NCHS Upper Sec EL Comprehension Question Types Practice - Language Use Questions.docx - Google Docs

Name : _____________________________ ( _____ ) Class: Sec 4___ Date: ________ Comprehension: Question Types Section B Practice 1 2021 Question Booklet A Language Use [25 m] The text below tells of a man’s dining experience in an institution. Jacques is carrying a tray with a single dish covered by one of those old fashioned silver domes. He balances the tray with one hand and grasps the lid of the dome with the other. He gives a faint smile then quickly takes away the lid theatrically.(AES Prelim 2018) 1) In Paragraph 2, the writer suggests that Jacques is an experienced waiter. Pick out and write down two expressions from the paragraph and explain how they show his experience.[2] ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… I pick up the silver spoon and turn it over. Just as I once did, as a young boy, I lean forward with my ear towards the dish and tap the back of the spoon against the hard surface three times. My heart soars as the sound resonates with the sound of my childhood. Tears well in my eyes with memories of my dear mama in Provence. I shatter the surface and dip into the undulating waves of sun coloured cream then slip the spoon into my mouth. Velvet smoothness glides past slivers of crisp caramel. The whispers of vanilla echoes in my mouth. The chef is a god: a crème brûlée of perfect proportions. I wish it could last forever but nothing can. In the end, I place the spoon down. That, I say, is the finest dessert I have ever had. Excellent, Jacques says and takes away the empty plate and spoon. (AES Prelim 2018) 2) The writer describes his experience of eating the crème brûlée dessert. Explain how the language in Paragraph 4 makes the dessert appealing. Support your ideas with three details from Paragraph 4.[3] ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….………………………………………

In the text below, the writer describes his experience in Antarctica. When this imperfect shelter was nearly finished, they made a day trip to collect their emperor penguin eggs. Reaching the sea ice from this direction, which no one had ever done before, turned out to require descending a 200-foot cliff. The climb was the most harrowing technical mountaineering any of them had ever attempted, and they undertook it in the dark. They managed it, though getting back up the cliff almost defeated them. Cherry-Garrard, climbing blindly, smashed both of the penguin eggs entrusted to him. With a final effort, they made it back to Igloo Spur with three eggs still intact. The next day they completed the rock hut and erected the Scott tent right outside its doorway, in the lee of the shelter. Three weeks after setting out, everything was arranged more or less according to their plan. Then a big wind hit. (ACSBR MYE 2018) 3) At the beginning of this text, the writer describes the climb to be extremely challenging. Explain how the language used in paragraph 1 emphasises its difficulty. Support your ideas with three details from paragraph 1.[3] ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… The text below describes how a girl travelled to another country to take up a college place. As she walked through the revolving doors of the airport, she took a deep breath, and set her foot in the country that would be her home, a foreign home, for the next few years. But just as she did so, the gears in her mind instinctively clicked as it drew an imaginary line of escape. Beyond those doors, taxi drivers lined the road, a voracious glint in their eyes as they stood in wait to pounce on each target that walked out. They were soon hot on her trails, pestering her, each trying vociferously to persuade her. Skillfully, she engineered her way around them and headed straight for the bus stop which she had spotted from afar.(DSS MYE 2019) 4) In paragraph 5, the taxi drivers are described as predators. Explain how the language used in paragraph 1 emphasises this quality. Support your answer with three details from the paragraph.[3] ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….………………………………………

The text below describes the aftermath of an atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan. The Omuros in question were an old family, said to date back to the Edo period, and the present head was a man of many talents, dabbling in calligraphy, painting and art-collecting. I had visited the house myself several times during the past year. It had been an imposing mansion, with a splendid old-style garden. Now, however, it was completely razed to the ground. The majestic golden pine beams that held up the structure of the house was now a heap of blackened ash. Where the main building and clay-walled storehouse had once stood, was an arid waste scattered with broken tiles. The rock on which Shigeko and Yasuko were sitting was almost certainly a rock from the garden inside the grounds. Rock though it was, a thin layer had been burnt away all over it. (PLMGSS MYE 2019) 5) The Omuro’s mansion was totally destroyed. Explain how the language used in paragraph 4 highlights the extent of this destruction. In your explanation, make a comparison to what the Omuro’s mansion was like before. Support your ideas with three details from paragraph 4. [3] ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………….……………………………………… The text below is about Arun, an exchange student from India, who joins members of his American host family for an afternoon at the beach. ‘There you are!’ Mrs Patton cries, too loudly. ‘Come along! We’re going to spend the day down at the swimming hole. It’s too hot to lie in the yard and Daddy won’t get us a pool, so Melanie and I’ve decided –’ she looks archly through the door towards the den ‘– we’ll go swimming instead, all by ourselves. Coming?’ It is Saturday. Arun cannot plead work. He stands despondent, and when Melanie comes to the door, dressed in her bathing suit with a big shirt drawn over her shoulders, and stares at him challengingly, he starts wildly to find excuses. Mrs. Patton will not hear them. No, she will not. Absolutely not. So she says, with her hands spread out and pressing against the air. ‘No, no, no. We’re all three of us going.’ (NYGH MYE 2019) 6) At the beginning of this text, Arun was asked to go to the beach. Explain how t