A roof over the market

Text: an original contemporary commentary-style practice extract.

The market traders were told that a covered hall would protect their goods from rain. By the next morning, people were speaking as if a roof had been proposed to keep the town out. The drawings showed neat rows of stalls; the arguments supplied everything the drawings left blank.

Some traders wanted dry tables and a place to store their crates. Others worried that fixed pitches would make the market feel like a shop with its doors removed. Both descriptions were trying to defend something real: reliable working conditions on one side, the chance to wander and discover on the other. At the consultation, the useful question was not whether the hall would be “modern” or “soulless”. It was which parts could be changed, and who would get to decide.

The first plan was revised. The roof stayed, but the outer stalls could be rearranged each week, and traders were invited to test the layout before building began. On the first wet Saturday, I watched a customer pause beneath the unfinished canopy, then carry her basket back into the rain to visit the last stall. The shelter had arrived. The market, it seemed, had not yet agreed where it wanted to stand.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader.

In your answer, consider:

• language features and techniques
• structural techniques
• the effect on the reader.

Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.