In today's lesson, we went through each of the the four questions of the reading paper in turn. We raised the following points:
Question 1
Spend around 10 minutes and try to make between 5 and 8 points summarising the text
Question 2
Spend around 10 minutes and make 3 points in which you describe a presentational feature in detail and link to a quotation from the text
Question 3
Spend around 10 minutes on this question and make 3 points each of which identifies and analyses a different feature
Question 4
Spend around 25 minutes on this question and make 3 comparitive points. Try to find similar features to compare such as emotive language and adjectives
Question 4
ReplyDeleteThe adjectives used in text 1 are used to create tension and suspense:
“The real thing is a 70-stone killing machine”
This implies the terror which the man feels when he sees the bear. The image of a “killing machine” keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, as he is worried for the safety of Guy Grieves; the phrase creates a image of a mechanical “70-stone” murderer that is programmed to rip apart Guy Grieves. Naturally the reader is kept in suspense at the fate of Guy Grieves. Meanwhile the choice of adjectives in text 2 portrays a wary approach to the bear:
“-and then a kind of large, vaguely irritable snuffling noise.”
The use of emotive language in text 1 is effective in breaking the tension:
“I felt like the most fortunate man alive”
This implies, to the reader, that the man escaped death. The idea of him being the “most fortunate man” demonstrates the scale of the danger which he just surpassed; the man, having just escaped a bear attack, feels “fortunate” to have gotten away from such a monstrosity with barely a scratch. On the other hand the emotive language in text 2 is effective in increasing the tension:
“I’m in the woods, in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, staring at a bear, with a guy who has nothing to defend himself with but a pair of nail clippers”
This shows the panic and hysteria of the character; the reader is naturally pulled to feel the same panic and as the character. Furthermore the idea of being “being in the middle of nowhere” with just “nail clippers” to defend yourself makes a dramatic scene of a defenceless man amidst huge danger.