Choose one familiar idea above, then apply the same concept to an unseen text.
Q1 – 3 marks
How does the poet convey a sense of loss?
Text 1 – “Making Frittatas”
Ten years is a long time
and I have missed you.
...
You taught me how to do this. After ten years during
which I assumed you did not cook—time stops
when we are absent—
...
And so, today, I think: it is all the simple
times of sharing simple things
that we have missed. The mutual teaching and learning
that is, or should be, a daughter’s and a mother’s right.
1. Identify the loss
2. Evidence hunt
Evidence
Useful for loss?
“Ten years is a long time”
“time stops when we are absent”
“it was good!”
3. Technique → meaning
4. Free response
Q2 – 4 marks
Explain how the visual and the written text represent human connection.
1. Two-mode warning
This question requires visual + written analysis.
2. Visual detective
3. Written-language detective
4. Free response
Q3 – 4 marks
Analyse how the extract shows the importance of the river to the people.
Speaker 1: “it’s ours in a sense to share for everybody.”
Speaker 2: “we’ve all got a shared interest in it”
Speaker 1: “It’s the river that sustains us all... part of our heart, part of our life and part of our whole family.”
Speaker 3: “it is all connected to one river.”
Speaker 4 refers to farmers, people who fish, riverboat captains and favourite swimming spots.
1. Match evidence to technique
“ours… share for everybody”
“shared interest” / “all connected”
farmers / fishers / captains / swimmers
2. Meaning ladder
3. Free response
Q4 – 4 marks
Analyse the language features used to create Norman’s character.
“Opinionated and inclined to colourful language...”
“random subjects that race and tumble through his head”
“He’s clever, Norman, sometimes too clever for his own good.”
“A dazzling intellect”
“with only half a tongue in cheek”
“one final, sparkling fact”
1. Character detective
2. Feature → character
3. Free response
Q5 – 5 marks: Boss level
Analyse how the horses are used to explore the speaker’s relationship with the world.
“calling back and forth to one another”
“inside you are dreaming / of the rhythm of their hooves”
“now it’s worth it to go out there”
“so close your eyes, you belong to them—
their gallop is the gallop of your heart.”
