The Gate
Text 1: The New School, by Hannah Pryce
An original novel extract.
Maya stopped at the gate and tightened her fingers around the strap of her bag. The school rose beyond it, all grey stone and tall windows. She had seen it in photographs, but here it seemed to climb straight into the clouds.
A bell rang inside. Maya jumped. Her shoes made a small scrape as she took one step, then another. The gate clicked shut behind her. For a moment she listened: voices rushed along the corridors, then vanished behind a door.
The entrance was only a few metres away. Maya counted them anyway. One. Two. Three. At the door, she paused. A girl in a green jumper held it open and pointed towards the office. “You’re Maya, aren’t you?”
Maya nodded. The girl waited, still holding the door. The strap slipped from Maya’s hand. She caught it, took a breath, and stepped inside.
How does Hannah Pryce use language and structure to show Maya’s nervousness as she arrives at the school?
In your response, consider how the writer presents Maya outside the school, develops the moment as she approaches the entrance, and ends the extract.
You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.
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.