The apprentice’s tools
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
The master placed a ruler and a small plane on William’s bench. He told him to measure the board before touching its surface. William marked the length in pencil, checked the mark against the ruler and began shaving the rough edge. Thin curls of wood gathered around his boots. When he tried to hurry, the master stopped him and pointed to the uneven patch his haste had made.
Give two things William does before he begins shaving the wood.
120 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.