Paper 1 practice exercises

page 88: syntax

She is a woman who misses moisture, who has always loved low green hedges and ferns.
- Michael Ondaatje, "The English Patient"

1. Both of the subordinate clauses in this sentence modify "woman". What effect does this parallel structure have on sentence?

Makes the woman the focal point of the sentence, 6the centre of all ideas introduced.

2. How would it change the feeling evoked by the sentence if it read:
"She misses moisture and has always loved low green hedges and ferns."

Emphasis on her femininity is gone, focuses on 'she' rather than 'woman', less of a person. rather than being a woman who loves all these things she becomes a pronoun who likes moisture and hedges.

page 78: syntax

He slowly ventured into the pond. The bottom was deep, soft clay, he sank in, and the water clasped dead cold round his legs.

- D. H. Lawrence, "The Horse-Dealer's Daughter"

1. What effect does sentence length have on this passage?
1st sentence: short
2nd sentence: long

First sentence is setting the scene, like an introduction to the rest of the story. Second sentence is more like an elaboration of what is going on in the first sentence, it is painting a picture rather than stating what is happening.

2. Examine the second sentence. How does the structure of the sentence reinforce the meaning?

Slow pace, mirrors what he's saying in the first sentence "slowly". Because of this the picture being painted becomes 3D rather than 2D (The sense of time is added)

page 64: imagery

The rainy night had ushered in a misty morning - half frost, half drizzle - and temporary brooks crossed our path, gurgling from the uplands.

- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

1. Bronte uses both visual and auditory imagery in this passage. Which words create visual images? Which words create auditory images? Which words create both?

Auditory imagery: drizzle, gurgling, rainy
Visual imagery: night, misty, night, brooks,
Both: rainy

2. What feelings are traditionally associated with rain, mist, and frost? How would the feeling of this passage be different if the rainy night had ushered in a brilliant, sunny morning?

Feelings: Sorrow, sad, depressed, muted