Question bank › GCSE › GCSE English Language › Paper 1

Paper 1 Q1–Q2: retrieval & language analysis

2 guides

Answer on paper first, then reveal the mark scheme one mark at a time.

12 marks · About 15 minutes (Q1: 5 minutes; Q2: 10 minutes)

Q1 + Q2 – the storm arrives (retrieval and language)

Source: an original extract written for this practice paper. It is the opening of a novel set on a remote stretch of coast. Paragraph numbers are shown in square brackets.

[1] The tide had gone out in the night and taken the colour with it. By eight o’clock the bay was a long grey sheet of sand, ribbed and glistening, and the causeway to the island lay bare as a spine. Nell stood at the kitchen window with her hands around a mug she had forgotten to drink from. Everything outside was still. The gulls had settled on the mudflats like dropped paper, and the bell on the marker buoy hung silent.

[2] Her father had crossed at six, as he did every Thursday, with the van full of post and bread and paraffin for the three families who still lived on Skerrin. ‘Back by eleven,’ he had said, the way he always said it, pulling his cap down as if the words were something to be kept dry.

[3] At half past nine the light changed. It did not darken so much as thicken: the sky over the headland turned the yellow of an old bruise, and the air pressed against the glass. Nell put the mug down. Out on the sand, a single gull lifted, wheeled, and was gone.

[4] She remembered the winter she was seven, when the sea had come over the harbour wall and into this same kitchen. She remembered her mother lifting her onto the table, laughing as though it were a game, and the water moving across the tiles with a soft, deliberate patience, feeling its way into every corner. Her mother had stopped laughing when the lights went out.

[5] The wind arrived all at once. It came across the flats with a sound like tearing cloth, and the first rain struck the window sideways. Somewhere beyond the point, the bell began to ring – not the lazy, swinging note of summer, but a stammering clang, over and over, as though it were trying to warn someone and could not find the words.

[6] Nell pulled on her boots. She did not decide to; her body simply did it, the way it would have caught something falling. The clock above the stove said ten to ten. The causeway would be under water by half past.

[7] She opened the door and the storm took it out of her hand.

[8] Down on the shore, where the road ran out into sand, she could see nothing of the island at all – only a wall of grey, moving. Then, low on the water and much too far out, two small lights appeared, steadied, and began, very slowly, to come towards her.

Question 1 Read again paragraph 1 of the source. List four things from this paragraph about the bay. [4 marks]

Question 2 Look in detail at paragraphs 3 and 5 of the source. How does the writer use language to describe the storm arriving?

You could include the writer’s choice of:

  • words and phrases
  • language features and techniques
  • sentence forms.

[8 marks]

What is being assessed
  • AO1 (Q1): find and pick out information that is stated or clearly implied in a set part of the text.
  • AO2 (Q2): explain and analyse how the writer’s choices of words, techniques and sentence forms create effects, using subject terminology to support the analysis.
What examiners reward
  • Q1: four short, separate, true statements drawn only from the given paragraph – one mark each.
  • Q2: zooming in on individual words and explaining what they suggest, not just naming the technique.
  • Q2: covering BOTH named paragraphs, with short embedded quotations.
  • Q2: linking effects to the focus of the question (the storm arriving) and to the reader’s experience.
  • Q2: commenting on sentence forms (e.g. a short declarative sentence) as well as imagery.
  • Q1 marking: Question 1 is not level-marked: 1 mark for each correct, relevant point taken from the specified part of the source (maximum 4). Quotations or paraphrases are both fine; points from outside the given lines, or untrue statements, score 0. The levels below apply to Question 2.
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Level 47–8Perceptive and detailed: explores the effects of language with real insight, picks precise, well-judged quotations, and uses subject terminology accurately and only where it sharpens the point.
Level 35–6Clear and relevant: explains the effects of language clearly, supports each point with apt quotations, and uses terminology correctly.
Level 23–4Some understanding: makes some attempt to comment on effects, with some relevant references; terminology is used but not always accurately or purposefully.
Level 11–2Simple and limited: identifies or describes language rather than explaining it; references are simple and terminology is rare or misused.
Level 00Nothing worthy of credit.
How to plan it
  1. Q1: underline four facts in paragraph 1 only; write each as a short separate sentence (no analysis needed).
  2. Q2: highlight 4–5 rich quotations across paragraphs 3 and 5 – aim for a mix of imagery, single words and sentence forms.
  3. Q2: for each quotation: what the writer does (method) → what it suggests (zoom on a word) → the effect on the reader.
  4. Q2: open with a one-line overview of how the storm is presented (e.g. creeping menace becoming violent attack).
  5. Q2: write three or four developed paragraphs; stop at about 10 minutes – this is only 8 marks.
Show the top-band model answer

