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How To Respond To 11+ English Comprehension Questions

General tips and sample questions and answers to a Christmas Carol extract

Date : 07/03/2022

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Daniel

Uploaded by : Daniel
Uploaded on : 07/03/2022
Subject : Entrance Exams

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ON THE PASSAGE

Questions 1 - 3 may be answered using incomplete sentences or bullet points

1.) What part of the day does this part of the story happen? 1 mark

Early questions set by schools are often straightforward asking you to retrieve explicit information. Beware, however, as under the pressure of the examination, mistakes can easily be made in locating the correct information. This question is worth one mark so you need to give the examiner one thing to tick. You need to look for clues to tell you whether the story takes place in the morning, afternoon, or evening. The first line mentions impenetrable shadows which suggests the light is poor and later on, we are told that Scrooges lights a candle which indicates that it is night time. Taken together, these clues strongly suggest that iti s the evening.

Suggested response:

Night-time or the evening as objects in the yard are in shadow and also Scrooge has to light a candle inside in order to see.

Whilst the question does not ask you to use direct evidence or paraphrase the text, it s always a good idea to show the marker how and why you arrived at your answer with evidence. It s good practice too for the answers which specify evidence must be given which creates a good habit.

2.) From the first paragraph, what does the reader find out about Marley s face? 6 marks

This type of question requires you to use explicit and implicit detail to get the marks. As this question is worth 6 marks, you need to give the examiner six things to tick. A safe way to get all of those marks is to find 6 ideas with an embedded quote or reference to the text to score 6.

Suggested response:

Marley s face had a dismal light , was like a bad lobster in a dark cellar , not angry or ferocious and had ghostly spectacles on its ghostly forehead . His eyes were wide open and perfectly motionless and had a livid colour.

3.) How does Scrooge react to seeing the ghost in the door knocker? 4 marks

This question needs to use to quickly scan for the word knocker to locate the right area of the text on line 8 and 15. Once you have found this, you will realise that the first paragraph tells you that the phenomenon that Scrooge sees is Marley s face in his door knocker. This is what makes this question so difficult as you need to show that you understand that Scrooge has seen something ghostly in the knocker. The lines you will need to answer this well are 9-15 and because the question does not specify the lines, one of the other challenges of this question is finding all of the right information and its location.

Suggested solution:

Scrooge reacts in different ways to the ghost in the door knocker.

First, we learn that Scrooge is startled but then reacts with resoluteness and turns the key sturdily which suggests that he is showing greater determination to show that he is brave.

However, the fact that he Lighted his candle as soon as he is inside indicates that he wishes to illuminate his hallway to make him feel safer and more secure. It seems that the seeing the ghost in the knocker had a strong lasting effect on him which is emphasises when the writer tells us that Scrooge did pause with a moment s irresolution .

The italics on the did convey the effect of surprise which tells the reader that this would not be normal behaviour for Scrooge and the repetition of the italicised did to tell us he looked cautiously behind the door strengthens the idea that Scrooge has become cautious and anticipating seeing Marley s pigtail .

As he observes the normality of the screws and nuts of the knocker, Scrooge s pooh, pooh in disgust at his previous fear and the shutting of the door with a bang makes it clear that he has got over his fright and expresses his disbelief that he saw an apparition in the first place.

Questions 4 8 should be answered using complete sentences

4.) Why do you think Dickens tells us that darkness is cheap and Scrooge liked it ?

This question is asking you to focus on Scrooge s character and why he likes the idea that darkness costs nothing. You may also consider what darkness is associated with like fear, mystery and evil and what the writer wants us to think about Scrooge relating to these associations.

