Year 8 English

Christmas Revision

The Christmas exam will consist of a reading comprehension and number of questions which will require students to:

  • Select appropriate material/evidence from a text;
  • Identify and comment on the effects of specific features of language.
  • Answer questions in full sentences

Students should pay close attention to:

  • The number of marks available for each question;
  • Spending an appropriate amount of time on each question;
  • Explaining answers fully, providing evidence and comments/analysis where required.

Word Bank

Key Terms that you should be able to identify and comment on by this stage of Year 8 include:

Vocabulary / Simile / Metaphor / Adverb
Tense (e.g. past / present) / Tone / Dialogue / Adjective
Setting / Character / characterisation techniques (e.g. actions/words/appearance/
relationships with others) / Appealing to the senses by describing sounds, sights, smells, textures etc / Onomatopoeia

Analytical skill in comprehension

It’s simple! By following the pattern ‘PEE’, you can show your teacher that you understand the effect of language used.

P – Point

E – Evidence (e.g. quotation)

E – Explain Effect

For example, if you are asked the question ‘How does the writer use description to show that the character is scared?’ a possible response may be:

Point / It is apparent that the character is scared because the writer describes how he reacts to his surroundings. For example, he writes that he
Evidence / “shook like a leaf.”
Explain effect / This simile gives the reader a clear impression that the character is scared because he appears to be shaking and weak.

You should refer to your Year 8 English resource booklet in the section entitled:

‘Reading Skills and Examination Revision’

For more detailed advice about PEE, reading extracts and answering questions in detail.

As well as this, you can follow some of the following links to get additional practice questions/passages etc

SEE BELOW FOR A PRACTICE PASSAGE AND QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR YOUR EXAMINATION

Read the following passage from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling and answer the questions which follow.

October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle.
Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake rose and the flower beds turned into muddy streams. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, however, was not dampened, which was why Harry was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon a few days before Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and splattered with mud.
Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session. Fred and George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.
“Hello, hello," said Nearly Headless Nick, starting and looking round. He wore a dashing, plumed hat on his long curly hair, and a tunic with a ruff, which concealed the fact that his neck was almost completely severed. He was pale as smoke, and Harry could see right through him to the dark sky and torrential rain outside.
Nearly Headless Nick took several deep breaths and then said, in a far calmer tone, "So - what's bothering you? Anything I can do?"
"No," said Harry. "Not unless you know where we can get seven free Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones for our match against Sly -"
The rest of Harry's sentence was drowned out by a high-pitched mewling from somewhere near his ankles. He looked down and found himself gazing into a pair of lamp-like yellow eyes. It was Mrs. Norris, the skeletal grey cat who was used by the caretaker, Argus Filch, as a sort of deputy in his endless battle against students.
"You'd better get out of here, Harry," said Nick quickly. "Filch isn't in a good mood - he's got the flu and some third years accidentally plastered frog brains all over the ceiling in dungeon five. He's been cleaning all morning, and if he sees you dripping mud all over the place -"
"Right," said Harry, backing away from the accusing stare of Mrs. Norris, but not quickly enough. Drawn to the spot by the mysterious power that seemed to connect him with his foul cat, Argus Filch burst suddenly through a tapestry to Harry's right, wheezing and looking wildly about for the rule-breaker. There was a thick tartan scarf bound around his head, and his nose was unusually purple.
"Filth!" he shouted, his jowls aquiver, his eyes popping alarmingly as he pointed at the muddy puddle that had dripped from Harry's Quidditch robes. "Mess and muck everywhere! I've had enough of it, I tell you! Follow me, Potter!"
So Harry waved a gloomy good-bye to Nearly Headless Nick and followed Filch back downstairs, doubling the number of muddy footprints on the floor.
Harry had never been inside Filch's office before; it was a place most students avoided. The room was dingy and windowless, lit by a single oil lamp dangling from the low ceiling. A faint smell of fried fish lingered about the place. Wooden filing cabinets stood around the walls; from their labels, Harry could see that they contained details of every pupil Filch had ever punished. Fred and George Weasley had an entire drawer to themselves. A highly polished collection of chains and manacles hung on the wall behind Filch's desk. It was common knowledge that he was always begging Dumbledore to let him suspend students by their ankles from the ceiling.
Filch grabbed a quill from a pot on his desk and began shuffling around looking for parchment.
"Dung," he muttered furiously, "great sizzling dragon bogies . . . frog brains . . . rat intestines . . . I've had enough of it . . . make an example . . . where's the form . . . yes . . ."
He retrieved a large roll of parchment from his desk drawer and stretched it out in front of him, dipping his long black quill into the ink pot.
"Name . . . Harry Potter. Crime . . ."

"It was only a bit of mud!" said Harry.
"It's only a bit of mud to you, boy, but to me it's an extra hour scrubbing!" shouted Filch, a drip shivering unpleasantly at the end of his bulbous nose. "Crime . . . befouling the castle . . . suggested sentence . . ."
Dabbing at his streaming nose, Filch squinted unpleasantly at Harry who waited with bated breath for his sentence to fall.
But as Filch lowered his quill, there was a great BANG! on the ceiling of the office, which made the oil lamp rattle.

______

  • Now answer all four questions
  • For each question/each bullet point , make your Point, provide Evidence and Explain the Effect of language used…PEE

Question 1 (2 MARKS)

How does Rowling describe the movement of the Slytherin team’s Nimbus Two Thousand and One broomsticks in the second paragraph?

(Remember to identify the technique used!)

Question 2 (2 MARKS)

What technique does the writer use in the third paragraph to give the readers the impression that Nearly Headless Nick has a pallid, almost colourless appearance? (Provide an actual quotation and name the technique she uses)

Question 3 (6 MARKS)

What do you learn about the character of Argus Filch in the passage?

You should consider:

a)His actions

b)His words / how he speaks

c)His appearance

Question 4 (10 MARKS)

How does the writer use descriptions to create a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere in the passage?

You should consider: (SEE NEXT PAGE)

A)The setting

B)The weather

C)Sounds and smells

D)How characters treat others

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843. It is a story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and heartless miser, who is visited by four spirits one Christmas Eve. The visits change Scrooge forever.In this passage, Scrooge is visited by the last of the spirits.

The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.

“I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?” said Scrooge.

The Spirit answered not, but pointed onward with its hand.

“You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in the time before us,” Scrooge pursued. “Is that so, Spirit?”

The upper portion of the garment was contracted for an instant in its folds, as if the Spirit had inclined its head. That was the only answer he received.

Although well used to ghostly company by this time, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him, and he found that he could hardly stand when he prepared to follow it. The Spirit paused a moment, as observing his condition, and giving him

time to recover. But Scrooge was all the worse for this. It thrilled him with a vague uncertain

horror, to know that behind the dusky shroud, there were ghostly eyes intently fixed upon him, while he, though he stretched his own to the utmost, could see nothing but a spectral hand and one great heap of black.

  1. Setting the Mood

List four sentences or phrases from the passage which shows how the author uses language to set a mood of fear and darkness.

a)______

b)______

c)______

d)______

  1. What do you learn about the phantom through Dickens’ choice of descriptions? Consider:

(a)What it looks like

(b)How it moves

Aim to use PEE where possible and comment on the use of IMAGES, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS ETC

YOU WILL BE PRACTISING YOUR READING SKILLS IN CLASS WITH YOUR TEACHER IN THE COMING WEEKS ALSO.

GOOD LUCK!