Reading Comprehension: Language use and effect (impact)

Read the following passages and write what you think the underlined words
and phrases mean and explain the effect that is created in the writing.

Class Practice passage:

a. When the doctor arrived, he took Octavia’s pulse and temperature, and told
me it was nothing serious, in fact nothing at all. Then he said he ought to
listen to her chest; I pulled up her vest and she smiled and wriggled with
delight as he put the stethoscope on her fat ribs. He listened for a long time
and I, who was beginning to think that perhaps I should not have bothered
him after all, sat there calmly aware of how innocent she was, how sweet she
looked and that her vest could do with a wash. Had I known, I would have
enjoyed that moment more, or perhaps I mean that I did enjoy that moment
but have enjoyed none since. For he said, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything
very much to worry about there.’ But I could see that he had not finished, and
did not mean what he said. ‘Just the same,’ he added, ‘perhaps I ought to
book you an appointment to take her along to the hospital.’
Meaning:

Effect:

b. When he had gone, I went back and picked Octavia up and sat her on my
knee and gazed at her, paralysed by fear, aware that my happy state had
changed in ten minutes to undefined anguish. I wept, and Octavia put her
fingers in the tears on my cheek, as though they were raindrops on a window
pane. It seemed that, in comparison with this moment, the whole of my former
life had been a lovely summer afternoon.

Meaning:

Effect:

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Group Practice:

The news of the traffic jam on the highway had spread. From somewhere — it
seemed from nowhere for there was no village bazaar, market place or stall visible in
that dusty dereliction — wooden barrows came trundling along towards the waiting
traffic, bearing freshly cut lengths of sugar cane; bananas already more black than
yellow from the sun that baked them; peanuts in their shells roasting in pans set on
embers. Men, women and children were climbing over the ditch like phantoms(c),
materializing out of the dust, with baskets on their heads filled not only with food but
with amusements as well — a trayload of paper toys painted indigo and violent pink,
small bamboo pipes that released rude noises and a dyed feather on a spool. Kites,
puppets, clay carts, wooden toys and tin whistles. The vendors milled around the
buses, cars and rickshaws, and were soon standing at their car window, both vocally
and manually proffering goods for sale (d).

(c) Meaning:

Effect:

(d) Meaning:

Effect:

(e) They locked eyes upon one another and stood like statues, rooted to the spot.
Several moments passed. The air about them crackled with tension and then,
suddenly the two men surged forwards. The dust billowed around them, their leather
sandals tearing great scars across the parched arena.

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Meaning:

Effect:

Section B Text 2
The text below describes what happens when a young man called Joe goes
out to fish. Read it carefully and answer Questions 5-13 in the Question Booklet.
1. lt had been weeks since anyone had seen the whale. On a day when the sky was
a strip of old grey linen, Joe took the boat out alone for the first time. Even his thick
waterproof coat afforded little protection from the icy grip of the elements as he
looped his safety rope round the wheel and raised the sails. A strong, steady wind
filled them, and before long he had been propelled far out, further than he'd ever
sailed from the village, almost beyond sight of land. He lowered the sails and let the
boat bob in the water as he threw out the lines and caught two full buckets of herring.
2. Satisfied with his catch, he tacked back against the wind. He had almost lost sight
of Piran Head, but there it was, the rocky headland and the whitewashed village, the
stone harbour and the church. lt would take some time to sail back, but there were
still a couple of hours until dusk. He set to the task, letting the ropes run through his
palms, feeling the secret power of the breeze, enjoying the freedom of the vast
expanse of water and its enveloping solitude.
3. His thoughts drifted to the times when he used to do this with his father. 'Take her
home, Joe,'Pappa Mikkel would say, and they would sail between the rocky islands
along the coast, with Joe at the wheel. Sometimes the wind would roar and buffet, as
if charging at them. 'Trim your sails, Joe,'Pappa Mikkel would yell from below, and
sometimes he did, but often reckless, he would disobey, and he'd feel the little vessel
rising up in the water like a speedboat, skimming over the waves.
4. A black shadow sliding beneath the water in front of the boat brought Joe abruptly
back to the present and at once he was alert. He tugged frantically on the wheel, and
swung a few degrees to the right. There it was again. Grey this time, uncommonly
fast, just a foot or so beneath the surface. 'The whale,' he whispered, smiling to
himself. And all at once it surfaced, only metres away, breaking above the swell like
a submarine released from an underwater anchor. With a great thrust of hidden
power it lifted almost clear of the rolling ocean, corkscrewing as it did so. There, for
the smallest instant of time, it hung in the unfamiliar air, defiant of gravity, until with a
further twist it fell into the gulf between the waves and an equally huge cascade of
spray and foam rose in its place.

