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3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

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Question 101

The School Play

Text 1: The Quiet House, by Miriam Vale

An original short story extract.

Maya stood in the school hall behind the red curtain, pressing her palms against the sides of her costume. From the other side came a scrape of chairs, then a cough. She counted the floorboards beneath her shoes: one, two, three. The folded script in her pocket had softened at the corners.

The curtain began to move. A strip of light crossed the floor and reached her shoes. Maya's throat tightened. Then she heard her little brother in the front row call her name. She drew a breath and stepped into the light. The first line came out quietly, but it came out.

By the final scene, the hall had disappeared from her thoughts. The words seemed to know the way without her. When the last line ended, the silence lasted a moment. Then hands began to clap, first in one corner, then all around her. Maya looked towards the curtain, but she did not want to go back behind it.

How does Miriam Vale use language and structure to present Maya?

You should consider:

  • the opening, before the curtain moves
  • the moment the curtain moves
  • the ending.

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.

[6]
Markscheme

3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content Questions

  1. GCSE
  2. /English Language
  3. /3.2 Section A: Reading meaning and effects – content

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.

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