IGCSE

ENGLISH
PROGRAMME
READING MODULE 3

Name: YEAR 10
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

In this lesson, you will learn about what is meant by explicit meaning, and
what is meant by implicit meaning— more specifically, implicit meaning
related to character.

Finding Explicit Meaning

Explicit meaning is obvious or clearly stated, such as a specific detail or

something revealed plainly by a narrator in a fiction piece. You will
encounter all types of assessment tasks requiring you to search for words
with explicit meanings, or to explain them.

When you read a text, think about the exact meaning of certain words.
Consider why the writer chose those specific words, and what synonyms
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could have been used, alternatively.
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Meaning-Related Questions
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 Explain
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When a question asks you to explain something, for example, a character’s

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actions, it is important not only to point out what the actions are but also to
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comment on them—efor example, in terms of the significance of those
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actions, or what effect

 Use your own words

In questions such as these, you are expected to show that you understand
what the writer is saying. Make sure you paraphrase in your answer, and if
the question requires you to provide the meaning of words from the text,

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 1

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

ensure that your definition doesn’t include those words, or their derivatives,
in your answer.

 Why do you think …

These questions require you to understand and explain why the writer has
chosen certain words— and there are no strictly right or wrong answers.
However, be sure to support your answer with enough justification.

You can use a range of sentences to explain the meaning of words and
phrases. For example:

 The writer chooses the word … , which means … in everyday language

 The phrase used by the writer, … , means …
 The writer uses the word … , which is another way of saying …
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ro 5 minutes’ reading
Task 1 (20) (Estimated time: 25-30 minutes plus
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time) h
Read the following extract, then answer g lisquestions.
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C a wigwam in our back garden; a circle of thin
IaGbamboo pole and pegged to the lawn. Every time
1 When I was a child, I had

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yellow cotton draped overt
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my parents argued,bthat was where I went. I would lie on my stomach with
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mydears and stare so hard at the red animals printed on its bright
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decorative border that after a while they began to dance and run, until I wasn’t
in the garden any more but out on the plains, wearing a fringed deerskin tunic
and feathers in my hair, just like the brave in the films I watched every
Saturday morning in the cinema down the road.

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 2

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

2 Even at an early age I found it preferable to be outside in my little tent

rather than inside my house. The tent was my space. It was as large as my
imagination, which was infinite. But the house, for all its grandeur and
Georgian spaciousness, felt small and suffocating.

3 It was stuffed with things, as well as my mother and father’s

bitterness. They were both archaeologists, my parents: lovers of the past,
they had surrounded themselves with boxes of yellowed papers, ancient
artefacts, dusty objects; the fragile husks of lost civilisations. I never knew
why they decided to have me: even the quietest baby, the most house-trained
toddler, the most studious child, would have disrupted the artificial,
museum-like calm they had wrapped around themselves. In that house they
lived separated from the rest of the world, in a bubble in which dust motes

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floated silently like the fake snow in a snow-globe. I was not the child to
complement such a life, being a wild little creature, loud and messy and m
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unbiddable.
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[…] I had dolls, but more often than not I beheaded them or scalped
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them, or buried them in the garden and forgot where they were. I had no

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interest in making fashionable outfits for the oddly attenuated pink plastic

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mannequins with their insectile torsos and brassy hair that the other girls so
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worshipped and adorned.
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Glossary:
grandeur: impressiveness
Georgian: an architectural style from the years 1714-1811
archaeologists: scientists who study the past based on historical artifacts and places
unbiddable: disobedient, unruly

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 3

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

mannequins: dummies or models

oddly attenuated: unusually long and thin

1. Find a word or phrase from the above abstract that is similar to the
underlined words below. [5]

a) Izzy’s wigwam consists of cotton hanging from a bamboo pole.

______________________

b) Izzy would rather be outside. ______________________

c) Izzy found the house impossible to breathe freely in. ______________________

d) Izzy’s parents studied the evidence of vanished cultures from long ago.
______________________

e) Izzy was not the kind of child to go well with her parents’ lifestyle. e
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______________________
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2. List down explicit information from the text that shows how Izzy is
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different from her parents. [3]
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i) ____________________________________________________________________________________
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ii) ____________________________________________________________________________________

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iii) ___________________________________________________________________________________
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3. Fill in the table and review the explicit meaning of the following words
from the extract. Consider the effect they may have on the reader. You may
use a dictionary. [21]

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 4

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

Word Exact meaning Synonym Intended to convey…

infinite Not having Limitless, The girl is extremely
limits boundless imaginative
stuffed Very full A lot of objects The girl is
in the house, uncomfortable in her
the house feels home
cramped
yellowed

dusty

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artificial
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museum-like
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calm

wrapped

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Year 10 Reading 3_MC
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separated

4. Give two reasons why the girl likes to go outside. [2]

i) ____________________________________________________________________________________

ii) ____________________________________________________________________________________

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5. How did the girl treat her toys? [1] m
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______________________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________________

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6. Explain how the girl liked to enjoy
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7. Using details that you have learned from the text, sum up what you know
about the girl’s childhood. [2]

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 6

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

Implicit meaning (character)

Meaning is not always clearly stated. It is important to be able to detect less

obvious (but still important) contexts, associations and suggestions that
words can carry. It is also important to recognise, understand and explain
the implicit information you come across. You can do this by:

 Trying to gauge how a character feels towards someone or something

 Paying attention to subtler traits of a character
 Identifying if the writer is attempting to achieve an effect, such as
inducing certain emotions
 Trying to identify an define relationships between characters
 Considering the opinions and perspectives of the writer

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All of the above are ways to detect implicit meaning, and this skill comes m
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quite naturally to most of us. In fact, we practice this skill in everyday
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situations, especially when meeting new people and forming first
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impressions. We call this inferring. il sh
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You can identify a character’s attitude by paying attention to their actions,
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the context or setting of the text, and other pieces of information available.
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For example, a character’s hands may start to shake for various reasons—
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are they feeling weak, are they nervous or are they angry? It depends on
what bits of information you are able to piece together.

