The schoolroom bell
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
The bell rang while the pupils were still copying the final sentence. Miss Reed told them to finish the line, close their books and place their slates on the shelf. Peter hurried so much that he smudged the ink with his sleeve. She made him wash his hands before leaving. Outside, his friends waited beside the pump, arguing over who would carry the ball to the field.
Give two instructions Miss Reed gives all the pupils when the bell rings.
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.