Question 1

  1. The tide had gone out in the night.
  2. The bay was a long grey sheet of sand.1
  3. The sand was ribbed and glistening.
  4. The causeway to the island was bare.

Question 2

The writer presents the storm as something that first creeps up on Nell and then attacks her. In paragraph 3 the change is unsettlingly subtle: the light ‘did not darken so much as thicken’. The verb ‘thicken’ is unexpected2, because light is not normally something solid, so it suggests the air itself is growing heavy and oppressive, as if the whole atmosphere is closing in. The comparison of the sky to ‘the yellow of an old bruise’ makes the weather seem already injured and sickly; the adjective ‘old’ hints that this damage has happened before, quietly preparing the reader for Nell’s memory3 of the earlier flood.

The personification in ‘the air pressed against the glass’ turns the weather into an intruder testing the window4, the only barrier between Nell and the storm, so the reader feels her claustrophobia. Even the wildlife reacts: the three-part list of verb phrases ‘lifted, wheeled, and was gone’ moves quickly to disappearance, as though the gull senses danger and the last sign of life abandons the bay.

In paragraph 5 the tone shifts from menace to violence. The short declarative sentence5 ‘The wind arrived all at once.’ is blunt and sudden, mirroring the abruptness of the storm after the slow build-up. The simile ‘a sound like tearing cloth’ is both harsh and destructive: something whole is being ripped apart, which could symbolise the calm, ordinary Thursday being torn away. The verb ‘struck’ and the adverb ‘sideways’ show a force so strong that even rain no longer falls naturally.

Finally, the writer contrasts the bell’s ‘lazy, swinging note of summer’ with ‘a stammering clang’. The onomatopoeic ‘clang’ is harsh and metallic, while ‘stammering’ personifies the bell as a panicking speaker. The simile ‘as though it were trying to warn someone and could not find the words’ suggests the danger is beyond language; because we know Nell’s father must soon cross back over the causeway, the reader senses exactly who needs warning6, which makes the storm feel personal as well as powerful.

1. Q1: short, single, true point taken only from paragraph 1 – easy mark. Keep each point separate so the examiner can tick it.
2. Zooms in on a single word and explains why it is surprising – this is what lifts an answer from ‘clear’ to ‘perceptive’.
3. Goes beyond the obvious meaning to suggest how the word choice connects to the rest of the text – a perceptive interpretation.
4. Names the technique (personification) but spends the words on the effect – the right balance for Level 4.
5. Credits sentence form, which the bullet points invite; many students ignore it.
6. Links the language to its effect on the reader and to the question focus (the storm arriving) – a convincing finish.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Q1: taking points from the wrong paragraph (e.g. ‘Nell was holding a mug’ is about Nell, not the bay) or adding interpretation instead of stating facts.
  • Q1: writing four points in one long sentence so the examiner cannot separate them.
  • Q2: feature-spotting (‘there is a simile which makes it interesting’) without explaining what the words suggest.
  • Q2: writing about structure (e.g. the flashback in paragraph 4) – that belongs in Q3 and earns nothing here.
  • Q2: copying out whole sentences instead of short, precise quotations.
  • Q2: generic effects such as ‘it makes the reader want to read on’ or ‘it creates a picture in your head’.
12 marks · About 15 minutes (Q1: 5 minutes; Q2: 10 minutes)

Q1 + Q2 – inside the bakery (retrieval and language)

Source: an original extract written for this practice paper. It is from the middle of a novel. Danny, aged sixteen, is starting his first early-morning shift at a bakery. Paragraph numbers are shown in square brackets.

