HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Resolutions anyone?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jan/05/2014-going-to-be-best-year-eva-wiseman

IT’S BEEN A WHILE FOLKS… Hope you all had a lovely time but let’s

have a close reading recap:

Identify the 3 types of questions that feature in close reading – 1 mark

Try to list as many questions in each category as you can – 1 mark

PASSAGE 1 This is going to be the best year. This is going to be

the year where everything goes right. Isn't that great? All the nonsense you've become used to, all that dragging, nagging stuff that has weighed you down from the inside, that you excrete in daily moans over a baked-potato lunch, all that will evaporate. This is the year that you're going to feel better. For the first time in your long and grinding life, you will follow the rules, you will fulfil your resolutions, this is the year that you won't bloat after 2pm. This is the year you will wear yellow. And not just wear it – you'll suit it. Strangers will approach you on your way out for lunch, and say, "That's a great colour on you." And you'll take it. Rather than laughing it off, you'll smile thank you, gliding off in the direction of salad like an angel.

PASSAGE 11. How does the writer’s use of word

choice highlight her optimism about 2014? 4A

2. What does she claim will be particularly good this year?1U

3. What does the line “This is the year you will wear yellow” suggest?2E

4. What does her use of imagery suggest about her eating habits in 2014?

2A

PASSAGE 2 Your hair will look amazing. Huge and

buoyant, a cruise ship sailing upon your head, smelling of almonds. Lovers will remember it in their 80s, that hair, that beautiful hair. In 2014, your skin will look the way it looks in the dark reflection of a train carriage. Hazy and poreless and slightly smudged. You will feel full. Your belly will no longer resemble a defrosted quiche, quietly escaping from your jeans. You will not feel faint after running for a bus. You will have new affection for the forgotten bits of your body. Your gorgeous knees. Your neck.

PASSAGE 25. What does the writer claim will improve

in passage 2?1U

6. What does the writer’s use of imagery reveal about your appearance in 2014?

4A7. What effect does the use of sentence

structure in the final line have? 3A/E

PASSAGE 3 What happiness you will know, come

summer, when that woman at work who's been determined to do your head in moves to the coast, for her lungs. What happiness you will know when you manage to adjust your seat to exactly the right angle for your back. When, suddenly, all the little kindnesses you do for your friends go acknowledged, and the sun shines through the skylight directly on your face, warming you.

PASSAGE 38. Explain why the first sentence will

improve your 2014.2U

9. What technique does the writer use to make her point about the workplace more interesting?

1A10. What does the final line of this passage

suggest about the impact of your work improvements on your life?2E

PASSAGE 4 Your birthday will approach, with the

usual subdued excitement. You'll arrange to meet your sister for lunch in town, and the road will be closed off, and when you weave your way through you will find everybody you have ever had affection for, and some you didn't, standing in the street holding banners with your name on. "We adore you!" they'll sing. "We always have!" It will go viral on YouTube. And the comments will be kind.

PASSAGE 411. What does the first sentence suggest

about the way the writer normally looks at her birthday?

2A12. What technique does the writer use to

highlight that her birthday will be a good one this year?

1A13. What does the writer’s reference to

YouTube suggest about its place in today’s society?

2E

PASSAGE 5 That night you will dream an idea for a novel. It'll be a

bright, crisp day and you'll take your laptop to the park, where you will start to write. By dusk, you'll have 60,000 words and a bit of a tan, and will walk home flushed and exhilarated. Two young people will awkwardly try it on with you while you're buying your tea in Tesco. Within a week there will be a bidding war for a three-book deal, which you'll balance with elegance. The book will be credited for "saving the lives of a lost generation", and a foundation will be set up in your name. Your old school will put up a framed photo of you outside the canteen. During your appearance on the Review Show, a hashtag about your nice jumper will trend on Twitter.

PASSAGE 514. How does the writer’s use of language

show that the day you think of your novel will be a good one?

4A15. What effect does the use of inverted

commas have in “The book will be credited for "saving the lives of a lost generation", and a foundation will be set up in your name.” 1E

16. What does the reference to “hashtagging” suggest about the writer’s opinion of this?

2E

PASSAGE 6 Your new fame will beckon lost relatives to

your inbox, and over tea at a hotel, your mother and her aunt will embrace for the first time in 30 years. When you leave, to meet your partner, they will mouth "Thank you" tearfully through the window.

Your relationship this year will become one of long journeys and love letters, which, in time, will be archived and published as lessons in love. Every train ride you take to each other feels like it is fusing you even closer. You will feel an intense, anaesthetised peace when lying next to each other.

PASSAGE 617. What does the writer’s reference to

long lost relatives suggest about her ideas on family?

2E18. What two ways will you use to connect

with a loved one in 2014? Answer in your own words.

2U19. How does the writer use language to

create an image of a beautiful relationship? 2A

PASSAGE 7 As autumn frosts into winter, your

central heating will work twice as hard, for half the price. Your flat, therefore, will be forever filled with friends, warming themselves on your rug, discussing politics, and feelings, and favourite Modern Family episodes. Toast will stream from your kitchen. Your jaw will hurt from laughing.

In the photos, your hair will look incredible.

PASSAGE 720. What is the first positive thing that the

writer says you will be faced with in winter? 2U

21. What technique does the writer use to create a warm environment in their flat? 1A

22. How effective do you find the final line as a conclusion to the passage as a whole? 2E

CONSIDERING THE PASSAGE AS A WHOLE23. How does the writer use the seasons to

make her writing more effective?2E

24. What effect does this use of second-person perspective have on the article?

2E25. Identify the overall tone of the piece

and explain how the writer has created this tone.4A

TOTAL MARKS - 55