The repair cafe
I expected the repair cafe to be a museum of things that should have been thrown away. My toaster had refused to work for months. A volunteer opened it, found a loose connection and asked me to hold the torch. Ten minutes later it clicked into life. Around us, strangers bent over lamps, coats and bicycles, learning the names of small parts. I left with a working toaster and an uncomfortable suspicion that I had been mistaking unfamiliarity for impossibility.
What fault did the volunteer find, and what did the narrator hold?
40 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE English Language 3.1 Critical reading and comprehension, covering 3.1.1 Identify and interpret themes, ideas and information, 3.1.2 Read in different ways for different purposes, 3.1.3 Draw inferences and justify with evidence, 3.1.4 Support a point of view using textual evidence, 3.1.5 Identify bias and misuse of evidence, 3.1.6 Reflect critically and evaluatively using context, 3.1.7 Recognise different responses to a text, 3.1.8 Identify the main theme or themes, 3.1.9 Summarise ideas and information from a single text, 3.1.10 Synthesise from more than one text, 3.1.11 Explain how vocabulary and grammar create impact, 3.1.12 Analyse and evaluate form and structure, and 3.1.13 Compare texts critically. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.