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5. Joe's hands tightened hard on the wheel. The upsurge from the breaching whale
lifted the boat and, as it balanced unsteadily on the peak of the wave, his heart
skipped a beat but down it went again, safely. Now the whale was lifting again. Up it
rose, and again it turned, and this time it held steady with an eye towards the boat,
seeming to return his gaze, and then down it plunged, slapping its tail against the
milky foam behind it. As the impact tossed his boat for a second time, he scanned
the surface of the sea wondering where the whale had gone. There it was again,
another breach, a hundred metres away. This time the whale fell backwards into the
water, with what he saw as a farewell wave of its fin. A minute later and there it was
again - but much further off this time, heading away.
6. There were flecks of snow in the darkening sky as he turned in towards the
harbour. Annie Battle was there to help tie up the ropes. 'Any luck?' she asked him.
'Yes! I saw the whale! Right close!'
'Oh yeah, we all have. lt's been out in the bay all day. But did you get any
herring?'
O John lronmonget', Not Forgetting the Whale; Weiderfeld and Nicolson; 2015.

Section B [20 marks]

Refer to Text 2 on page 8 of the Insert for Questions 5-13.

5 At the beginning of the text, Joe goes out to fish. Explain how the language used in
Paragraph 1 indicates the weather conditions on that day.

Support your ideas with three details from Paragraph 1.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………[3]
1. From Paragraph 1, give two ways in which this trip was different from any that Joe had done
before.

(i) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

(ii) …………………………………………………………………………………………….. [1]

2. In Paragraph 2, we are told that Joe enjoys ’the freedom of the vast expanse'.
Explain in your own words what this 'freedom’ is.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. [1]

3. In Paragraph 3, we are told that the wind sometimes 'would roar and buffet, as if
charging at’ Joe and his father.

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 a. What is the writer comparing the wind with?
………………………………………........................................... [1]

b. Why is this comparison effective?

4. In Paragraph 4, the writer says ‘at once he was alert’.

(i) Why was Joe not alert up until that moment?

(ii) What caused the change?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………… [ 1]

1 In Paragraph 4, the writer says, 'And all at once it surfaced, only metres away,
breaking above the swell like a submarine released from an underwater anchor. With a
great thrust of hidden power it lifted almost clear of the rolling ocean, corkscrewing as
it did so.’

Which words or phrases in the given sentences describe the actions of the whale?

Descriptions Words or phrases from the passage

(I) unexpected strength

(ii) turning its body

(III) freed from restriction

2 In Paragraph 5, we are told that 'Joe’s hands tightened hard on the wheel’ and that
‘his heart skipped a beat’. What was he afraid would happen?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

3 Which two phrases in Paragraph 5 suggest that Joe thought the whale was
communicating with him?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… [1]

4 The structure of the text reflects Joe’s moods at different stages of his sailing trip.
Complete the flow chart by choosing one word to summarise his dominant mood at
each stage. There are some extra words you do not need to use.

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Joe’s dominant moods

contentment fascination indifference regret disappointment fearfulness nostalgia

Flow chart

Paragraphs 1 – 2: (i) ………………………………………...

Paragraph 3: (ii) …………………………………………….

Paragraph 4 – 5: (iii) ……………………………………….

Paragraph 6: (iv) …………………………………………..