ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE

GRADE 11 BASELINE TEST - MEMORANDUM

TIME LIMIT: 40 minutes TOTAL MARKS: 35
INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Choose the best option to answer each the following questions.

Choose only ONE answer per question. Write the question number and only
the letter (A, B, C or D) for the answer that you select, on your answer sheet.

A. Comprehension
Read the text below and answer the questions that follow.
Have we been brain-jacked by Instagram?

1 One of the first things you probably already know is that Instagram
increases dopamine – the chemical in the brain that makes us happy.
Great! Ah, yeah, but not so great, because as likes, followers and
more keep amping up the dopamine, it keeps us craving hits. And
more and more time on Instagram could be neurologically damaging. 5
2 Last year, The Online Brain was published, a review by the World
Psychiatric Association looking at what the internet does to our grey
matter.
3 Perhaps the most concerning finding was that being on social media
has the same impact on our brains as “age-related cognitive decline”. 10
That’s right, we may now need anti-ageing serum for our brains. The
main cause of this is ‘atrophy’– namely that we are not engaging the
brain muscle enough, so it’s deteriorating.
4 Dr Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist, says this is because
we’re not using our brains properly when on social media – a medium 15
devoid of the ‘deep thinking’ that is the exercise our brains need to
keep fit. “Your brain changes moment by moment, according to what
you expose it to,” she says. “When social media becomes what you
overwhelmingly expose it to, you allow your brain to start changing
networks and making neurotransmitters fire incorrectly. They won’t 20
fire in harmony and your brainwaves won’t be coherent. This all
causes abnormal pathways in the brain.”
5 I ask Dr Leaf what that looks like, and while Instagram-specific brain
imaging doesn’t exist yet, those associated with excessive online and
general social media use, do. “We do quantitative electro- 25
encephalographic brain mapping, which records electrical activity in
the brain, and we compare it to a ‘normalised’ database of findings
from the 1970s,” she says. “There is a radical shift. The brain firing is
way higher – it looks crazy.”
6 So if our brains are starting to resemble drawers of tangled phone 30
chargers, is that a bad thing? Leading neurologist Baroness Susan
Greenfield thinks so. “What social media delivers is experience, not

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 thought. These fast-paced images are driving how the brain is
working – we’re not thinking any more, we’re just reacting to things.
7 It’s about the sensory power of these apps, the stimulation it gives us. 35
We’re faster at processing information, but not understanding it.”
8 Perhaps, we could simply let ourselves be bored. We have the power
to take back our brains and, in the process, restore some balance to
our mental health.
9 So, may I suggest you run that bath and read our latest brilliant 40
magazine there? And please, for your brain’s sake, don’t bring your
phone.

Source: [Adapted from: www.glamourmagazaine.co.uk]

1. According to the writer, why do we keep craving hits on Instagram? (1)

A It decreases dopamine, the chemical in the brain that makes
us happy.
B It increases serotonin, a chemical in the brain that makes us
happy.
C It increases dopamine, the chemical in the brain that
makes us happy.
D It increases dopamine, the cells in the brain that makes us
happy.

2. Refer to paragraph 2. In context, “grey matter” refers to:

(1)
A psychiatry
B neurological damage
C the brain
D The Online Brain

3. Refer to paragraph 3. When said that the brain muscle is (1)

“deteriorating”, it means that:
A the brain muscle is disintegrating.
B the brain muscle is recuperating.
C the brain is evolving.
D the brain muscle is dying.

4. When your brainwaves are not coherent, it causes

(1)
A neurotransmitters to fire incorrectly.
B changes in the brain’s networks.
C it to fire in harmony.
D abnormal pathways in the brain.

5. True or false: We do not always understand the information that we

are processing. (2)
A True
B False
[6]

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B: Visual Literacy: Advertisement
Study the advertisement below and answer the questions that follow:

6. What is the name of the organisation being advertised? (1)

A Learn more
B Donate now
C Pencils of Promise
D Nickonken

7. Who is this organisation funded by? (1)

A They are sponsored.
B The government.
C Pencils of Promise.
D Nickonken.

8. Why does the advertiser use the images of children in school uniform
in the advertisement? (1)
A Only boys can grow up to be leaders.
B They are representative of a poor community that can be
transformed by education.
C The future can be transformed by education.
D The target market for this advertisement is grown men.

9. What does the hashtag #everyonehaspromise mean? (1)

A Everyone has the potential to be educated.
B Everyone can read and write.

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 C Everyone is faithful to a specific cause.
D Everyone will have a job if they have education. [4]

B: Visual Literacy: Cartoon

Study the cartoon below and answer the questions that follow:

Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4

10. Refer to frame 1.

What are the two children holding in their hands? (1)
A Touch screens
B Smartphones
C Remote controls
D Notepads

11. Refer to frame 3. (1)

The three circles above Madam’s head is indicating that she is…
A talking
B doubtful
C thinking
D shouting

12. Why is Madam feeling hopeful in frame 3? (1)

A She has found someone who is not on social media but actually
doing some work.
B She loves dusters.
C The duster serves as a fan to cool her down.
D She has not seen Eve in quite a while.

