Turnbull High School English Department Homework Booklet Reading for Understanding, Analysis & Evaluation Contents How to use this booklet 3 In Your Own Words

Of course there are less noble motivations for watching, too: for every Susan Boyle there is a caterwauling teenager who cannot hold a tune and yet remains convinced he or she is destined for stardom. A part of us just loves it when people are awful and embarrass themselves – but human nature is contradictory like that, and reality TV allows us to have it both ways.

1. 
   Explain how the writer achieves a humorous tone in this paragraph. (2)
   

Qin Shi Who? My reaction entirely. I had heard of the Terracotta Army, of course. I had even seen some of them when a vanguard of warriors came to London in the

1980s. But I couldn’t have told you who Qin Shihuangdi (pronounced Chin Shur Hwang Dee) was. Even if you’d said he was the First Emperor of China, I’d have had only the haziest recollection of what you were talking about.

2. 
   Explain how the writer achieves a chatty / informal tone in this paragraph. (2)
   

Those who call themselves environmentalists celebrate the fact that deserts are not properly inhabited anymore. “Leave nothing and take away nothing,” read the signs

at the gates of the nature reserves. Practical advice, perhaps, but is there not something melancholy in what that says about modern man’s desired relationship with nature? Will we one day confine ourselves to watching large parts of our planet from observation towers?

3. 
   Identify the tone in this paragraph and explain how the writer achieves this. (3)
   

The tomb of the first emperor itself may never be opened because of the sensitivities of disturbing the Emperor, although some archaeologists hope that improved

4. 
   Show how the writer introduces a doubtful tone when he writes about the prospects for opening the tomb. (2)
   

I am fed up listening to scaremongers about the E-coli virus, telling me my child should never visit a farm or come into contact with animals. I am weary of organisations that are dedicated to promulgating the idea that threats and dangers to children lurk everywhere. I am sick of charities who one hand attack overprotective parents and at the same time say children should never be left unsupervised in public places.

5. 
   Identify the tone in this paragraph and show how this tone is conveyed. (3)
   

I’m taken aback with the effort. This year’s prom has involved weekly meetings since September of the prom committee, made up of students and teachers, who voted on the theme. Fairy tales, princes and princesses, the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics were rejected in favour of Viva Las Vegas with its opportunities for casino glamour, although there is no question of gambling: only a magician, chocolate playing cards and helium balloons in the shape of hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades.

6. 
   Identify the author’s attitude to the planning of this event and give evidence to support your answer. (3)
   

Actually, that’s not quite true. Young men and women, who introduce themselves as Sally or Craig, call four or five times a week. Now, whenever I hear the familiar satellite hum and am asked if I am Mr Connelly, I simply reply, ‘No, I’m afraid Mr Connelly is in jail,’ which puts paid to any further conversation.

Of course, I’m not in jail. I’m in hiding from cold-calling nuisances, and sitting her reminiscing about the great days of the landline, that window of time before the whoel developed world embraced the mobile and its successor the smartphone, and before email and texting replaced the spoken word.

7. 
   Explain clearly, with reference to the text, how the writer reveals his attitude to cold callers. (3)
   

In an age of appearances, her story should reassure us. JK Rowling found success and made millions through trusting her own invention. We will never know her, but we know Harry, and his magic is likely to last.

8. 
   Identify the writer’s attitude to JK Rowling in this paragraph and give evidence to support your answer. (2)
   

Structure is all about how the writer has put a piece of writing together. It can refer to the type of sentence, paragraphing, or punctuation. There are many different possible answers to choose from, which can make it challenging.