[1] The alarm went at ten past three, and for a moment Danny did not know what it was. Then he remembered: the bakery, Mr Okafor, the white trousers folded on the chair like a promise he had made to someone else.

[2] The streets were empty in a way he had never seen them. Orange lamps buzzed over the bins. A fox stepped out from behind a parked car, looked at him without interest, and trotted on as if it owned the road – which, at this hour, it did. Danny’s breath went ahead of him in small white flags.

[3] The bakery was the only lit window on Mercer Street. Inside, the heat met him at the door like a wall, and the smell – yeast, sugar, something faintly burnt – was so thick he could almost lean on it. Mr Okafor did not look up. He was working a slab of dough with the heels of his hands, folding, pressing, turning, folding, his forearms dusted to the elbow.

[4] ‘Apron’s on the hook,’ he said. ‘Wash your hands. Then watch.’

[5] So Danny watched. He watched the dough rise in its tins as slowly as a held breath. He watched the ovens open and shut, each time releasing a gust of heat that made his eyes sting. He watched Mr Okafor tip four hundred rolls onto the racks without, as far as Danny could tell, ever counting them. Nobody spoke. The only sounds were the hum of the proving cabinet, the thud of trays, and the radio murmuring to itself in the corner.

[6] At five o’clock Mr Okafor handed him a knife and a tray of cooling loaves. ‘Score them,’ he said. Danny’s first cut was too shallow. His second tore the crust. His third was clean, a single pale line that opened as he watched, and Mr Okafor made a small sound in his throat that might have been approval.

[7] By six the first customers were knocking on the glass: a nurse coming off a night shift, two builders, a woman with a pushchair who had clearly not slept. Danny handed over warm paper bags and took coins with fingers that no longer felt like his own.

[8] When he finally stepped outside, the sky above the rooftops had turned the colour of the inside of a shell. The street was filling with ordinary people starting ordinary days. Danny stood among them, flour in his eyebrows, and felt that he knew a secret about the morning that none of them would ever learn.

Question 1 Read again paragraph 2 of the source. List four things from this paragraph about the street at this time of the morning. [4 marks]

Question 2 Look in detail at paragraphs 3 and 5 of the source. How does the writer use language to describe the bakery?

You could include the writer’s choice of:

  • words and phrases
  • language features and techniques
  • sentence forms.

[8 marks]

What is being assessed
  • AO1 (Q1): find and pick out explicit and implicit information from a specified part of the text.
  • AO2 (Q2): analyse how the writer’s language choices create effects, using subject terminology accurately.
What examiners reward
  • Q1: four separate, accurate points about the street from paragraph 2 only; stick to details the paragraph states directly about the street.
  • Q2: exploring how sensory language makes the bakery feel overwhelming and unfamiliar to Danny.
  • Q2: noticing patterns across the paragraphs (repetition of ‘watched’, lists, sound words) and explaining their effect.
  • Q2: embedded, precise quotations and focused word-level analysis.
  • Q1 marking: Question 1 is not level-marked: 1 mark for each correct, relevant point taken from the specified part of the source (maximum 4). Quotations or paraphrases are both fine; points from outside the given lines, or untrue statements, score 0. The levels below apply to Question 2.
LevelMarksWhat it looks like
Level 47–8Perceptive and detailed: explores the effects of language with real insight, picks precise, well-judged quotations, and uses subject terminology accurately and only where it sharpens the point.
Level 35–6Clear and relevant: explains the effects of language clearly, supports each point with apt quotations, and uses terminology correctly.
Level 23–4Some understanding: makes some attempt to comment on effects, with some relevant references; terminology is used but not always accurately or purposefully.
Level 11–2Simple and limited: identifies or describes language rather than explaining it; references are simple and terminology is rare or misused.
Level 00Nothing worthy of credit.
How to plan it
  1. Q1: four short statements about the street – only from paragraph 2. Ignore details about Danny himself (e.g. his visible breath) – they are not about the street.
  2. Q2: read paragraphs 3 and 5; group quotations by effect – (1) overwhelming senses, (2) Mr Okafor’s skill, (3) silence and sound.
  3. Q2: open with an overview: the bakery is presented as an intense, almost separate world.
  4. Q2: analyse 4–5 quotations, always linking the method to what it suggests about the bakery.
  5. Q2: include at least one comment on sentence forms (short sentence ‘Nobody spoke.’ or repeated sentence openings).
Show the top-band model answer

