The glasshouse
“At four o'clock, Jo unlocked the school glasshouse to collect the tomato plants. The summer holiday began the next morning, and she had promised to take six pots home. A storm warning was pinned to the noticeboard by the door. Outside, the football field lay empty except for a red cone. Jo placed a cardboard box on the path and counted the pots twice. One plant, the smallest, had finally produced a single green tomato.
Under the glass, the air was thick and warm. Leaves pressed against one another like passengers in a crowded carriage, and drops of water clung to the roof in trembling rows. Beyond them, the sky had turned the colour of a bruise. The first gust shook the panes with a dry, nervous rattle. Jo lifted a pot; the stem bent towards her sleeve, leaving a sharp green smell on the cloth.
The gardening club had started with twelve students and ended with two. Jo had watered through the hot weeks while everyone else rehearsed for sports day. She had said she did not mind. Now, balancing a pot against her chest, she found that she did mind a little. It would have been pleasant to have someone beside her, even someone who carried things badly. She set the first three pots in the box.
A branch struck the roof. One pane cracked, a white line racing from corner to corner. Jo stepped back, and the box tore beneath the weight of the pots. Soil spread over the path. For a second she stared at the damage, unable to choose what to save. Then the door opened. Ellis stood there with a plastic crate. 'The caretaker sent me,' he said. Jo pointed to the unbroken pots. Her voice sounded surprisingly steady.
They moved quickly, leaving the spilled soil and carrying the plants to the sheltered doorway. Jo returned only as far as the box to lift the smallest pot. Its stem had folded, but the green tomato was still attached. Ellis held out a hand for it. She almost said that she could manage. Instead she passed it to him and took the lighter end of the crate. Together they carried it towards the school, the little tomato shaking between them.”
Refer only to the first paragraph. Choose one answer for each item in the table. Write the four letters in order, labelling them 1 to 4. Each correct answer earns one mark.
| Item | Question | Option A | Option B | Option C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When does Jo unlock the glasshouse? | At four o’clock | At noon | The next morning |
| 2 | How many pots has she promised to take home? | Two | Three | Six |
| 3 | What is on the noticeboard? | A sports-day result | A storm warning | A holiday photograph |
| 4 | What is on the empty football field? | A red cone | A plastic crate | A broken branch |
136 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE English Language 5.2 Content, covering 5.2.1 Reading source: literature fiction text, 5.2.2 Focus of the extracts, 5.2.3 Stimulus for students' own writing, and 5.2.4 Scenario sets audience, purpose and form. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.