Unseen Text
Unseen Text
Language, Form and Structure [2]
Unseen Text: Sri Lanka National AL English II, Cambridge OL English Language 1123, Cambridge AS & A Language & Literature
Written by bunPeiris
How do you answer the questions given on unseen literary passage?
An unseen text can be any of the following.
[a] Literary passage, e.g. extract from fiction, drama, poetry, essay or biography.
[b] Factual passage, e.g. instructions, descriptions, reports.
[c] Discursive passage involving opinion, e.g. argumentative, persuasive or interpretative text.
Indeed, any text can remain an unseen text until you enjoy the opportunity to read, study and lift yourself to a higher level of comprehension. If the literary, factual and discursive passages that you read and study at school or on your own is termed “seen passages”, all other texts become “unseen passages.” The method that you follow in approaching a text in school is applicable to unseen passages that you encounter in the examination too. As such what is tested in the examination is your ability in application of your approach to the texts as you have “discussed” [rather than teacher oriented-taught] works of literature at school. Unseen passages put your analytical powers to a rigorous test as those do not permit the advantage of memorization of third party analysis, i.e. that has already been done by your teacher, tuition master or on-line sources.
Consider Language, Form and Structure of the given passage
Language:
word choice, description, poetic diction, formal and informal usage, exaggeration, colloquialism, imagery, figurative language, literal language,
alliteration. assonance, consonance, personification, hyperbole, onomatopoeia
connotation, denotation.
Form:
novel, poetry, drama, non-fiction, letter, diary, travel literature
genre, allegory, tragedy, fantasy, morality tale, fabliaux, comedy,
epic ballad, elegy, sonnet, free verse, blank verse
point of view, voice, first person, omniscient, objective, narrator
stream of consciousness, dialogue, monologue
lines and sentences, stanzas and paragraphs, acts and scenes, chapters and episodes
rhyme scheme, rhythm, meter
syntax, enjambment, caesura
Structure:
thematic development, tone, setting
irony, dramatic, situational, verbal, character development, exposition
causality, foreshadowing, suspense, rising action, complication, crisis, resolution, denouement
mood, atmosphere, sound patterns, symbolism, metaphor
Identify the structure of the given passage
Structure can refer to the order of words and ideas within: a sentence; a paragraph; an extract; a whole text
Think about the effect the structure creates; remember to focus on how the reader responds to the structure of the text. Consider how the writer is using structure to manipulate the reader’s response.
Identify the narration or argument of the given passage
Where does this extract fit into the longer text – is it an opening or ending?
Why are the paragraphs ordered in the way they are?
How does the focus of each paragraph change?
Is it important for the reader to know certain bits of information before they get to the next part of the text?
Are there any links between the beginning and the end of the text?
Are there any repeated images?
Is there a significant change in an attitude, character or setting?
Is there a change of perspective?
Look for Regular or most frequent structural devices in a passage
Repetition – of words, phrases or whole sentences.
Connectives – e.g. meanwhile, finally, although. These could be used to shift the reader’s focus
Sentence types – e.g. multi-clause or single clause. For example, a multi-clause sentence could be used to build up layers of description to create a vivid setting.
Sentence length – e.g. short to show tension.
Paragraph length – e.g. single line paragraphs to focus the reader.
Change of tense – e.g. from present to past.
Follow Literary Elements and Narrative structure
Fictional narratives may also follow an overall structure, which may fit broadly into typical stages, i.e. exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement.
Narrative structure is underpined by these features that are generally termed Literary Elements.
[1] exposition: Setting [when, where and who]
Setting is a literary device that allows the writer of a narrative to establish the time, location, and environment in which it takes place.
The purpose is to create a “world” in which a story takes place.
Synonyms of Setting: situation, background, backdrop, milieu,
[e.g. The Lumber Room by Saki is set in an upper-middle class British home during the early 1900s, that is during the Edwardian era]
[The Edwardian era corresponds to the reign of King Edward VII in Great Britain, whose short-lived governance (1901-1910) is followed Queen Victoria’s long reign that preceded the modern House of Windsor in England.]
