An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
A ribbon of smoke crept along the ceiling of the mill room. Tom looked up from the frame, where the thread had snarled again, and saw a faint orange pulse behind the far partition. The other workers were still bent over their tasks. He called to them, but the machinery swallowed his voice. Then the bell gave one uneven clang.
Chairs scraped back. Smoke poured through the doorway and folded across the floor, hiding the familiar boards. Tom reached for the nearest worker, but caught only a sleeve as the man stumbled past. At the stairwell, heat pressed against his face. He turned away and followed the wall towards the loading door, feeling for its latch through the thickening dark. When it lifted, cold air rushed in. He held the door wide while the others emerged, counting each figure until the room behind him was empty.
Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to present the danger of the fire in the mill. Support your answer with references to the passage.
456 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.