [source The Independent 2010]

Explain how the headline, sub-headline and picture are effective and how they link to the text.

Student answer: [my bullet points – original is in prose with paragraphs!!]

• ·         The title is effective because it’s bold which makes it the first piece of text you look at.
• ·         Plus it has all the key information about what’s in the article: ‘four amputations’ tells us what the person has gone through.
• ·         ‘13 hours’ tells how long it took to do this challenge.
• ·         And ‘extraordinary swim’ makes it seem exciting.
• ·         The sub-headline is also effective because it gives extra detail as to the article’s content. It tells us who the man is and that he had swum across the channel ’16 years after losing all his limbs.’
• ·         This also makes the audience feel sympathy and urges the reader to read it.
• ·         Use of the word ‘extraordinary’ in the title also links to the words ‘crazy’ ‘challenges’ and ‘calamitous’ in the text.
• ·         The picture is effective because it shows the limbless man struggling in the water, but the gold swimsuit suggests a sense of achievement. We can clearly see both his challenges: physical [his lack of limbs] and environmental [the water] and feel a sense of sympathy and admiration for what he overcame.                                                               [8]