Suggested solution:

The writer wants to reveal to us that Scrooge liked economizing and saving money and the reference to darkness being cheap suggests that Scrooge wants to save his pennies. Perhaps the writer is also indicating that Scrooge is allied to (feels close to) the darkness which may foreshadow fear and mystery to come. Dickens is hinting that Scrooge himself has a dark soul which he refuses to illuminate with the light of generosity

5.) Look at lines 9-29. What does the writer learn about Scrooge s character? 6 marks

Scrooge appears to be somebody who can deal well with shocks despite having suffered a terrible sensation from his childhood indicating that Scrooge has been subject to some trauma. He is reflective and is able to recognise that he felt startled but is able to then pull himself together and continue to turn the key st urdily. He is a character who exercises caution which is made apparent to the reader by the repetition of his pausing and having confirmed that there was actually nothing out of the ordinary on his door, his pooh pooh of disgust and shutting the door with bang signifies his return to rationality. Furthermore, we learn that Scrooge was not a man to be frightened by echoes which emphasises that despite the strange and unexpected noises in the house, he believed in only reacting to what he could see for sure demonstrating that he was not a man who could be easily frightened. However, Scrooge, appears to be sensible as despite demolishing his growing feelings of unease with rational thoughts, he does walk through his rooms to see that all was right which emphasises that he is somebody who likes to make sure of things.

6.) How does Dickens create atmosphere in lines 16-19

Dickens uses the simile like thunder to create a feeling of doom as he describes the sound of the knocker. Usually, a lightning bolt follows thunder so we might expect something else to happen.The descri ption of the casks echoing with peals of its own creates a frightening atmosphere with portents of doom, as the sound reminds us of the pealing of church bells. The repetition of echoes makes it sound like the sound is following Scrooge wherever he goes and that items in the house are all joined together doing the same thing which makes the mood eerie.

7.) Choose three examples of how Dickens uses language to create the horror of Marley s face in lines 1-7 and explain their effect

In shadow obscured/features not revealed/mystery

Dismal light -unhappiness and doom

Bad lobster can t see it but you can detect it

Ghostly spectacles/forehead definitely spirit like

His hair seems to have a life of its own

Eyes were not moving unnatural

Livid colour reminds us of blood

Marley s face is seen in the shadows which creates horror as not all of it can be seen. The simile to describe its light like a bad lobster is nightmarish as it suggests it can be smelt but not seen too clearly. The personification of the dismal light suggests that even the light is feeling unhappy and the repetition of the adjective ghostly is scary as it emphasises that Marley is there to haunt Scrooge. The stirred hair makes us imagine an unkempt, dishevelled appearance whilst the livid colour of the face reminds us of death as though this spirit is from another world. The motionless eyes make complete a picture of a completely unnatural being and the out of control nature of the face s horror tell the reader that this phenomenon could not be explained in the natural world.

8.) Taking the whole passage, write a paragraph of between 8-10 lines describing Scrooge and his experience in your own words.

Scrooge, a man who obviously likes to save money saw a ghostly face in his door knocker.The face looked like a phantom and was horrific looking. He stared hard at it and the ghost seemed to disappear. Scrooge was disturbed by the incident but was determined to open his door, go inside and light a candle. Before he closed the door, he did stop briefly to look around in a vague expectation of seeing the ghost again but when he saw the fixtures of the knocker, he scoffed and slammed the door shut. The echoes and reverberations from the door went through the house and Scrooge fancied that he could see a train with a hearse going up the dimly lit stairs before him. When he reached his room, he examined it carefully to check that all was safe as the face was still playing on his mind.

Homework:

Write about this experience (Xmas Carol extract) as though you were Scrooge in the first person. Retell the story using the experiences/feelings/ideas in your own words also using images/sound/ to recreate the experience.

Minimum of 462 words

,/p>Writing exercise: 30 minutes

Either:

1.) Continue the story from the point at which it ends

Or

2.) Write a descri ption of a frightening experience

Or

3.) In the extract from A Christmas Carol that you have just read, Marley, Scrooge s dead business colleague is mentioned. Imagine that the Marley s ghost appears as Scrooge walks through his rooms in his house. Write what happens next making sure that you use dialogue.

4.) Write about this experience (Xmas Carol extract) as though you were Scrooge in the first person. Retell the story using the experiences/feelings/ideas in your own words also using images/sound/ to recreate the experience.

This resource was uploaded by: Daniel