Revision NotesPast Papers
GCSEEnglish LanguageEdexcelRevision NotesPaper 1: Fiction and Imaginative WritingSection A: ReadingQuestion 3: Model Answer

Question 3: Model Answer (Edexcel GCSE English Language)

Revision Note

Deb Orrock

Written by: Deb Orrock

Reviewed by: Nick Redgrove

Question 3 is a 6-mark question which tests your ability to explain, comment on and analyse how a writer uses language and structure to achieve effects and create meaning. Your comments and analysis should be supported by appropriate textual references and relevant subject terminology.

The following guide includes:

  • Question 3 example

  • Question 3 model answer

  • Why would this get full marks?

Question 3 example

The following example is taken from the November 2022 exam paper:

A text excerpt describes a weary man in a barren landscape, dropping a bundle that reveals a child's startled face. A question prompts text analysis.
Paper 1 Question 3

Following the advice given in our How to Answer Question 3 revision note, you should be able to identify the focus of this question as:

  • The man’s journey, and

  • What happens when he puts down his bundle

The next step is to highlight the specific ways in which the man’s journey is described and what happens when he puts down his bundle. For example:

Annotated text excerpt discussing themes of difficulty, hopelessness, and landscape vastness versus a child's smallness, with emphasis on metaphors and repetition.
Paper 1 Question 3 text annotations

From this, we can now construct an answer.

Examiner Tips and Tricks

Apply this process when practising writing your own answers to past paper questions, and then compare your answer to the suggested content found in the mark schemes. You can find a selection of Edexcel past papers and mark schemes on our website.

Question 3 model answer

The writer uses language and structure to describe the man’s journey as hard, and to contrast the vastness of the landscape with what is in his bundle. [Marking comment]


At the start of the extract, the writer begins by emphasising the man’s suffering and sense of hopelessness. [Marking comment] The use of the adverb “painfully” could suggest the journey had been physically hard, and his desperation is conveyed in the “vain hope” of finding water and the repetition of the word “sign” as he urgently searches with “wild questioning eyes”. [Marking comment] The adjective “wild” implies that a basic survival instinct is driving him forwards, and the writer uses the metaphor of the “savage mountains” to emphasise the brutal and untamed nature of the environment. The vastness of the landscape is conveyed via the rule of three used in “north, and east, and west” and the description of the “great”, “distant” and “broad” landscape which further highlights the difficulty of escape.[Marking comment] The focus then narrows with a complex sentence to describe the man’s thoughts as he realises that his “wanderings had come to an end”, and the use of the rhetorical “why not here” suggests that he is resigned to his fate. [Marking comment]


The focus shifts again in the second paragraph to the “large bundle”, which has added to the man’s burden given that it is described as “somewhat too heavy for his strength”. The sense of sluggishness and exhaustion is then broken by a “little moaning cry”, and the writer contrasts the vastness of both the landscape and the man’s journey with a small child.[Marking comment] The repetition of “little”, along with the use of detailed adjectives such as “small, scared face”, “bright brown eyes” and “little speckled, dimpled fists”, shifts the narrative perspective from the man to the child, and from the wild environment to the precise contents of the bundle.[Marking comment] The simple, exclamatory sentence “You’ve hurt me!” conveys the youth and naivety of the child, which seems out of place in such an inhospitable landscape. It seems ironic that the passage begins with the man’s apparently extreme physical pain and ends with a little child’s minor bump.[Marking comment]

Why would this get full marks?

The top level of the mark scheme for this question rewards the following:

Level 3: 5–6 marks

  • The response includes analysis of how both language and structure are used to achieve effects and to shape meanings:

    • This includes analysis of vocabulary, sentence structure and other language features

  • The analysis also considers how the writer has structured the extract and why

  • Each quote or textual reference is relevant and supports each of the points being made

This answer would receive full marks because it meets all of the criteria for a Level 3 response:

  • It covers analysis of both language and structure

  • It begins with a short summary that immediately demonstrates understanding of the writer’s choices

  • It demonstrates perceptive understanding of the different ways the writer’s choices could be interpreted, by using phrases such as “could suggest”

  • It includes an excellent range of supporting references from the extract for all of the points made

  • The explanation of each point is clear

  • The response uses accurate subject terminology where relevant and appropriate — it does not rely on “feature spotting”:

    • This is when a candidate just points out the techniques a writer has used, without exploring why they have used them — this does not lead to high marks

Examiner Tips and Tricks

Remember, you do not have to make an equal number of points about language and structure, as long as you have included both. The approach in this model answer is to track methodically through the extract from start to finish, as this can help identify how a writer has structured their writing. Alternatively, you may wish to write one paragraph about the writer’s use of language, and a second paragraph about their use of structure. Either option is perfectly acceptable.

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    Author
    Reviewer
    Deb Orrock

    Author: Deb Orrock

    Expertise: English Content Creator

    Deb is a graduate of Lancaster University and The University of Wolverhampton. After some time travelling and a successful career in the travel industry, she re-trained in education, specialising in literacy. She has over 16 years’ experience of working in education, teaching English Literature, English Language, Functional Skills English, ESOL and on Access to HE courses. She has also held curriculum and quality manager roles, and worked with organisations on embedding literacy and numeracy into vocational curriculums. She most recently managed a post-16 English curriculum as well as writing educational content and resources.

    Nick Redgrove

    Author: Nick Redgrove

    Expertise: English Senior Content Creator

    Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.