[2] conflict: dispute, struggle, problem, issue or even quest
Eg. Conflict in Lumber room is authority versus defiance.
[In Saki’s The Lumber Room, Nicholas annoyed by aunt’s lapses, seeks to defy her authority by using her own words and deeds against herself. Nicholas is the protagonist; the antagonist is his aunt.]
[3] Theme in The Lumber Room is that the absence of emotional attachment between children and adults tends to result in misunderstanding on the part of children in terms intended benevolence of the adults.
[In spite of Aunt’s good intentions of nourishing breakfast for the children with milk and saving jam most possibly for the rainy days, she is misunderstood owing to her inability to establish a rapport with the children.]
[5] Narrator and Point of View
The Lumber Room is narrated by an unnamed third-person omniscient narrator; the point of view stays largely with Nicholas.
[6] Climax
The most critical moment in a short story/novel/drama
[The story reaches its climax when Nicholas returns his aunt’s cruelty by using her command not to enter the gooseberry garden as a reason not to bring a ladder to help her get out of the rain-water tank.]
Literary Techniques
Literary Techniques are usually words or phrases in literary texts that are used by the writers empower the readers with a greater understanding and appreciation of their literary works. Rather than writing in plain language, writers give more emphasis to their ideas by making use of literary techniques to present outstanding pieces of prose or works of literature. Enjoy [i], [ii] & [iii] and identify the literary techniques therein while reading.
[i] Following excerpt is gleaned from the novel Half a Yellow Moon [2006] by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [b.1977][Nigeria]
QUOTE
Ugwu did not believe that anybody, not even this master he was going to live with, ate meat every day. He did not disagree with his aunty, though, because he was too choked with expectation, too busy imagining his new life away from the village. They had been walking for a while now, since they got off the lorry at the motor park, and the afternoon sun burned the back of his neck. But he did not mind. He was prepared to walk hours more in even hotter sun. He had never seen anything like the streets that appeared after they went past the university gates, streets so smooth and tarred that he itched to lay his cheek down on them. He would never be able to describe to his sister Anulika how the bungalows here were painted the colour of the sky and sat side by side like polite well-dressed men, how the hedges separating them were trimmed so flat on top that they looked like tables wrapped with leaves.
UNQUOTE
What do you think is the effect of each of following literary techniques on the reader?
Metaphor: ‘too choked with expectation’
Repetition: ‘too choked… too busy’
Alliteration: ‘burned the back of his neck’
Sibilance: ‘streets so smooth’
Hyperbole: ‘to walk hours more in even hotter sun’
Simile: ‘sat side by side like polite well-dressed men’; ‘trimmed so flat on top that they looked like tables wrapped with leaves’
Sensory imagery: ‘painted the colour of the sky’; ‘streets so smooth and tarred that he itched to lay his cheek down on them’
[ii] Following excerpt is gleaned from Clive James’ autobiography, Clive James’ autobiography, Unreliable Memoirs, published in 1980 published in 1980. Here, he writes about going to the cinema as a child in Australia in the 1940s.
Fantails came in a weird, blue packet shaped like an isosceles triangle with one corner missing. Each individual Fantail was wrapped in a piece of paper detailing a film star’s biography — hence the pun, fan tales. The Fantail itself was a chocolate-coated toffee so glutinous that it could induce lockjaw in a donkey. People had to have their mouths chipped open with a cold chisel. One packet of Fantails would last an average human being forever. A group of six small boys could go through a packet during the course of a single afternoon at the pictures, but it took hard work and involved a lot of strangled crying in the dark. Any fillings you had in your second teeth would be removed instantly, while children who still had any first teeth left didn’t keep them long.
