These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Any passage not credited to a named public-domain author was written by Marlbridge for practice; quotations from named authors are public-domain texts quoted briefly. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your own work; they are not an official scoring guideline. There is no calculator. Try each question before opening its answer.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which pair of words has the stronger negative connotation when used to describe a protest?
- (A) gathering / assembly
- (B) mob / crowd
- (C) meeting / event
- (D) march / walk
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Mob” carries associations of disorder and threat that the neutral word “crowd” lacks.
- (A) is wrong: both terms are neutral.
- (C) is wrong: both terms are neutral.
- (D) is wrong: both terms are neutral.
Question 2 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which sentence most clearly appeals to the value of fairness?
- (A) The bus costs £2.40.
- (B) The route has four stops.
- (C) Buses are made of steel.
- (D) It is simply unfair that those who need the bus most are the first to lose it.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). It names the value (fairness) and links it to a group affected by the cut.
- (A) is wrong: gives a price.
- (B) is wrong: gives a fact.
- (C) is wrong: states an irrelevant fact.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Read this sentence, written by Marlbridge: “The swing still turns in the wind, but no child has touched it since March.” Which device is the main source of its emotional effect?
- (A) Imagery of an empty swing
- (B) A statistic
- (C) An expert opinion
- (D) A rhetorical question
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The picture of a swing moving with no child in it evokes absence and loss.
- (B) is wrong: no number is given.
- (C) is wrong: no authority is cited.
- (D) is wrong: there is no question.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
In the speech Chief Joseph gave in 1877 (recorded and translated at the time), the plain statement “I am tired; my heart is sick and sad” is effective mainly because it
- (A) uses elaborate figurative language
- (B) gives statistics about the war
- (C) states feeling simply, which makes it credible and moving
- (D) addresses the army’s strategy
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The unadorned phrasing sounds sincere, and its restraint heightens the feeling.
- (A) is wrong: the language is simple, not elaborate.
- (B) is wrong: no statistics appear.
- (D) is wrong: it concerns feeling, not strategy.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
A draft for a town newsletter says: “The park is closing. This is terrible and shocking.” Which revision best relates to the audience’s emotions and values while staying credible?
- (A) “The park is closing, and this is the most outrageous decision ever made.”
- (B) “Parks are generally considered useful.”
- (C) “The park, where three generations of our families have picnicked, is closing in June; it will be replaced by a car park.”
- (D) “I feel very sad about the park.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It names a concrete place and a shared experience across generations, which touches the audience’s attachment to community, while the factual detail keeps it believable.
- (A) is wrong: it is exaggerated and gives no detail.
- (B) is wrong: it is flat and arouses no feeling.
- (D) is wrong: it centres on the writer’s feelings, not the audience’s.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Read this passage, written by Marlbridge.
Every morning, Mr Haddad sweeps the pavement outside his bakery before he lights the ovens. The smell of bread reaches Station Road by six, and half the street has set its alarm by it. The council’s plan would put a parking meter where his delivery van stands. He says he can pay the fee; what he cannot pay, he says, is the cost of strangers walking past a street that no longer knows him.
Identify two ways the passage relates to the audience’s emotions or values, and explain the effect of each.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. First, the passage uses specific sensory detail and routine (sweeping, the smell of bread reaching the street by six, people setting their alarms by it), which creates warmth and shows the bakery as part of the neighbourhood’s daily life; the effect is to make readers feel attached to the shop and to the community it supports. Second, it relates to the value of belonging in the closing line, “a street that no longer knows him”, which shifts the issue from a fee to the loss of community, so the meter looks like a threat to something readers value.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Names one device or source of emotion accurately (for example sensory imagery or routine detail). |
| 1 | Explains its effect on the reader. |
| 1 | Names a second device or value (for example community or belonging). |
| 1 | Explains its effect on the reader. |
| 1 | Uses a detail quoted or closely referred to from the passage for each. |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Rewrite this flat sentence so that it relates to an audience of parents’ emotions and values, keeping the facts: “Funding for the school’s music room will be cut next year. The room is used by 120 pupils.” Write two to three sentences, then name the device or value you used.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. “Next year the music room at Hillcrest Primary will lose its funding. It is the one room where 120 children, many of them too shy to speak up in class, find their voices. A school that cares for every child cannot let that go quiet.” Device and value: concrete detail about particular children (narrative detail) and an appeal to the value of caring for every child.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Keeps the facts (funding cut next year; 120 pupils). |
| 1 | Adds a concrete detail or image. |
| 1 | Appeals to a value shared by parents. |
| 1 | Names the device or value used. |
| 1 | Emotion is earned by detail and not by loaded adjectives alone. |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Chief Joseph’s surrender speech (5 October 1877, as recorded and translated at the time) ends: “From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.” Explain how the sentence combines imagery and finality to shape the audience’s response, and say why its restraint might be more effective than a long expression of grief.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. The phrase “From where the sun now stands” places the surrender at a precise, visible moment in the natural world, which gives the decision a calm and timeless setting. The closing “no more forever” makes the choice absolute, so listeners hear a firm ending, not a plea. Together they convey dignity. The restraint may be more effective than long grief because it leaves the audience to supply the emotion itself; plain words from a leader who does not plead are felt as sincere, and they avoid sounding like an appeal for pity.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the image of the sun and explains its effect. |
| 1 | Identifies the finality of “no more forever” and explains its effect. |
| 1 | Explains how the two combine to create dignity or authority. |
| 1 | Explains why restraint is effective (credible, avoids pleading, audience supplies feeling). |
| 1 | Refers to the audience’s response, not only the speaker’s intention. |
How did you do?
Count the multiple-choice questions you got right and compare your written answers with the rubric points. For anything you missed, reread the matching section of the study guide, then tick off the topic checklist.