Higher Close Reading Supported Study

Today’s Focus

How to answer:

• Basic Understanding Questions• Sentence Structure Questions• Word Choice Questions• Imagery Questions

• Understanding the main ideas within a passage• Identifying key words in questions

Organising your answers

• Context Qs

• Link Qs

• Basic Understanding Qs

Types of basic understanding qs

• Separating ideas and explaining them• Getting to the nitty gritty of an idea (Lower

numbers of people borrowing books from libraries means the libraries get less funding; less funding means fewer books and libraries, and so therefore even lower numbers of people borrowing books in a damaging cycle (2 marks) Less people use libraries and so they get less money (0 marks))

• Identifying contrasts and explaining them

Who Says What About Whom?

• It is massively important for you to remember that the writer may not always be directly expressing his / her views / feelings on the topic of the passage.

• He/she may be writing about the views of other individuals or groups on an issue (His opinions / feelings about these views may well be detectable and relevant)

• READ ALL QUESTIONS CAREFULLY

Structure• Engage with the flow of ideas

• Every structure question is an understanding question in a sense• The key question really is, how do the structures used contribute

towards the impact of the words / the ideas/concepts within the structure?

• You could say ‘The rhetorical question used gets the reader thinking’, but you’ll get 0 marks for it.

The rhetorical question used (“How can you live with yourself when

you know that your taxes go towards war against the poor?”) strongly conveys the view that we should act in order to ensure the money we earn is not used for the wrong purposes. ‘How can you live with yourself…’ is a forceful and emotive question designed to make the reader think about their everyday behaviour and how it must be changed to reflect their values. ‘war against the poor?’ is a very emotive conclusion to the sentence; it sounds like an act that would be morally wrong – to attack the weak, and it makes the reader angry about the way taxes are used. (This gets 2 marks)

• Look out for everything. But keep in mind:

repetition and word order (including inversion;

brevity or complexity of sentences (remember to use an intensifying word – for example ‘extremely short’);

placing of words within sentences;

• Arrangement of paragraphs (one sentence or short paragraph?... )

• Use of colons (:) and or one (single) dash to introduce the conclusive or most important word or phrase; colons are also used to introduce lists; a dash is sometimes used to increase dramatic impact;

• Use of semi colons to separate complex lists;• List sentences;• Questions and Rhetorical questions: e.g. How can you live with yourself when you know that

your taxes go towards war against the poor? What, then, was the conclusion reached by these so

called experts?

• Signposting at the beginnings of sentences: Marking scheme example: ‘the diminishing benefits are also signposted structurally by the use of “chiefly”, “and then” and “and not at all” at the start of each section’.

• candidates may comment on the writer’s general sign-posting at the start of sentences: “Yet”, “Yes”, “But”, “Just” to flag up the oppositional nature of his argument.

• http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/papers/papers/2008/H_English_all_2008.pdf

• Climax : the build up of ideas towards a key point or accumulation of points; this may also build a sense of sound, or a visual image…

and anti-climax: the build up of ideas towards a climax that is never reached; the effect may be to lessen the importance of the point being made, to make it seem less serious or less grand…

From Structure to Less Obvious Figures of Speech

• Antithesis: She was never cruel; she was never kind. Look out for parallel sentence structures and juxtaposed words / phrases.

• Paradox: A Leither says: ‘All Leithers are liars’‘I know that I know nothing’‘In seeking happiness, one does not find

happiness.’A paradoxical situation: sometimes people do not

co-operate even if they know it is in their best interests to do so.

• Hyperbole: We are light years away from a vaccine for chicken pox.

• Understatement: She had a little chat on the landing at 3am in the morning with a policeman and an angry neighbour about one of her all time favourite Elton John songs. (often used to generate humour)

• Cliché (A tired old, overused saying, or idea)• Circumlocution (saying something in way too

many words than is necessary)

• Irony of fate:

eg. It is ironic that all of the delegates attending the global warming convention travelled there by aeroplane, the use of which is a principal cause of global warming.

Word Choice

• Key words

• Connotations and context

Imagery Qs

• Quote

• What two things are compared?

• What is the actual/literal meaning of the image?

• What is the metaphorical meaning of the image and what has been the effect of this in the context of the question?

Tone

• Do you know what the following terms mean? If not, learn them.

Tongue in cheek Dismissive

Mocking Ironic Disparaging

Inspiring Flippant Rousing

Matter-of-fact Incredulous

Sound

• Alliteration and sibilance

• Onomatopoeia

• Assonance: Natasha can’t stand maths