Good luck to all Vale of Leven Academy pupils with their prelim exams on Monday. Work as hard as you can this weekend & do your very best. We have great faith in you all.
Close Reading
Close Reading Challenge
Close Reading, LanguagePlease read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
Glasgow is a city which has experienced constant change and adaptation, from its period as a great industrial city and as the Second City of Empire, to its latter day reinvention as the City of Culture and the Second City of Shopping. This is a city with pull, buzz, excitement, and a sense of style and its own importance. It has a potent international reach and influence. Glasgow’s story continually weaves in and out of a global urban tapestry: following the trade threads of Empire, there are nearly two dozen towns and cities around the world named after Glasgow—from Jamaica to Montana to Nova Scotia. And there is even a Glasgow on the moon.
Glasgow’s constant proclamation of its present success story is justified on the basis that it benefits the city: confidence will breed confidence, tourists will visit, businesses will relocate and students will enrol. But, despite the gains this approach has brought for Glasgow and cities like it, there are signs that the wind is starting to come out of the sails. What felt radical when Dublin, Barcelona and Glasgow embarked on the city makeover path in the late 1980s and early 1990s, now feels derivative and is delivering diminishing returns. When every city has commissioned a celebrity architect and pedestrianised a cultural quarter, distinctiveness is reduced to a formula.
(a) Explain why, according to the writer, Glasgow was in the past an important world city. (1) U
(b) Explain why Glasgow could be considered important now. (1) U
(c) Show how the writer’s use of language (“This is a city . . . the moon.”) emphasises Glasgow’s importance. (2) A
(d) What does the writer mean by the words “radical” and “derivative” in his discussion of city development? (2) U
(e) Show how the writer’s use of language in the second paragraph suggests his doubts about the alleged “success story” of Glasgow. (4) A
Close Reading Practice
Close ReadingRead the following article from today’s Herald, answering the questions that follow.
SIXTY luxury apartments at a troubled waterfront development are being sold in bulk for the bargain price of £8 million. The unusual sale comes at one section of a controversial multi-million pound redevelopment of the shoreline stretching from Granton to Leith in Edinburgh. It was claimed the price tag is vastly below the market value. However, high-end estate agents Savills, who are conducting the sale on behalf of the investment company that owns the property, Europa Apartments, insisted yesterday that the flats were being sold at market value.
But one property source said last night the high speculation of such flats would mean prices could range from between £150,000 to £200,000 for a two-bedroom flat and considerably more for a three-bedroom apartment. The flats are currently being rented out and make about £540,000 a year. Gordon Munro, Labour councillor for the area, said last night that while the low-cost sale was another blow for the wider district it could also bring the development within the price range of a social housing buyer.
“It has been disappointing what has happened with the waterfront,” he said. Seven years ago, the £300m masterplan for the area included 3000 apartments and more than 23,000 square metres of commercial and business space created. Cafes, shops and restaurants were also to line a canal passing through the middle of the scheme at that stage. It is not the only such regeneration project to be scaled back after the economic downturn.
In Glasgow, Australian tycoon Rodney Price’s multi-million pound plans to transform the waterfront were scrapped more than two years ago after the developer went bankrupt, with a further proposal also folding because of the recession.
1. How does the author use word choice to convey what type of estate agent Savills are? A (2)
2. What is Gordon Munro’s opinion about the sale of these flats? U (2)
3. How does the writer’s language in paragraph 3 convey the initial expectations for this project? A (4)
4. How does the author make clear the context of the word “folding,” in the final paragraph? U (2)
Textual Analysis Practice
Close Reading, Textual AnalysisPlease read the following article in The Scotsman newspaper.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/comment-referendum-won-t-end-independence-debate-1-3134183
Print it out and annotate it, identifying all examples of imagery, sentence structure, word choice, tone and sound.
Understanding Questions
Close Reading- Context questions – find the meaning of a word or a phrase from the context of that word (the other words around it.) You must quote these other words and define the original word
- Link Questions – go to the part of the passage as directed. Find a bit before that links to this and quote it. Then, find a bit that follows it that links to it and quote it. Also, quote any link words, such as “additionally,” “yet,” “despite this,” etc.
- Find information and quote.
- Find information and put into your own words. (default)
W.I.S.T.S.
Close ReadingWord Choice
Consider the connotation.
Identify example and go on to say “this suggests that…”
Imagery
- Simile
- Metaphor
- Personification
Identify example and go on to say “in the same way as…”
Sentence Structure
Climax – creates a climax or anticlimax through a build-up of detail
Repetition – through repetition, the reader’s attention is focused on something that you must identify
Inversion – the subject and the predicate are switched to focus the reader’s attention on the object, or to delay the subject
Parenthesis – used to add additional information that must be identified
Punctuation – focus on colon, semi colon, exclamation mark and question mark
Length of sentence – short sentence focuses the reader’s attention on the whole sentence. Long sentence will exaggerate the number of points being made.
Ellipsis – … will create suspense or will demonstrate that there is additional information that the writer has chosen not to share.
Identify the element of sentence structure and explain its effect
Tone
There are as many tones as there are ways of saying or writing anything. As such, we will deal with tone separately. In the meantime, consider irony, flippancy, anger and humour.
