How To Answer Paper 1 Language Questions

Question 1

What should you do before you write?

Answer 1

Read the text straight through quickly for 4min

Question 2

Q1 advice and timing

Answer 2

1. Spend 2min
2. Make sure the four things you list come from the correct section in the text
3. Make sure the four things you list are correct by reading quotes in the context of the whole sentence and whole passage to avlid misunderstanding
4. Don’t try to be too clever

Question 3

Q2 timings

Answer 3

12min in total

4min annotating and 8min writing

Question 4

Question 2 advice

Answer 4

• Read the question and focus on what the question is asking. Always relate it to the question
• Only annotate the extract specified in the question NOT the whole text

Question 5

How do you annotate for q2?

Answer 5

1. Read through one sentence at a time and ask yourself,”what words or phrases or aspects of sentence structure/length,” in this sentence do I find striking? How does it have a particular effect? Then, highlight these words.
2. In the margin, write down the appropriate technical term
3. Next to the technical term, note down the effect
4. Look for patterns in the text which gives you the higher grades

Question 6

For q2 how do you write your response?

Answer 6

Use the formula: TQSB
Technical term + quote + suggests (for interpretation) + because/as (for analysis)

To make it flow develop your analysis and make links between other elements in the specific text

Try and find patterns in the text

Try to weave in quotes in your answer

Question 7

How much time do you spend in q3?

Answer 7

12min in total

4min annotating the whole source for strutural elements and 8min writing

Question 8

Q3 advice

Answer 8

• Remember that this question is also focused on effect. Explain how the structural elements and how they relate to the content of the text.

Question 9

How to annotate for q3?

Answer 9

• Skim read each paragraph and note in the margin what it focuses on
• To this, add significant structural language (eg. beginning, unspecified, move from outside to inside, in media res)
• Once all paragraphs have been briefly annotated, look for patterns across the text

Question 10

What patterns can you identify in q3?

Answer 10

• Does the text end in the same place or with a similar image to the one it started with?
• Does each paragraph gradually ‘zoom in’ the focus from an opening ‘big picture’ to a significant detail at the end, or in the middle?
• Is there a movement in the text between outside and inside, or between a focus on objects and a focus on people, or between one perspective and another; or between description and dialogue; or between the gneral and the particular?
• Any significant contrasts?
• Is there a recurring image/idea running all the way through the text - or perhaps through two or three paragraphs?

Question 11

Question 3 formula

Answer 11

1. Identify/name structural feature
2. Specify exactly where this occurs/what it looks like ‘quote’
3. Explain the effect of using this element of structure in the context of what the text is about (sense of anticipation, threat, sorrow, panic, sympathy, happiness, loving …)

Technique + Quote + EFFECTS

Question 12

How much time do you spend on q4?

Answer 12

30min

5-10 min annotating to interpret and analyse methods; 20-25min writing

Question 13

Question 4 advice

Answer 13

• Remember to answer the question only on the part of the text named in the question
• This question requires you to interpret and evaluate (have a personal response/think for yourself) - and to support your interpretations with detailed analysis of the techniques used by the author
• Read the question carefully. Keep referring back to the question for every point you make
• To plan, read through the text, making a list of any evidence to support your view in response to the question. This evidence should range across all the relevant methods that the writer is using to present his ideas/characters/setting.

Question 14

In q4, if the question asks for a view on a character, what can you focus on?

Answer 14

• Physical appearance
• Dialogue - what they say and how they say it
• Name
• What other characters think/say about them or react to them
• How they react to/ treat other characters
• What they do and how they do it
• Use of narritive perspective

Question 15

How should you structure your response for q4

Answer 15

Ensure you are continually put forward an agreement/your view in response to the question, each time supporting your view with an analysis of the authorial methods used.

Question 16

How much time should you spend on q5?

Answer 16

45min in total

10min planning and 35min writing

Question 17

How do you plan a descriptive piece?

Answer 17

• The key image/idea
• How to start and end it
• Tense
• Setting
• Focus of each paragraph (follow the structure)
• How can you connect the different paragraphs
• 5 senses
• Imagery (personification, metaphor and similes)
• Sounds (alliteration, assonance, onomatoepia)

Question 18

What should you make clear in your paper 1 answer?

Answer 18

• Why are you writing/what is your message to your reader
• How to start and end your writing
• Key focus of each paragraph

Question 19

What should you be doing when you are writing your answer in q5?

Answer 19

• Check as your write that each sentence is accurately written - in terms of grammar, spelling and punctuation
• Think carefully about your use of language - in description, in particular, remember to use imagery, and listen to the sounds of the language you use. Remember how powerful a focus on a particular detail or details can be.

Question 20

Puncturation reminders for q5

Answer 20

• Semicolon: can be used to joint two or more sentences that are linked in subject matter or structure.
• Colon: Can be used before additional explanation or illustration of something mentioned in the first half of the sentence. Also, a colon can be used to replace ‘because’
• Dashes: To highlight additional information

Question 21

How to set out your answer in q5?

Answer 21

• P1: Describe the setting. Create a mood, scene, atmosphere. You can start with the sky and work down towards what you see.
• P2: Change the focus to look at another part you see. Zoom in into an object
• P3: Once again change the focus, try to describe yourself possibly from a mirror, cracked phone screen or glass window.

P4 - Zoom out again to describe another aspect of the detail of the image that could be seen through the image and what you have set the seen. Add a little tension if it is possible.

P5 - Zoom into another part what is happening, maybe another person in your image.

P6 - One word/sentence paragraph

P7 - Go back to where you started for example back to the top of the image which is what you started describing (Cyclical structure)