English language GCSE Paper 1 -please help, I’m baffled and so is DS.

[speakingwoman]

I would be very grateful for any help.....

Am pleased to say that Ds year 11 has asked me to help with his English, where he is underperforming, especially in English Language.

Some things I can help with: his spelling, grammar and vocabulary. All the stuff about “controlling meaning” is right up my street. But though I have a degree in English myself, I find some of the requirements confusing.

An example: there is a piece of unseen prose in paper 1 where you have to say how the writer has “structured the text to interest you as a reader”.

Do we exclude any language use here? And if so, so we discuss the subject matter, how it changes? I’m really stuck.

I quite like Q2. It's a shame the students have no idea what to do, because it's quite interesting!

*3

I couldn't agree more @Thisreallyisafarce! Love it.

It all hinges too much on the extract in my opinion and can end up with students paraphrasing beginning middle and end. I also find some of the extracts for the exams deathly boring so whilst it's fun to pick awesome extracts for structure analysis in class, there's too nuch chance they'll get an extract about a pensioner eating fish and chips where the 2nd paragraph is all about the sound of seagulls.
I'd love an extract question where students can talk about language and structure in own question and go into detail (much nicer than q2/3 as 8 markers in my opinion).

What is third person limited?

It just means the 'voice' refers to its own consciousness as he/she rather than I (third person) and appears to be 'limited' to the perspective of one person rather than knowing what multiple or all characters think.

I suppose, Maisy.

Thanks.

5/8 for the rewritten Du Maurier!

No marks for mentioning the series of one-sentence paragraphs quickening the pace. Still a bit confused.

Whoops I meant 6/8! Every mark counts....

Who marked it?

Focus on the EFFECT. Quickens the pace...but so what? Needs to be analysed.

Mr Salle has errors in his advice. I would stay away from him.

Any parents reading this, it is the AQA paper being discussed. Other boards include Edexcel and Wjec ( I think). Questions are different although they still cover the same language devices, structural devices etc.

His teacher marked it. She said she was erring on the side of caution.

Quickens the pace but so what? Ah, I see. Du Maurier rattles off a list of attributes, treating people and inanimate objects alike. V hard to describe!

I would be grateful for any info about Mr Salles’ errors.

I promise we’re not obsessed with these marks! Ds needs to learn to write with more precision and this is as good an item to concentrate on as any for that purpose.

She is right to be cautious. Very few students get 8 marks for this. Those that do, tend not to write anything that could be interpreted as generic, such as "quickens the pace".

For the effect of the pace, you could go back to the feelings trying to be conveyed. I know the extract you mean, but without looking at it I wouldn’t like to venture an idea as to what the analysis could be- but I’d definitely advise going back to original intentions and the feelings that DD is trying to convey.

I’d rather not put up here comments on Salles- happy to do it on DM.

I have just looked at that extract, and I don't think the one sentence paragraphs do quicken the pace.

I hate that Jamaica bloody Inn extract sorry, neither helpful nor relevant

Lol piggy.

Thanks for looking farce.

What DOthose paras do? Just keep setting the scene?

They move you around and about the coach, emphasising the dreariness and discomfort experienced by the passengers inside the coach. They underline the importance of the setting to whatever is going to happen next, introducing a theme of conflict between humans and nature. By the end of the extract, when we meet the protagonist, the cumulative effect of those paragraphs is that we understand her to be an outsider, a sort of 'stranger in a strange land' figure.

Gosh, thanks.

These fine differences between what students may or may not observe......it’s quite something!

Most books begin with a setting of some kind. Doesn’t mean there’s a theme of conflict between man and nature. I appreciate that the point doesn’t have to be “right” but I do suspect that you have read Jamaica Inn (I haven’t). I’m getting human insignificance but not the other stuff.

Some things are more subjective than others, and there is a range of valid responses. However, most examiners will penalise for a point made by a student that feels as though they learned it by rote and would trot it out about any text.

Ah, DS is a prime offender there! (Or was -we are making progress).
Thanks.