Analysis And Evaluation

Question 1

how do you answer in your own words

Answer 1

1. Find a particular piece of information in the passage.
   – Highlighting or underlining this information in the passage can sometimes be helpful, or even quoting it as part of your answer.
2. Translate that information into your own words.

Question 2

how do you answer a context question

Answer 2

1. Explain the meaning (define) a particular word or phrase that appears in the passage.
2. Explain how the context of the word or phrase helps you to understand its meaning.
   a) Quote a word/phrase from the context which helps you to understand the meaning of the word/phrase you have been asked to focus on in part 1.
   b) Explain how it aids your understanding.

Question 3

how do you answer a link question

Answer 3

1) Quote the part of the sentence that looks back to the previous topic.
2) Explaining what that previous topic was.
3) Quote the part of the sentence that looks forward to the new topic.
4) Explaining what the new topic is.

Question 4

how do you answer a word choice question

Answer 4

In order to analyse a writer‟s choice of words, you must think of the connotations or ideas associated with the word.
E.g. “On the horizon fumed the volcano”
Question: Comment on the effectiveness of the choice of word „fumed‟.
The word is suitable, on a literal level, as the volcano „fumed‟ (i.e. it had smoke coming out of it). However, the word is particularly effective as „fumed‟ has connotations of being angry/threatening/bad-tempered.
Your answer should read: „Fumed‟ is effective as it is associated with smoke and the volcano had smoke coming from it. It also has connotations of angry/ threatening or bad-tempered behaviour. This suggests that the volcano was about to erupt.

Question 5

what are the three types of imagery

Answer 5

 Simile – a comparison between 2 things which contains the word like or as 
Metaphor – a comparison which claims one thing is another 
Personification – giving a non-living object human qualities

Question 6

how do you answer an imagery question

Answer 6

1) Identify the literal root of the image 2) Explain what the comparison is and how they are similar
E.g. The woman was hit by a tidal wave of emotion when she was told her brother had died.
This is a metaphor.
It compares the woman‟s emotion to a tidal wave.
A tidal wave is a huge volume of powerful water (literal root) which will destroy anything in its path.
This suggests the woman was overcome by a massive surge in her feelings when she learned of her brother‟s death and that it will be very difficult for her to recover from this.

Question 7

what porpoises do inverted commas play

Answer 7

Inverted Commas
Inverted commas serve four main purposes:
1. To indicate the title of a play, poem, film, etc.
– “The Crucible”, “War Photographer”, “Neighbours”
2. To indicate direct speech
– “Did you have a good weekend?” asked Anne.
3. To indicate a quotation
– Duffy describes the war photographer: “a priest preparing to intone a mass”.
4. To indicate that the writer is in some way distancing him/herself from the words contained in the inverted commas.
– In Victorian times foreign travel was the preserve of the “superior” classes of society.

Question 8

what are the main purpouses of colons

Answer 8

Colons serve three main purposes:
1. To introduce a quotation:
– Duffy describes the war photographer: “a priest preparing to intone a mass”.
2. To introduce a list
– I went to the shops and bought the following items: some fruit, a loaf of bread, a newspaper and a pint of milk.
3. To indicate an explanation or expansion of the previous statement:
– The boy missed his bus: he had been up until four the previous morning and therefore slept in.

Question 9

what purposes do semi-colons serve

Answer 9

Semi-colons serve two main purposes:
1. To function as a full stop between two closely connected ideas:
– The sentence was never carried out; the man was allowed to go free.
2. To separate items in a list
– I went to the shops and bought the following items: some fruit, a loaf of bread, a newspaper and a pint of milk.
– I went to the shops and bought the following items: some fruit, including bananas, apples and pears; a loaf of bread, as we had recently run out; a newspaper, to read the football results; and a pint of milk.

Question 10

what purpouses do parenthesis serve

Answer 10

Parenthesis is the technique of using punctuation to mark off information in order to distinguish it from the rest of the sentence.
The information contained in the parenthesis isn‟t essential to the technical construction of the sentence.
Parenthesis can be created by using a range of punctuation:
– Commas
The boy, who had been up until four o‟clock in the morning, slept in and missed his bus.
– Brackets
The boy (who had been up until four o‟clock in the morning) slept in and missed his bus.
– Dashes
The boy – who had been up until four o‟clock in the morning – slept in and missed his bus.