Sound
Assonance – where there is a repetition of a vowel sound, the reader’s attention is focused on the sound being described.
Alliteration – where there is a repetition of a sound at the start of a word, the reader’s attention is focused on the sound being described.
Onomatopoeia – where the sound that is being described is made by saying the word aloud. This will focus the reader’s attention on the sound being made.
Easter Study Programme
Close Reading, Critical Essay WritingWhilst everyone else will be celebrating the end of term and the start of their Easter holiday, it’s important that you realise that the next fortnight is a huge opportunity for you to increase your skills, knowledge, and understanding, in advance of the forthcoming diet of SQA exams.
I would recommend at least 1 hour of English study every day. If you didn’t pass the prelim exam, I would suggest that you should be doing between 90 minutes and 2 hours of study each day.
The following should be considered the basis of the study that you undertake:
- Click on this link:
http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers
Read all of the Critical Essay questions and ensure that you can undertake at least 2 from each section. Write a plan, including the quotations that you would use, for each response.
- Read the following marking guide for Critical Essays. It is imperative that you are fully aware of the criteria for a pass in the Critical Essay.
- Click on this link:
There are 6 years of past papers – make sure that you have undertaken all of these Close Reading passages.
- Work through the following Close Reading guide that has been produced by Glasgow City Council. It is very good.
If you have any difficulty undertaking these tasks, please message me via the comment link below.
Remember, you will only get out what you put in!
Marking Instructions
Close ReadingIt’s really important that you look at the Marking Instructions for Higher English Close Reading. These will give you a really clear idea about what the marker is looking for. Click on the link to find the Marking Instructions for the 2009 Higher English Close Reading Paper.
Study Materials
Close ReadingIt’s now only 3 weeks until the Higher English Prelim. You must now start studying.
The following tasks will help you to overcome some of the skills that are required.
Task 1
Spend 1 hour undertaking the following critical essay task on any Drama text.
Choose a play in which a character falls in love.
Explain what the result of this is and discuss to what extent it is important to your
understanding of the character’s situation in the play as a whole.
Task 2
Spend 1 hour undertaking the following critical essay task on any Prose text.
Choose a novel with a character who you found likeable.
Explain briefly in what way the character is likeable and go on to discuss to what
extent this is important to your understanding of the novel.
Task 3
Click on the link below. It takes you to the assessment criteria for Higher English Critical Essays. Self assess your essays, based on this criteria, identifying a mark and 2 improvement points. This task should take about 1 hour.
Task 4
Click on the link below and undertake Paper 2 of the Close Reading past paper. This should take approximately 1 hour.
Task 5
Click on the link below and undertake all of the Close Reading past paper. This should take approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Good Luck. If you have any questions about any of these tasks, please post a message using the link at the top of the screen.
Different Tones
Close ReadingI’ve listed some examples of tone below. Hopefully these will help you with your close reading.
1. accusatory- charge of wrong doing
2. apathetic- indifferent due to lack of energy or concern
3. awe- solemn wonder
4. bitter- exhibiting strong animosity as a result of pain or grief
5. cynical- questions the basic sincerity and goodness of people
6. condescension; condescending- a feeling of superiority
7. callous- unfeeling, insensitive to feelings of others
8. contemplative- studying, thinking, reflecting on an issue
9. critical- finding fault
10. choleric- hot-tempered, easily angered
11. contemptuous- showing or feeling that something is worthless or lacks respect
12. caustic- intense use of sarcasm; stinging, biting
13. conventional- lacking spontaneity, originality, and individuality
14. disdainful- scornful
15. didactic- author attempts to educate or instruct the reader
16. derisive- ridiculing, mocking
17. earnest- intense, a sincere state of mind
18. erudite- learned, polished, scholarly
19. fanciful- using the imagination
20. forthright- directly frank without hesitation
21. gloomy- darkness, sadness, rejection
22. haughty- proud and vain to the point of arrogance
23. indignant- marked by anger aroused by injustice
24. intimate- very familiar
25. judgmental- authoritative and often having critical opinions
26. jovial- happy
27. lyrical- expressing a poet’s inner feelings; emotional; full of images; song-like
28. matter-of-fact– accepting of conditions; not fanciful or emotional
29. mocking- treating with contempt or ridicule
30. morose- gloomy, sullen, surly, despondent
31. malicious- purposely hurtful
32. objective- an unbiased view-able to leave personal judgments aside
33. optimistic- hopeful, cheerful
34. obsequious- polite and obedient in order to gain something
35. patronizing- air of condescension
36. pessimistic- seeing the worst side of things; no hope
37. quizzical- odd, eccentric, amusing
38. ribald- offensive in speech or gesture
39. reverent- treating a subject with honor and respect
40. ridiculing- slightly contemptuous banter; making fun of
41. reflective- illustrating innermost thoughts and emotions
42. sarcastic- sneering, caustic
43. sardonic- scornfully and bitterly sarcastic
44. satiric- ridiculing to show weakness in order to make a point, teach
45. sincere- without deceit or pretense; genuine
46. solemn- deeply earnest, tending toward sad reflection
47. sanguineous – optimistic, cheerful
48. whimsical- odd, strange, fantastic; fun
Higher English Online 