The reservoir steps

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

The falling water level had uncovered a flight of stone steps along the reservoir edge. I had walked this path for years without knowing they were there. They descended towards the remaining water with the confidence of a route still expecting to be useful. Mud filled the lowest treads. Above them, a pale line on the wall marked where the surface had stood in wetter months.

The exposed ground looked unfinished: stones, roots and the dark shapes of objects too far away to identify. Water usually gave the place one smooth answer. Without it, the shoreline became a collection of difficult details. I found myself searching for evidence of the landscape that had existed before the reservoir, although I knew almost nothing about it. The steps encouraged stories precisely because they supplied so little explanation.

I took a photograph and left the gate closed. The ground beyond it was not a place to explore casually. On the walk home, the image stayed with me: an ordinary path appearing where I had expected only water. The reservoir had not revealed a complete past. It had shown how confidently a familiar surface can hide things we have never thought to ask about.

Refer to the whole of Source A. Analyse how the writer uses language to present the newly exposed reservoir edge as intriguing. Explain the effects of specific words, phrases and language choices, using evidence from the passage.