The rooftop greenhouse
Text: an original contemporary review-style practice extract.
On opening morning, I went upstairs expecting a garden. The first thing I found was a row of empty trays, each labelled with a date. I took them for evidence of a project not yet finished. Then a volunteer handed me a small paper envelope and pointed towards the labels.
Inside were seeds. The dates marked when each tray had been planted; the bare soil was not a mistake but a beginning. Nearby, a child pressed one finger into a tray and asked whether anything would happen. The volunteer did not promise a result. She showed us how to cover the seeds lightly and leave space between them. Suddenly, the room seemed less like a display and more like a set of decisions being made.
I still wanted to see something growing. Yet the greenhouse had offered a different kind of visit: not a finished view, but the chance to notice what had to happen before one. On the way out, I looked back at the empty trays. They no longer looked unfinished. They looked busy.
Analyse the reviewer's choices of language and structure and how these guide the reader's response.
In your answer, consider:
Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.
834 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 2.3 Content: non-fiction study and transactional text types, covering 2.3.9 Write an article, 2.3.10 Write a letter, 2.3.11 Write a review, 2.3.12 Write a text for a speech, and 2.3.13 Write a section for a guide, textbook, leaflet or booklet. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.