READIN

G FOR

ANALYSIS

AND

EVALU

ATION

WHAT IS READING FOR ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION?

This is when you are given a passage to read and questions to answer on the passage to check your understanding.

FIRST OF ALL…

Read the passage you have been given.

✰ Begin by reading any information in italics at the beginning and end of the passage.

✰ Read over the passage – CAREFULLY.

✰ Skim read the questions.

QUESTIONS ARE SPLIT INTO DIFFERENT CATEGORIES:

1. ‘In your own words’ questions.2. Word choice questions.3. Context questions.4. Linking questions.

Write these in your jotter.

5. ‘Write down an expression’ questions.6. Sentence structure questions.7. Tone questions8. Imagery questions9. Questions that ask ‘how does a writer

continue/develop an idea?

We will look at each of these in detail

1. ‘In your own words’ questions

What are these questions looking for?

They are looking for information given in your own words.

This shows that you understand what they are asking about and that you understand what the passage is telling you.

× They DO NOT want you to quote directly from passage.

EXAMPLE:

‘The kids are getting under your feet and I’m not home much these days to see to your eating. You’ll get three full meals a day.’What two reasons did Jane offer to suggest why Mansie would be better off in the home? Answer in your own words.

Discuss in your groups.

Try these two examples in your jotter.

‘You get the impression from the set of her jaw that the Queen is not particularly enjoying the latest display of mime in the rain…’

Explain in your own words what the author means when he says that you can tell by the ‘set of her jaw’ that the queen is not enjoying herself.

…teenagers grunt and slouch and get cross and go red and qualify as little more than a sub-species that might one day grow into humans…

In your own words state what the writer’s opinion of teenagers is.

2. Word choice questions

Words are chosen for effect. Words can make you think about more than just a literal meaning.

Words have connotations. These are the associations we give to words – the ideas we are made to think about when we hear or read a word.

e.g. Think of ‘sunny’- we associate words such as warm, bright, happy with it.If we used ‘sunny’ to describe a person then these qualities are associated with that person.

2. WORD CHOICE QUESTIONS

When a question asks you to comment on word choice think about the associations conjured by that word.

First identify the words being used for the effect.Then explain what the effect is.The effect is what the word makes you think.

What are these questions looking for?

EXAMPLE:

‘The transaction seemed to fluster her, as if she might not have enough to pay for the few things she had bought. A tin of lentil soup. An individual chicken pie. One solitary tomato.’

How does the writer emphasise that she had only bought a ‘few things’ by word choice?

Discuss in your groups.

Try these two examples in your jotter:

‘He was breathing heavily and the smell was inconceivably foul; it was the reek of rotting flesh, of festering wounds, of ancient perspiration, and of fear.’Explain fully how the writer emphasizes the smell through word choice.

The miserable town began to dampen his spirits. Not a day went by without at least a few hours of drizzle, the sort of rain that seeped into the bones, making it hard to consider doing anything, leaving the holidaymakers huddled round the fireplaces staring blankly at the board games they didn’t really want to play.

Explain how the writer’s word choice helps to create an impression of the mood of the holidaymakers.

3. Context questions

These questions are about the meaning of words. They will ask you to give the meaning of a word by looking at the words and sentences around the word and using these clues, work out what the word could mean.

Hint: Try pretending the word is not there and instead it has been left blank. Ask yourself – What word would I put in that blank? Try out some words and see what makes sense.

Another useful tip is work out is it a verb or a noun or an adjective…?

3. Context questionsWhat are these questions looking for?

These questions often ask you to show how the context (the words which appear near to it) helps you to understand the meaning of a word or phrase.

You have to say what you think the meaning of the word is. AND Quote the words nearby that help you to come to that meaning.AND Explain how they do so.

EXAMPLE:

‘Billy Connelly’s beard was reportedly last seen being used as a merkin by a village elder who had lost all of his hair as a result of poor diet.

Give the meaning of the word ‘merkin’ from the context of the paragraph.

Discuss in your groups

NOW TRY THESE TWO IN YOUR JOTTER.

Macaulay Culkin had both his parents legally blocked from controlling his 17 million dollar fortune, a move that estranged him from his father.

Show how context helps you to understand the word ‘estranged’.

• He walked over to the bar and decanted some fresh whisky into his glass. He passed it to his guest who swirled the glass, sniffed and smiled, ‘A vintage year”.

• There was nothing left except the dusty, soft remnants of some ginger snaps. I shook the crumbs from the table and looked carefully for any fingerprints.

• She had more vigour than any woman I had ever known of that age. She could outrun teenagers half her years, and seemed to be always on the go.