The star lolly, outstripping even the Violet Crumble Bar and the Fantail in popularity, was undoubtedly the Jaffa. A packet of Jaffas was loaded like a cluster bomb with about fifty globular lollies the size of ordinary marbles. The Jaffa had a dark chocolate core and a brittle orange candy coat: in cross-section it looked rather like the planet Earth.
What do you think is the effect of each of following literary techniques on the reader?
alliteration – ‘chipped open with a cold chisel’
assonance – ‘chocolate coated toffee’, ‘chipped open with a cold chisel’ irony/humor – ‘induce lockjaw in a donkey’
juxtaposition – ‘average human being forever’/’six small boys…single afternoon’
interesting word choices – ‘weird’, ‘glutinous’, ‘instantly’
harsh vocabulary – ‘chipped’, ‘chisel’, ‘strangled’, ‘lockjaw’.
exaggeration/hyperbole/metaphors – ‘people had to have their mouths chipped open with a cold chisel’, ‘last an average human being forever’, ‘involved a lot of strangled crying in the dark’
[iii] A wave of nausea and pain swept over me. I was glad of the freezing blasts of snow biting into my face. My head cleared as I waited for the burning to subside from my knee. Several times I had felt it twist sideways when my boot snagged. There would be a flare of agony as the knee kinked back, and parts within the joint seemed to shear past each other with a sickening gristly crunch. I had barely ceased sobbing before my boot snagged again. At the end my leg shook uncontrollably. I tried to stop it shaking, but the harder I tried, the more it shook. I pressed my face into the snow, gritted my teeth, and waited. At last it eased. Simon had already started to climb down. I looked up but failed to make out where he was. I began digging Simon’s belay* seat. It was warming work and distracted attention from my knee. When I looked up again Simon could be seen descending quickly. ‘At this rate we should be down by nine o’clock,’ he said cheerfully.
What do you think is the effect of each of following literary techniques on the reader?
Metaphor: ‘a wave of nausea’; ‘flare of agony’
personification: ‘freezing blasts of snow biting into my face’
Violent verbs: ‘snagged… kinked… gritted… shear… twist’
Onomatopoeia: ‘sickening gristly crunch’
Repetition: ‘shook… shaking… shook’
Rule of three: ‘pressed my face into the snow, gritted my teeth, and waited.’
Adverbs: ‘silently… uncontrollably’
Unseen Text from Examination Papers
[1] G.C.E.AL English, Sri Lanka
Following is a question and a paragraph from the passage for unseen text in English II, 73/E/II, G.C.E.AL 2020, Sri Lanka
Read the following passage and answer the questions given below it, using your own words as far as possible.
[1A]PassageThe Track in the Middle of the Forest.
….They trekked for days and days. They say the hunters watched their supplies run out, and that day after day, for far too long, they only ate birds they could catch and the mushrooms that grew all around. Weeks went by and the hunters continued their trek further into the forest, penetrating deeper and deeper inside. Their beards were long and their hair matted. They hadn’t washed for days and their clothes were filthy from sleeping in the open, from walking through mud and thickets, from blood of the animals they had killed in order to eat. They stank of forest, of dry leaves and flattened plants, of sweat and of the smoke from the fires they lit each night to keep warm. And they went even further into the tiga, even on days when mist hid the sun, further in, even though they were lost, and didn’t know where they were going. And they kept losing items of clothing and had to wrap up in non-cured skins of animals they were killing with knives, spears and bows, because their powder had gone wet and they had thrown away their guns along with the lead ammunition that had weighed too much…
And finally, to communicate with each other, and because they were afraid of bears, who couldn’t be far away, they mimicked the screech of owls and the hisses of the wild cats, and almost stopped speaking. They decided to light no more fires so the animals couldn’t detect their presence and ate raw meat. …
[1B]Question
How is the passing of time conveyed in this story? Refer to the language as well as imagery in your explanation [03 marks]
[1C] Answer
The passing of time is conveyed by the gradual transformation of civilized men into unrecognizable beings. Such were the changes brought upon by them living in search, yet in fear of bears, they appearance, clothes and behavior made them impossible even for their own to recognize each other. They had seized communicate in language and were reduced to animal sounds.