Question 11

what are the main purposes of dashes

Answer 11

Dashes serve three main purposes:
1. To indicate an explanation or expansion of the previous statement (in the same way a colon does):
– The boy missed his bus – he had been up until four the previous morning and therefore slept in.
2. To indicate parenthesis
– The boy – who had been up until four o‟clock in the morning – slept in and missed his bus.
3. To indicate breaking off mid-sentence:
– “What on earth – ”
This last effect can also be achieved by using ellipsis:
– “What on earth … ”

Question 12

what are the five most common types of punctuation

Answer 12

Some uses of punctuation that crop up most commonly in Close Reading questions will be outlined in the following slides:

1. Inverted Commas
2. Colons
3. Semi-colons
4. Parenthesis
5. Dashes

Question 13

what are the most common sentence patterns

Answer 13

Some of the sentence patterns that crop up most commonly in Close Reading questions will be outlined in the following slides: 
– Inversion 
– Listing 
– Repetition 
– Climax and Anti-climax
– Use of long and short sentences

Question 14

what is inversion

Answer 14

Definition:
Changing the usual, expected word order of a sentence.
Possible Purpose(s):
To put additional emphasis on a particular part of the sentence.
Example:
“Up and up leapt the flames.”
Usually this information would be written as “The flames leapt up and up”. By changing the expected order of these words, this helps to emphasise the fact that the flames leapt “Up and up”.

Question 15

what is listing

Answer 15

Definition:
The grouping together of a series of related ideas in the same sentence / group of sentences.
Possible Purpose(s):
• To add weight to an argument by showing how many ideas are in support of it.
• To build to a climax / anti-climax.
Example:
“At this very moment, as we sit here, women around the world are giving birth, raising children, cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines, running companies and running countries.”
By listing such a range of activities that women are undertaking, this emphasises just how important woman are in society, as they are responsible for such a range of varied and important jobs.

Question 16

what is repetition

Answer 16

Definition:
Repeating the same word or phrase several times within the same sentence or group of sentences.
Possible Purpose(s):
• To put additional emphasis on the word / phrase that is being repeated.
Example:
“We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing ground, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
By repeating the phrase “we shall fight” many times, the speaker emphasises how persistent he and his followers will be in their intention to fight, suggesting that it will take a lot to make them give up.

Question 17

what is a climax

Answer 17

Definition:
Placing a series of ideas in ascending order of importance, with the most important idea being saved until the end.
Possible Purpose(s):
To emphasise the importance of the climactic idea at the end.
Example:
“We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing ground, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
By listing increasingly advanced stages of the attack (from the beaches where the soldiers land, on the fields and streets of the country up into the hills) this builds up to show how relentlessly the soldiers move through the country, leading up to the climactic idea that they will “never surrender”.

Question 18

what is an ainti-climax

Answer 18

Definition:
Placing a series of ideas in ascending order of importance, only to introduce a complete contrast to these ideas at the end of the pattern.
Possible Purpose(s):
To emphasise the contrast between the expectation (the build-up) and the reality (the anti-climax).
To be humorous.
Example:
“We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing ground, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills… unless there‟s something good on the telly, in which case we might just stay in and phone a pizza.”

Question 19

what are long sentences

Answer 19

Definition:
Using unusually long sentence(s) to create a specific effect.
Possible Purpose(s):
• To indicate that the writer is ranting about a particular subject.
• To indicate that someone is going on and on about something very boring.
• To add weight to an argument by showing how many ideas are in support of it.
Example:
“Worse even than that is that hundreds of thousands of people are buying the bloody thing, and its up there at the top of the bestseller lists, and it got good reviews from all and sundry, because I suspect everybody wants it to be known that they appreciate how important the apostrophe is, when actually, if they were honest, it doesn‟t matter a monkeys.”
The long sentence suggests that the writer is getting angry / emotional about the book and is starting to rant about it.