Question 1

  1. The streets were empty.
  2. Orange lamps buzzed over the bins.
  3. A fox stepped out from behind a parked car.
  4. The road was so empty that a fox seemed to own it.1

Question 2

The writer presents the bakery as an intense, almost separate world that overwhelms Danny’s senses. The simile ‘the heat met him at the door like a wall’ makes the heat seem solid and confrontational, a physical barrier he must push through to enter this new life2. The smell is described as ‘so thick he could almost lean on it’; this hyperbole gives the air weight and texture, suggesting how all-consuming the bakery is. The list ‘yeast, sugar, something faintly burnt’ moves from pleasant, familiar ingredients to the vague and slightly threatening3 ‘something faintly burnt’, a realistic detail that hints the bakery is a place of hard, hot work where mistakes can happen.

The language used for Mr Okafor makes the bakery feel like a place of practised skill. The asyndetic list of present participles4 ‘folding, pressing, turning, folding’ creates a steady rhythm that mirrors the repeated movements of kneading, and the return to ‘folding’ suggests a cycle he has repeated thousands of times. The image of his forearms ‘dusted to the elbow’ shows he is completely immersed in the work.

In paragraph 5 the repeated sentence opening ‘He watched’ (anaphora)5 emphasises Danny’s passive role as an outsider learning silently. The simile ‘as slowly as a held breath’ links the rising dough to suspense, perhaps reflecting Danny’s own nervous tension. The short sentence ‘Nobody spoke.’ is abrupt and stark, stressing the serious, focused atmosphere. Instead of conversation, the bakery has its own soundscape: ‘the hum’, ‘the thud of trays’ and the radio ‘murmuring to itself’. The onomatopoeia makes the reader hear the room, and the personification of the radio ‘murmuring to itself’ suggests that even the machines keep their voices down, so the bakery feels hushed, almost sacred, a place where Danny must earn his right to belong6.

1. A safe point drawn straight from the paragraph (‘as if it owned the road – which, at this hour, it did’). Avoid inferences about Danny, such as his visible breath showing it was cold: Q1 asks about the street, and AQA’s Q1 answers are details stated in the given lines.
2. Moves from the literal (heat) to a perceptive interpretation (a threshold into adulthood/work).
3. Analyses the ORDER within a list – detailed, word-level analysis typical of Level 4.
4. Precise terminology, used because it explains the rhythm – not just to show off.
5. Comments on sentence forms and patterns, which the question invites.
6. Ends with an overarching interpretation that ties the analysis back to the question.
Where marks are usually lost
  • Q1: listing details about the bakery, Danny’s alarm or Danny himself (e.g. his breath) – these are not about the street in paragraph 2.
  • Q1: spending more than five minutes or writing explanations – it is pure retrieval.
  • Q2: only analysing one paragraph when the question names two.
  • Q2: saying ‘the writer uses lots of senses’ without analysing any specific word.
  • Q2: misusing terms (e.g. calling ‘like a wall’ a metaphor) – a wrong term undermines an otherwise good point.
  • Q2: drifting into what happens next in the story (plot) rather than how language works.

Stuck on this topic?

Book a free 30-minute session on WhatsApp and we'll find exactly which step is costing you the marks. Or build a timed paper on it.

Free 30-minute session