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 7

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

Read the following extract:

‘It’s no good!’ Sasha groaned at her mother. ‘I don’t want Tracey at my

birthday party and that’s the end of this discussion!’

 ‘Sasha groaned’
 It’s almost as though she is in pain, except she isn’t experiencing
physical pain. It’s as though she’s groaning to emphasise her
point.
 We can infer that Sasha wants her mother to stop trying to
persuade her, and so she is indicating that her mother is
upsetting her in the hopes that her mother will drop the subject.

 ‘that’s the end of this discussion!’

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 Sasha is unwilling to negotiate about having Tracey at her party.
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 We can infer that Sasha and Tracey are not on good terms,
perhaps they have had a serious falling-out. r o
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One way you can practice your ability to interpret implicit meaning, is to try

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and predict what will happen later on in the text— just be sure that your
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predictions are based on valid and justifiable points and instances in that
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text.

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Task 2 (35) (Estimated time: 30-35 minutes plus 5-8 minutes’ reading
time)
1. Based on the underlined phrases, what is being implied about the
characters? [5]
a) Maria gave Tom an icy glance.

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 8

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

________________________________________________________________________________

b) He had a reputation for being a smooth talker.

________________________________________________________________________________

c) ‘Can’t you just be straight with me?’

________________________________________________________________________________

d) Counsellor Smith dealt with the objectors somewhat heavy-

handedly.

________________________________________________________________________________

e) He greeted me rather distantly.

________________________________________________________________________________

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2. Read the following extract from Great Expectations by Charles a m
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Dickens.
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While reading, observe the characters’ appearance, what they say, what
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they do, and how others respond to them. Think about the effect that the
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writer wanted to achieve or convey— consider what it reveals about the
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two characters.

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‘Hold your noise,’ecried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among
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atdthe side of the church porch. ‘Keep still, you little devil, or
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I’ll cut your throat!’

A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with
no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A
man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by

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Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who
limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth
chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

‘O! Don’t cut my throat, sir,’ I pleaded in terror. ‘Pray don’t do it, sir.’

‘Tell us your name,’ said the man. ‘Quickly.’

‘Pip, sir.’

‘Once more,’ said the man, staring at me. ‘Give it mouth!’

‘Pip. Pip, sir.’

‘Show us where you live,’ said the man. ‘Point out the place!’

I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder

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trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
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The man, after looking at me for a moment, turnedmme upside down,
g rathem but a piece of
and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in
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bread. When the church came to itself—Pfro he was so sudden and
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strong that he made it go head over heels
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under my feet— when the church E came to itself, I say, I was seated on

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a high tombstone, trembling, Ewhile he ate the bread ravenously.
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t I the man, licking his lips, ‘what fat cheeks you
‘You young dog,’ said
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ha’ got.’ b e
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I believeEthey were fat, though I was at that time undersized for my
years, and not strong.

‘Darn me if I couldn’t eat em,’ said the man, with a threatening shake
of his head, ‘and if I hadn’t half a mind to ‘t.’

Edubest IGCSE English Programme 10

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the

tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly,
to keep myself from crying.

From Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

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Edubest IGCSE English Programme 11

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

Fill in the two tables below with your observation of Pip and Magwitch, and
what we can infer about them and their relationships. An example has been
provided. [30]

Pip

What he says and What we can infer What we can infer

does; about him about his
How others respond; relationships
Words used when
describe him
calls Magwitch ‘sir’ He is polite, even Even though Magwitch
though he is scared. was violent towards
him, Pip addressed him
politely.

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Edubest IGCSE English Programme 12

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
 YEAR 10 READING SKILL 3

Magwitch

What he says and What we can infer What we can infer

does; about him about his
How others respond; relationships
Words used when
describe him
‘you little devil’ He doesn’t like Magwitch has no
children. qualms about being
aggressive towards
children.

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Edubest IGCSE English Programme 13

Year 10 Reading 3_MC
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Task 3 (20) (Estimated time: 20-25 minutes)

1. Re-read the description of Pip’s first meeting with the convict
Magwitch. Explain how the highlighted phrases are used by the writer
to suggest that Pip is scared of Magwitch. [10]

2. Re-read the descriptions of Magwitch in the extract. Select four

powerful words or phrases from the extract and explain how each
word or phrase is used effectively. [10]

Conclusion
The ability to spot explicit meaning and detect implicit meaning will help you
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develop your reading skills greatly. To review, when being asked to provide m
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explicit meanings or information, be sure to pick the most suitable
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definitions or quotations you can, while ensuring you are able to find what

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is being asked and filter through unnecessary detail. When being asked to
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identify implicit meanings or information, be attentive to how language is
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used, what effects are being achieved and how they are being achieved, as
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well as the specific pieces of information that suggest or point to meaning
and significance. s tI
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In this lesson, you learnt about explicit meaning and a type of implicit
meaning relating to character. In the next lesson, you will learn more about
implicit meaning.

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Year 10 Reading 3_MC
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