Question 20

what are short sentences

Answer 20

Definition:
Using unusually short sentence(s) to create a specific effect.
Possible Purpose(s):
• To create an atmosphere of suspense / tension.
• To emphasise the idea / information contained in the sentence.
Example:
“She crept downstairs. Through the hallway. Carefully stepped over the creaking floorboard. Unlocked the front door with trembling fingers. Stepped out into the open air and breathed a sigh of relief. She was free.”
The short sentences create a tense atmosphere, suggesting the girl is in constant fear of being discovered as she sneaks out of the house. The final sentence reinforces the girl’s relief at being free of the house.

Question 21

what is tone

Answer 21

The writer‟s tone is the way in which he or she says something, as opposed to what he or she is actually saying.
This might suggest the writer‟s emotions or attitude towards the information being conveyed.
Tone can often be identified by other language features used in that section of the passage, particularly sentence structure and word choice.
When asked to comment on tone, you should re-read the section of the passage the question directs you to, attempting to determine the tone the writer adopts in this section of the passage, as well as evidence of how this tone is achieved.

Question 22

what are some of the types of tone

Answer 22

Here are some of the different types of tone that writers often use: 
• Humorous 
• Light-hearted 
• Flippant 
• Informal / conversational 
• Effusive / gushing 
• Tongue-in-cheek 
• Mocking 
• Euphemistic (skirting around a particularly sensitive topic, e.g. death, etc, etc.) 
• Formal 
• Pompous 
• Ironic 
• Sarcastic  
• Satirical (holding a subject up to ridicule in order to attack it).

Question 23

what is irony

Answer 23

Irony is one of the most commonly used examples of tone, and can be one of the hardest to grasp.
The commonest form of irony is when the writer says the opposite of what he / she actually means. For example:
• “I‟m really looking forward to sitting all those exams in a few weeks‟ time!”
However, irony can also be used to illustrate ideas in subtler ways. Consider this example from the Stanley Kubrick film “Dr. Strangelove”:
• “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”

Question 24

example of answering in your own words

Answer 24

. Scotland‟s population has a diverse cultural heritage. What do you think this means?
* Diverse – wide range of people, all different
* Cultural – values/ beliefs
* Heritage – history
Answer: This means that there is a wide range of people, with different values, beliefs and histories living together in Scotland.

Question 25

example of a context question

Answer 25

. The rumour that Doug had jumped from the plane was unsubstantiated. There were no witnesses to the event and no solid proof of the event was available.
Question: Explain how the context helps you to arrive at the meaning of „unsubstantiated‟?
Answer: „Unsubstantiated‟ means unconfirmed. The context makes this clear as there were „no witnesses‟ to prove Doug had jumped and there was „no solid proof‟.

Question 26

example of a link question

Answer 26

The First Emperor’s imprint on the lives of the inhabitants of his far-flung kingdoms was seen further. He unified the script, demanding that all states write the pictographs of ancient Chinese in the same way. So, although the words might be pronounced differently in different parts of the empire, once they were written down everyone who could read could understand each other, a particular advantage for traders.
But for the First Emperor, establishing complete control over his empire was not enough. He wanted to rule forever. If he couldn’t have immortality in this world, the next best thing would be to rule in the nether world. We knew about his tomb mound because the ancient sources referred to it, and it has always been there.
A two mark linking question was asked about this extract:
Question: Explain how the sentence “But for the First Emperor, establishing complete control over his empire was not enough” works as a link between paragraphs at this point.
Answer: The conjunction „but‟ suggests the point made in the next paragraph will contrast with the previous one. „Establishing complete control over his empire‟ refers back to the previous paragraph which explained how standardising a written script helped the Emperor to dominate his people. „Was not enough‟ links forwards to the next paragraph which explains that his ambitions were even wider and that the Emperor wanted to extend his power into the afterlife

Question 27

example of word choice

Answer 27

Flight, to us earthbound creatures, is a form of magic – one of the great powers attributed to decent wizards and witches throughout history is to ability to fly, from the persecuted sorcerers of the Dark Ages to the players of the game of quidditch.
Question:
The writer refers to „wizards and witches throughout history‟. Explain by referring to word choice how the rest of the sentence continues this idea.
Answer:
The rest of the sentence continues the idea because it mentions „sorcerers‟ who are similar to „witches and wizards‟. Similarly, the game of „quidditch‟ is associated with magic in the Harry Potter books. The reference to a period in the past known as „the Dark Ages‟ relates to the idea of „throughout history‟