From A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat

Question 1

How is a comic tone created?

Answer 1

All of the English devices are designed to make a light-hearted humorous read

Question 2

“Emma Levine travelled through Asia”

Answer 2

Travel writing

Question 3

‘Wacky races’

Answer 3

This is an allusion to a cartoon and as it was from the late 1960s which shows that the author is clearly assuming that the people reading her passage are adults.

Question 4

The speech in the first part of the account is not paragraphed.

Answer 4

Fast paced, humorous conversation

Question 5

“Two lads”

Answer 5

-slang
-cocky people
INFORMAL

Question 6

“Fired up”

Answer 6

Metaphor

Question 7

“We waited for eternity”

Answer 7

Metaphor and a hyperbole

Question 8

“Feel rather silly”

Answer 8

INFORMAL

Question 9

“Nearly one hour later’

Answer 9

Juxtaposes an eternity

Question 10

“Wobbly bicycle”

Answer 10

Anti-climax, nothing happens!

Doesn’t have to be true but it makes the story more interesting.

Question 11

“Coming, coming”

Answer 11

Repetition

Question 12

“Lads” para 2

Answer 12

Provides cohesion

Question 13

“Race had been cancelled, we spotted two approaching donkey-carts”

Answer 13

Climax

Question 14

“Roaring up in their wake”

Answer 14

Metaphor and personification

Question 15

“Perched” in para 2,4,5

Answer 15

Cohesion - not entirely stable

Question 16

“Horns tooting, bells ringing and the special rattles”

Answer 16

Onomatopoeia and descriptions to create imagery (rule of 3)

Question 17

(Like maracas, a metal container filled with dried beans)

Answer 17

Inserted information (authoritative )

Question 18

“Vehicles Jostled”

Answer 18

Personification

Question 19

“Swerve in front of the nearest car”

Answer 19

Chaos/panic

Question 20

“Formula one without rules”

Answer 20

Metaphor

Question 21

“City-centre rush hour gone anarchic”

Answer 21

Choice of analogies is very descriptive

Question 22

“It was survival of the fittest”

Answer 22

Allusion to Charles Darwin

Question 23

“Nerves of steel”

Answer 23

Metaphor

Question 24

“Yaqoob loved it”

Answer 24

Short sentence build up with chaos and then a simple sentence about emotions.

Question 25

“Language growing more colourful”

Answer 25

Euphemism for swearing - this lightens the mood.

Question 26

In what style is the piece?

Answer 26

It is autobiographical because they were there.

Question 27

“Hospital gate”

Answer 27

Dangerous sport- ironically appropriate.

Question 28

“The race was over.”

“And then the trouble began.”

Answer 28

We think it’s the end of the story, but then our expectations are inverted with this conjunction.

Question 29

“I assumed”

Answer 29

Thinks that everyone thought the same.

Question 30

“Punters who had all staked money on the race, and therefore had strong opinions.”

Answer 30

If you are financially involved in something your mind is affected.

Question 31

“Swallowed up by the crowd”

Answer 31

Personification - the crowd is big and potentially dangerous.

Question 32

“More sedate pace”

Answer 32

He was driving faster than he should of before.

Question 33

“I’m underage!”

Answer 33

Makes it emphatic - PROUD?

Question 34

“But I was glad”

Answer 34

She was isolated - they all had different opinions.

Question 35

“Pile-up”

Answer 35

Informal

Question 36

“Could have caused problems”

Answer 36

Understatement - could have been much more than a problem.

Question 37

“dwarfed”

Answer 37

metaphor

Question 38

“a couple of seconds; nerves of steel, and an effective horn.”

Answer 38

List of 3

Question 39

“Voices were raised, fists were out, and tempers rising”

Answer 39

Abstract noun followed by a concrete noun, then another abstract noun

Question 40

Possible questions

Answer 40

How is a comic tone created ?

How does the author use language to create a sense of danger/tension ?