4. ‘Linking’ questions

What are these questions looking for?A linking sentence is one which links two paragraphs together. Usually this sentence will appear at the start of the second of two paragraphs.

Look carefully at the sentence which is the link. There will be two parts to this sentence, One part will refer to the content of the paragraph before. The other part of the sentence will introduce the subject of the next paragraph.

To answer this type of question you need to do four things.

① Quote the word(s) that link back② Explain what subject/idea they

link back to.③ Quote the word(s) that link

forward ④ Explain the subject/idea they

link forward to.

EXAMPLE:

Some people firmly believe that all overweight people are lazy and unfit. However are such opinionated attitudes particularly helpful? Might we not be better off looking to the facts of the situation? The reality is that many people are extremely active and physically very fit.

How do the sentences in green provide a linking function?

overweight…lazy

and unfit

reality…active…fit

opinionated attitude

facts of the situation

TRY THESE TWO EXAMPLES IN YOUR JOTTER.

Here is where Guy Fawkes plotted, Isaac Newton did sums. The beatles made records, the anti-slavery lobby was founded, Oscar Wilde partied…and there were bigger events: Roman invasions, plagues, fires, Zeppelin bombings, air raids.

However, the culture and history don’t stop at the city gates. Dotted around London are countless beautiful villages, and exquisite country houses. Like a well age face, Greater London’s history show its lines.

Explain how this sentence is an appropriate link between the paragraph it begins and the previous one.

In Madras, as in other garrison towns in India, there were many orphan children of European soldiers who had been killed or died of diseases or had been unaware that they had a child. These children faced an unenviable future. In the Hindu community of their mothers they were unacceptable and in the European community they were equally unacceptable because of their native upbringing.

How does the green sentence provide a linking function?

In the last example the linking sentence began with the word ‘these’.

Words such as these, there, that are determiners referring to something that has just been talked about.

They provide a clue and are usually used at the beginning of the linking back part of the sentence.

LOOK OUT FOR THESE WORDS!

5. ‘Contrast’ questions

What are these questions looking for?

A contrast is a comparison which highlights the differences between subjects. The writer deliberately pairs two things in this way to emphasise the difference which will be significant.

A contrast is a comparison which shows up the differences between subjects.The writer is deliberately pairing two ideas together to flag up the difference which will be important in some way.

Questions often ask you to state what the contrast actually is. Contrast is the pairing of opposing ideas for example large and small or dark and light.

To answer the question fully you must state both sides of the comparison.

EXAMPLE:

It is a place that has shaped the world, and that the world has shaped. Massive and intimate, traditional but ever-changing, hugely multicultural but ineffably British, Greater London is almost impossible to define – and almost impossible to resist.

In your own words explain two of the contrasts mentioned in the last paragraph to be found in the present-day London life.

Now try these two examples:

To leave the enormous sprawling dust-blown city of gridlock and gritty buildings was bliss…we were in open country, little settlements of square mudblock houses…a solitary car or truck and on one remote road twenty men going home after prayer.

In your own words give two contrasts the writer noticed on his journey from Cairo to the countryside.

In our sitting room my aunt seemed very exotic, and rather theatrical: not at all like my “staid” country mother with her scrubbed grouse-moor complexion. For “house-wives” how unalike they seemed! On a scale of prettiness my aunt might have scored seven marks out of ten: she certainly “made the most of what she had’ – as my mother would say of certain women she didn’t quite approve of.When my aunt took off her coat she was wearing a canary silk suit underneath. and my mother looked most uncomfortable in the other big wing-chair, pulling her tweed skirt over her kneesand tugging at the pearls around her throat.

Give details of two obvious contrasts between the aunt and the mother.

6. WRITE DOWN AN EXPRESSION

This type of question is asking you to find an expression (or group of words) in the paragraph that you are directed to. Usually the information is so important its worth two marks.The question does not want whole sentence.They only want the exact expression.

Find the expression and write it down.

As societies around the world become increasingly multi-ethnic, the arguments about racism tend to be less about whether it is wrong or right.

Quote an expression that tells you that the ethnic mix in societies is increasing.

Example:

We stood in the corridor while a hatchet-faced Austrian woman yanked our bunk-beds into place – there wasn’t room in the carriage for the three of us. Barking the news that she would be waking us up at 7a.m with a cup of instant coffee and a piece of cheese, the woman departed.

Quote two words or expressions which illustrate the manner of the woman on the train.

Now try these in your jotter:

There was a stranger seated at the kitchen table, a most horrible and wild stranger who looked worse than the brigands of childhood tales.

