This book is a superb all-in-one guide to success GCSE English Language and English Literature - GCSE English 2003

Warm-up Questions
Section Two — Writing Literature Essays

Doing these warm-up questions will soon tell you whether you've got the basic facts straight or If not, you'll really struggle, so take the time to go back over the bits you don't know.

Warm-up Questions

1) What is a writer's message?

2) Write down the four things that you could make notes on to help you work out the message of your set texts.

3) What do you have to do to show empathy with the author? Pick one:

a) show you agree with everything the writer says,

b) show you understand the writer's point of view, or

c) show that you have your own point of view and that there's no way you're changing what you think?

4) Is learning a few basic facts about the authors in the anthology:

a) pointless,

b) OK if you're stuck on a desert island with no one to talk to and nothing to do except read the anthology,

c) an excellent idea if you want to show that you know what you're talking about?

5) Read this paragraph:

The soldier looked over the sandbags. He saw a shape moving. He cocked his rifle.

The shadow stopped. The soldier paused. Click. Bang. The shadow fell.

Say which of these options is the best description of the writer's style and explain why:

a) using lots of unusual, difficult words,

b) packing in lots of description,

c) short, simple sentences?

6) Describe how you think the writer wants to make you feel in each of these paragraphs:

a) The curtain snapped in a sudden gust of wind. Outside an owl screeched.

She put her hand to her throat and listened. Somewhere a tap was dripping and one by one the candles blew out.

b) The cake making went well. Well, it began well. Then the butter fell on the floor and cook slipped on it. The flour was full of ants and the oven wouldn't work properly. Luckily the fire station was only round the corner.

7) Match each of these words with its correct definition below:

a) flashback

b) foreshadowing

* this point in the story provides hints about what will happen later

* the story is in the present and then the scene shifts back to the past

8) A simile compares one thing to another. True or false?

9) Find the metaphor in the passage below and explain what makes it a metaphor.

The boys sat down at the table and started on the plate of pies. Gravy splattered their chins. Crumbs were scattered over the table. "You pigs!" screamed Tabitha.

10) Match these literature words up with their meanings:

symbolism

where words or events have more than one meaning

allegory

where characters, settings and events can stand for something else

ambiguity

where the writer says the opposite of what is really meant

irony 

making an object stand for an idea