The narration begins with ‘many years ago’ and proceeds to relate what happened. The mood is that of passing time. Reference is made to actual time too with ‘days and days’ and ‘weeks went by’. Furthermore, from day to week to season, the change of season is brought to light with ‘mist hid the sun’ indicating the change of season too. Then again the inevitable march of changes that take place in the humans lost in wilderness is expressed with the phrases, ‘their beards were long, and their hair matted’. But then worst is to follow: ‘their powder has got wet and they had thrown their guns away’.
With the sequence of changes, the reader becomes convinced the gradual transformation is logical and inevitable.
[2] G.C.E.AL English, Sri Lanka
Following is the question and a paragraph from the passage for unseen text in English II, 73/E/II, G.C.E.AL 2019, Sri Lanka
3. Read the following passage and answer the questions given below it, using your own words as far as possible.
[2A] Passage
In the middle of the plot stands a solitary neem tree. On the mudbank, a little away from Shorty, is twin palm. Along the field’s edge is a craggy line of rocks-the Big Rock, with its secret holes and crevices. The erukkan is everywhere, its broad leaves waving in the wind, like so many pairs of hands. Slender ridges that separate one plot of land rom the next criss-cross the field. The earth stays frim, enduring gladly surrendering its dust to the wind.
Shorty waits. He has to, at least until high noon. Only then, or even afterwards, will the others come, one by one, leading their sheep. Belly’s usually comes first. Once she is there, the world seems right. Her laughter and mocking voice held the air, and he is not alone any more. Then come Tallfelow, Stondeaf and last of all, Stumpleg.
Question
[2B] Question
Using at least two metaphors and similes describe how mood is created in the passage. (04marks)
[2C] Answer
The passage brings in a sense of anxiety, a tense restlessness. Furthermore, is a haunting feeling of solitude. The name Big Rock is spelt in capitals as if to shout at the wayfarer, that’s my name. It’s “secret holes and crevices” raises the curiosity of the reader. The statement, “erukkan is everywhere” is short yet seems to be threatening as if to let the reader know some sort of danger is impending. Furthermore, description of its leaves, “like so many pairs of hands” definitely conveys a threat since humans with their two hands could find themselves in utter danger since many hands could hardly stay still and any moment could take at least, into unexpected action, and possibly unruly conduct, if not outright violence. There hangs a sense of foreboding. Worse still, even the shepherd maid, Belly’s conduct too adds to a possible impending disaster: “Her laughter and mocking voice hold the air”. It conveys the idea that air, the intangible atmosphere itself lend to a mood of suspense in the mind of reader as to what is there in the location and the atmosphere.
[3] Cambridge O Level English 1123
Paper 1 1123/01 Reading For examination from 2024 specimen paper 2 hour
Text A: Nameless
Following is a question and a paragraph from the passage in above specimen paper.
Passage is an unseen text although that it is unseen is not at all indicated in the paper.
[3A] Passage
‘It felt as if he was passing through a membrane and entering another world. His senses were overwhelmed by an impression of life all around. Flaky, grey-green, and brownish plants, in all manner of shapes, hung from branches – drippy, frizzy, stringy, and hairy. He began picking pieces off, tucking them into his pocket. As he neared the upper surface of the redwood canopy, the lacework of branches glowed with varied shades of green and he broke out into the sunlight.’