Quote the expression that sums up the speaker’s impression of the stranger.

7. Sentence Structure Questions

How a sentence is put together is often significant as this can be used to reflect meaning. Sentence structure really covers five areas:

a. Punctuation and lists.b. Repetitionc. Sentence lengthd. Word Ordere. Climax and anti-climax

What are these questions looking for?

1. You must note what has been done, what is unusual about the sentence (quotation).

2. You must explain what effect this has on the reader, what it makes the reader think.

Example:

Ken is lucky that Julie can drive one of the trucks, change the 2 feet high tyres, make sure Alex does his school lessons on his laptop, cook, make sandwiches and dish out the £2 tickets.

How does the structure of the whole sentence help to reinforce the idea of how busy Julie is?

Try these example. What technique is being used and what is the effect?

She was bored of teachers and bored of classmates. She was bored of lessons and bored of the work.

The government has failed to live up to its promise. Is this morally right?

He failed his exam.

He failed English, Maths, Science, Art and History.

He failed everything; he never paid attention.

Blushing, she fled.

8. Tone Questions

Sometimes you will be asked to identify the tone of a particular paragraph and explain how the writer establishes the tone.At other times you may be told what the tone is and asked how it is created.

When you are trying to establish the tone of a paragraph, imagine the tone of voice that might be used if the paragraph was being read aloud.

A good starting point is often to consider if the tone is light-hearted or serious.

Then try to be more specific.

Humorous – writer finds the subject funny.

Light-hearted – conversational and funny.

Conversational – chatty, friendly tone.

Enthusiastic/effusive tone – used in advertising to persuade.

Flippant – mocking/ not taking it too seriously.

Irony – when writer says the opposite of what he means. Humorous but often with a serious point to be made.

Satirical – extreme irony. Funny in a savage way to ridicule his subject.

Tongue-in-cheek- writer will sound serious but there will be a sense of ridicule behind his words. e.g. euphemism is a common feature here. ‘tired and emotional’ often means drunk.

Serious – used for solemn occasions such as a funeral.

Once you have identified the tone, the next step is to think about how that tone is created.

Tone is created by word choice and by sentence structure and imagery too.

Think of Scottish sporting success and you’ll be thinking for a long time. There’s been the occasional glorious spark in football, such as Celtic winning the European cup in 1967, Archie Gemmill’s goal in 1978 or Aberdeen winning the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1983, but this is ancient history. Likewise, Alan Wells won the olympic 100m over a quarter of a century ago. Rugby grand slams have been absent from these parts since 1990.

Comment on the tone of ‘but this is ancient history’. (2)

Sarcastic – suggesting it is no longer relevant

Dissatisfied with the green ‘public lavatory’ décor of the Scottish Mountaineering Club’s hut in Glen Coe, he decided to redecorate it in tasteful custard yellow with curious red psychedelic designs.

Describe the tone of the word ‘tasteful’.(2)

Ironic – he means the opposite, i.e. tasteless and hideous.

Nobody likes the idea of being proved wrong. Indeed for months I had fought with the idea of owning a digital music player. In a series of heated conversations with more technical –savvy friends, I repeatedly argues that I just did not see the point. ‘But its so brilliant, you can listen to anything you want,’ one said, to which I replied “Why would anyone want to carry around his entire collection of music?” The answer? “Because you can.”

Identify the tone and comment on how it is created. (2)

Informal – colloquial language such as ‘savvy’ and by use of dialogue

9. Imagery QuestionsTo answer this type of question you have to:1. Quote the image.2. Then think

DENOTATION – just as (what does image mean)

CONNOTATION – so too (what does it make you think of)

EXPLANATION – what is the writer telling you by using the image?

ExampleThe moon is a ship sailing on a sea of clouds.

This is a metaphor.It compares the moon to a ship.Just as a ship moves slowly along the sea so too does the moon seem to move slowly along the clouds in the night sky.The writer uses this to explain how the moon is moving across the sky.

Now try these

This is taken from a passage about car boot sales.

Beware of the antique dealers. They will surround your table at this early hour like wild dogs around a carcass.

How does the writer use imagery to describe how the antique dealers behave? (2)

Have you noticed that modern Britain is the most matriarchal society in the history of the world? The four most famous figures in public service since the war have been women…I cannot say what the effect of this curious fact has had on women, but, as a man, I feel very grateful. It had added interest, surprise and mystery to what would otherwise have been the flat landscape of men in suits.

In your own words how does the image of ‘flat landscape’ help you appreciate the writer’s meaning? (2)