Across the supper table
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Mrs Dacre asked whether the journey had been pleasant. Her son said it had been uneventful. He kept his eyes on the tablecloth, tracing a crease with the tip of his knife. She waited for him to say more. Between them, the unused questions crowded the table. At last she offered him another potato, and he thanked her with a relief that made her look away.
Identify the phrase which suggests that mother and son avoid discussing important matters.
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.