(lines 54–59)
[3B] Question
Identify one example from the text below of how the writer uses language effectively to convey Mo’s feelings after Mo has lost sight of the ground:
QUOTE https://pastpapers.co/cie/O-Level/English-Language-1123/Syllabus%20&%20Specimen/1123_y24_sm_1.pdf
© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2021 Page 10 of 16
Responses might use any of the following relevant choices:
[3C] Answer
• as if he was passing through a membrane: moving through a barrier, breaking a cell wall, reminiscent of birth / hatching
• entering another world: discovering a new planet, coming out into a different medium, space exploration, adventure
• senses were overwhelmed: incapable of processing all the different sensations; bombarded and defenseless, as if buried or drowned beneath a huge mass of something
• flaky, grey-green, and brownish plants: indistinct murky colors of unidentified vegetation that breaks away easily, making identification difficult, unfamiliar and unsettling
• drippy, frizzy, stringy and hairy: thin but prolific, trailing and curling in all directions, sense of struggling to describe the uncontrolled living mess of vegetation
• lacework of branches: criss-crossed limbs of the redwood creates gaps, delicate and beautiful as if crafted
• glowed (with varied shades of green): radiating light from within, sense of warmth and satisfaction
UNQUOTE https://pastpapers.co/cie/O-Level/English-Language-1123/Syllabus%20&%20Specimen/1123_y24_sm_1.pdf
[4] Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1)
Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9-1) English Language, 5th November 2018
Paper 1 Fiction and Imaginative Writing, Section A, Reading
Following is a question and a paragraph from the passage in above paper.
Passage is an unseen text although that it is unseen is not at all indicated in the paper.
[4A] Passage
In a circular opening, high up in the wall of the nearer house, I saw a group of figures in rich soft robes. They had seen me, and their faces were directed towards me.
Then I heard the voices approaching me. Coming through the bushes were the heads and shoulders of men running. One of these emerged in a pathway leading straight to the little lawn upon which I stood with my machine. He was a slight creature-perhaps four feet high-clad in purple tunic, girdled at the waist with a leather belt. Sandals or buskins-I could not clearly distinguish which-were on his feet; his legs were bare to knees, and his head was bare. Noticing that, I noticed for the first time how warm the air was. He struck me as being very beautiful and graceful creature, but indescribably frail. At the sight of him I suddenly regained confidence. I took my hands from the machine.
In another moment we were standing face to face, I and this fragile thing out of futurity. He came straight up to me and laughed into my eyes. The absence from his bearing of any sign of fear struck me at once. Then he turned to two others who were following him and spoke to them in strange and very sweet and liquid tongue.
[4B] Question
In line 12-27, how does the writer use language and structure to show the narrator’s thoughts and feelings about the people he meets? Support your views with reference to the text.
[4C] Answer
Compound sentence, “They had seen me, and their faces were directed towards me”, expressing two situations in one breath, let the reader know either an interaction or encounter is just about to take place. But then again the phrase “rich soft robes” intimate the situation could be one of friendly encounter rather than hostile encounter since the group is not at all in armor ready to give battle. Furthermore, the adjectives rich and soft also suggest gentleness and refinement.
Descriptive phrases, ‘slight creature’ and ‘perhaps four feet high’ suggest that the figures are not at all physically robust as to be on the same level as an average human is. Their costumes of regal colors as denoted in “purple” overtones of classical antiquity as denoted in “tunic” reminds the readers of Roman senators rather than Roman legionnaires. Still more, the phrase, “girdled at the waist with a leather belt” intimates the reader flowing yet compact attire of theirs. The use of intensifiers, as in ‘very beautiful and graceful’, ‘their fragility, indescribably frail’, ‘very sweet and liquid tongue’, convey the intensity f the thoughts of the narrator.
The “war air” seems to bring in pathetic fallacy saying the situation could turn out to one of friendly interaction rather than a hostile encounter.
[5] AQA GCSE English Language (8700)
Following is from AQA GCSE English Language (8700) Marked Responses
QUOTE file:///I:/AQA/q_2_examples.pdf
[5A] Passage
What had awakened him was the noise from the storm: wind lashing the trees, rain on the rooftop, and thunder. He turned on the light with a sensation of being adrift in a boat, and pushed closer to the bulk of the large dog sleeping beside him. He pictured the roaring Pacific Ocean a few blocks from his house, spilling in furious waves against the rocks. He lay listening to the storm and thinking about the black bird and about his mother, waiting for the pounding in his chest to die down. He was still tangled in the images of his bad dream.
