The Empty Room
Text 1: The Pinholes, by Naomi Vickers
An original novel extract.
The room looked bigger without the bed. A pale rectangle marked where the bookcase had stood, and four tiny pinholes remained above the desk. Maya ran her thumb over them. The walls were blank now, but she could still remember the postcards, the revision timetable and Leena laughing with her mouth full of cake.
Mum called from below, ‘We’re ready.’ Maya answered, ‘Coming,’ but did not move. She opened the cupboard once more. It held only one lost button and the smell of dust. For a moment, the room looked surprised, as if it had woken to find everyone gone.
At last, Maya pulled the door towards her. It clicked shut.
From the back seat, she watched the house slide behind the hedge. First the red chimney vanished, then the upstairs window, then even the gate. Mum began talking about the new place, but Maya kept her face turned towards the glass until the road bent and there was nothing left to see.
In what ways do the language and structure of the extract reveal Maya’s sadness about leaving her old home?
You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.
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146 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE English Language 3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content, covering 3.2.3 Impact of language, structure and grammar. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.