13. What is the message of the cartoon? (1)

A Old people do not understand social media.
B Everyone, regardless age or culture, is hooked on social
media.
C Children should be seen and not heard.
D Do not expect too much of other people.
[4]

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SECTION D
Literature: Poetry
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow, by choosing the best
possible answer.

SUPERMARKET ENCOUNTER – Mavis Smallberg

I move on my two
good, strong legs
in fact
today my feet are
thrust into shoes with 5
heels almost eight centimetres high

agony poised on my brow

I tripple disgruntled along
my feet make me aware
that deliberate discomfort is wrong 10
and there’s no need
to concede to fashion

you whoosh by
your hands deftly spinning
the wheel 15
your two weak, useless legs
stick out in front
and there’s an eager
bright look in your eye

my pain lames me 20
shames me

14 This poem is written from the point of view of: (1)

A The first person
B The third person
C The omniscient (all seeing and all-knowing) narrator

15 The poem has a lack of punctuation and capital letters. The lines run on into the
following stanza. This is an example of: (1)
A entrapment
B exactness

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 C enticement
D enjambment

16 In line 2, the poet speaks of her two ‘good strong’ legs. This is in direct contrast
with the following image later on in the poem: (1)
A agony poised
B tripple disgruntled
C weak useless
D pain lames

17 Refer to lines 4 – 6.
Identify the figure of speech used. (1)
A alliteration
B onomatopoeia
C simile
D metaphor

18 Refer to line 12.

To ‘concede to fashion’, means to: (1)
A be very unfashionable
B follow fashion, almost blindly
C spend very little money on clothes
D make and design all your own clothes

19 Refer to line 13.

The ‘you’ is able to ‘whoosh’ by because: (1)
A she has very fashionable takkies
B she is in a wheel chair
C she is a well-known athlete
D she is riding in the trolley

20 Refer to stanza 3.
Choose one word that proves that the person is keen to get moving. (1)
A whoosh
B spinning
C eager
D bright

21 The poet feels: (1)

A proud of her fashionable high heeled shoed
B pity for the person in the wheel chair
C shame for being such a slave to fashion
D angry because she has hurt her feet
[8]

SECTION E
Language

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Read the text below which contains some deliberate errors, and answer the questions
that follow.

We have suffered enough

1 While speaking to a psychologist on my daily radio show, Rob’s World,
I complained openly about my 15-year-old daughter who is not finding
lockdown particularly easy. I did the whole "why can't she see how
blessed she is" thing, which is when the psychologist introduced me to
the concept of loss around the expectation of what the year was 5
meant to bring.
2
He explained that, as a result of the pandemic, our children have
suffered significant loss.
3
Each school year brings excitement of something unique to that
particular year. Seven months into the year, it is now clear that there 10
will be no matrix dances, no sports tours and no social interaction of
any sort. Instead, they have been asked to stay home and gain
4 knowledge, without the outlet they have been used to.

And when some have returned to school, they’ve entered an

environment that looks nothing like that place they once knew. To 15
negate or ignore that loss is to be deaf to a significant sacrifice of their
youth. They will never be able to experience what they had anticipated
5 for the year that is fast diminishing. And that is pretty sad. The Covid-
19 pandemic has resulted in loss on many levels.

The loss of life health finance and experience have been significant.
There is also little doubt that our emotional stability is more at risk than
ever before, and one needs to spend limited amount of time on social
media to see how fragile we are.

[Adapted from News 24]

22 Refer to line 1. The italics used in ‘Rob’s World’ show that

(1)

A Rob is very important

B It is the name of the radio show
C The writer especially wishes to emphasise those words
D He believes he rules the world

23 Refer to line 2.
The punctuation in the word ‘15-year-old’ is called a: (1)
A hyphen
B dash

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24 Refer to line 6.
The commas could be replaced with (2)
A brackets
B quotation marks
C dashes
D brackets or dashes

25 Refer to paragraph 3.
Identify the malapropism (incorrectly used word) (2)
A particular
B interaction
C knowledge
D matrix

26 Refer to line 12.

The apostrophe in the word they’ve is to show: (1)
A That a word has been left out
B Singular possession
C contraction
D Plural possession

27 Refer to line 17. The meaning of the sentence could be made clearer by adding: (1)
A commas
B question marks
C exclamation marks
D semi-colons

[8]

SECTION F
Creative and Transactional Writing
Answer the questions below.
28 When you conclude an original writing essay, is it a good idea to end with the
idea that the whole essay was just a dream? (1)
A Yes
B No

29 A dialogue is a piece of writing in which: (1)

A One person shares their private thoughts with the audience
B You write about a serious fight between yourself and some friends
C Two people are speaking to one another
D A presenter reads the news on the radio

A marking rubric: (1)

30 A Is for you to use in order to see how your work will be assessed
B Is only for the marker. You should not look at it.

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 C Is never used for creative writing.
D Is only for Grade 12 final exams

When you plan your essay: (1)

31 A You should write out the whole essay in pencil first
B You should not worry about how it will end
C You should choose a really controversial topic
D You should make a detailed mind map

32 One of the most important features of a creative writing essay is that: (1)
A The story is filled with action
B The characters go on an epic adventure
C You write sincerely, and from your heart
D There should be many plot twists

[5]

GRAND TOTAL: 35