[5B] Question
How does the writer use language here to describe the effects of the storm?
You could include the writer’s choice of:
words and phrases, language features and techniques & sentence forms
[5C] Answer
The writer uses present participle verbs to portray the violence that the storm arrived with. The wind is described as “lashing’’, an adjective carrying the connotation of a violent motion creates a violent image in the mind of the reader. The personification here, from the wind’s perspective, shows that the storm has affected large, strong impact upon a tree. This shows the violence of the storm, as it had, in a way, attacked the tree as if to uproot it.
Through the use of adjectives, the writer depicts an aggressive image of the storm. The writer describes the waves as “furious” which portrays aggression, as the connotation of fury come to the reader’s mind. The waves are depicted as “furious”, as if it takes on rocks. The use of adjective “furious” reflects the extent of the aggression of the storm against the rocks as if to topple over the same. The writer’s use of past participle verb “tangled” with its connotation of entrapment and immobility intimate the state of the mind of the narrator.
[6] Pearson Edexcel Level GCSE (9–1)
Pearson Edexcel Level Tuesday, 2nd June 2020
Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) Paper Reference 1EN0/01, P62012A ©2020 Pearson Education Ltd.
Paper 1: Fiction and Imaginative Writing
Following is a question and a paragraph from the passage in above paper. Passage is an unseen text although that it is unseen is not at all indicated in the paper.
[6A] Passage
What I saw was the Count’s head coming out from the window. I did not see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his back and arms. In any case I could not mistake the hands which I had had so many opportunities of studying. I was at first interested and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner. But my very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when I saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss,*** face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow; but I kept looking, and it could be no delusion. I saw the fingers and toes grasp the corners of the stones, worn clear of the mortar by the stress of years, and by thus using every projection and inequality move downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall.
What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear—in awful fear—and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of….
[6B] Question
In lines 24–38, how does the writer use language and structure to show the narrator’s thoughts and feelings about the Count? Support your views with reference to the text.
[6C] Answer
With the phrases, “I knew the man’, and “I could not make a mistake” the narrator makes the reader in tension whether there could be a hostile encounter. Strong abstract nouns, “repulsion and terror” indicating the narrator’s state of mind, that is one of immediate sense of horror makes the reader realize something abnormal is about to happen. It does happen: “man slowly emerge from the window and began to crawl down the castle wall over…” Then again, as if the beastly skill of a vertical wall climber does not amuse the reader enough, the phrase, “that dreadful abyss,” connects the beast like man to the hell. Worse still, the use of similes, “like great wings” and “just as a wizard moves along a wall” seem to imply that the man could not be human. The use of the phrases challenging the narrator’s earlier certainty, “I could not believe my eyes”, “some trick of the moonlight “and “some weird effect”, the reader is held in tension over the devilish skills of whom earlier thought as a man.
While this section of the passage begins with mild amusement only to build up absolute tension in the reader. The first paragraph is a description whilst the second is an entirely a personal reflection. The use of simple and short sentence, “At first I could not believe my eyes”, immediately after a complex sentence, brings in the heightened impact. The use of italics, “face down” strongly emphasis the disbelief of the narrator. Furthermore, use of repetition, “some trick of moonlight” and ‘’some weird effect of shadow” emphasis the disbelief of the narrator at what he is seeing. Moreover, the second paragraph beginning with a reflective question repeating questioning form, “What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of a man?” has a greater emphasis by being placed at the beginning of the new paragraph. The reader is brought closer to the narrator by means of semi-colons, dashes and ellipsis indicating the scale of disbelief and the fractured and frantic of his thought process.
To be continued
