These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. All passages marked “Marlbridge passage” were written for this resource; quotations from historical texts are from public-domain sources, with author, title and year given. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric to help you check your work; they are not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Read this opening of a letter to a city council (Marlbridge passage).
Last spring a clerk at the Harbour Street post office counted 212 letters addressed to people who no longer live in the neighbourhood. Each one had been forwarded, returned or left on a shelf. The sorting system that produced this pile was designed in 1974. The council can afford to replace it, and it should.
Which choice best describes what the opening does?
- (A) It places a concrete scene and number before the reader to show the problem, then states a claim, so the audience sees the stakes first.
- (B) It quotes an expert to establish the writer’s authority before stating a claim.
- (C) It asks a rhetorical question so that readers reflect on their own experience of mail.
- (D) It defines mail sorting so that a non-specialist audience can follow the argument.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The first two sentences give a specific scene and a count, the third adds context, and the last states the claim. The effect is to let readers see a problem before they are asked to agree to a remedy.
- (B) There is no quotation and no expert.
- (C) There is no question anywhere in the passage.
- (D) The passage never defines a term; it assumes readers know what a sorting system is.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
A writer will present an argument for a new appointment-booking system to a room of experienced hospital managers. The managers decide on cost, waiting times and staffing. Which opening is likely to suit them best?
- (A) An anecdote about the writer’s own first visit to a hospital as a child
- (B) The sentence “Booking appointments is something that almost everyone has to do at some point.”
- (C) Two sentences giving the proportion of appointments missed last year and what that cost, followed by the claim
- (D) A quotation about the passing of time from a famous poet
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The audience decides on evidence about cost and performance. Data and a short piece of context orient them to the problem in their own terms and lead directly to the claim.
- (A) An anecdote may engage some audiences, but it is personal and slow for readers who want facts about operations.
- (B) This is a generalisation. It orients no one and gives no reason to care.
- (D) A quotation can work, but one unconnected to the subject would seem decorative to these readers.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
A student writes an essay arguing that a city should plant more street trees. Which opening sentence best orients and engages a general reader?
- (A) Trees are very important to our world.
- (B) On the hottest day last July, the pavement on Alder Street measured fourteen degrees warmer than the lawn of the park two blocks away.
- (C) In this essay I will argue about trees.
- (D) A tree is defined as a tall plant with a trunk and branches.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It names a specific place and a measurable difference, so it orients the reader in a real situation and invites the question “why?”, which the claim can then answer.
- (A) is a vague generalisation that fits countless essays.
- (C) announces the task without presenting any subject or position.
- (D) is a dictionary-style definition that does not move toward an argument.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
A draft introduction reads: “In this essay, I am going to talk about phone use in schools. Phones are used by many students. I will give reasons for and against.” Which revision most improves it?
- (A) “Phones are used by many students, and this essay will give reasons for and against.”
- (B) “The dictionary defines a phone as a device for transmitting sound, and phones are used in schools.”
- (C) “Last term, a ninth-grade class lost forty minutes to a single group chat; schools should therefore require phones to be stored in lockers during lessons.”
- (D) “As one famous thinker once said, technology changes everything. Phones are technology.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It replaces the announcement with a specific scene, then presents a clear, defensible claim. It orients (schools, lessons), engages (a concrete loss of time) and focuses (a proposal).
- (A) is only a shorter version of the same announcement; it still takes no position.
- (B) adds a definition that does not advance an argument.
- (D) uses an unattributed quotation that is not connected to the claim and is not linked to the subject.
Question 5 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement about introductions is most accurate?
- (A) An introduction must end with the thesis.
- (B) An introduction may present the thesis, but it can instead orient and engage the audience and lead the reader toward the claim.
- (C) An introduction should summarise every body paragraph in advance.
- (D) An introduction should avoid specific detail so that it does not limit the argument.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Introductions may present the thesis, and they may orient, engage and focus the audience in other ways too.
- (A) is too rigid: the thesis often appears in the introduction, but not always, and not always last.
- (C) confuses an introduction with a summary; previewing every point makes the essay predictable.
- (D) is the reverse of good practice: specifics are what make an opening engaging.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Here is a draft introduction to an argument about whether a school should require a community-service project for graduation (Marlbridge passage).
Community service is a very hot topic these days. There are a lot of opinions. Many people agree and many people disagree. In this essay, I will look at community service.
(a) Diagnose the draft against the three jobs of an introduction: orient, engage and focus. (b) Name the single change that would most improve it, and explain why.
Answer and explanation
(a) Orient: “these days” and “a lot of opinions” give no real subject. The reader does not know which school, which requirement or why the matter is under discussion. Engage: nothing is at stake; there is no scene, fact or question the reader can respond to. Focus: “I will look at community service” announces a topic, not a claim, so the reader cannot tell what will be argued.
(b) The single most useful change is to replace the announcement with a claim (for example, “A graduation requirement of forty hours of community service teaches responsibility only if students choose their projects”), because a claim gives every later paragraph something to defend and gives the reader a position to weigh. A concrete detail (for example, the number of hours, or one student’s project) can then be added to engage the reader.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Says the draft fails to orient and gives a reason tied to the draft (“no school, no requirement named”) |
| 1 | Says the draft fails to engage and gives a reason (“no scene, fact or stake”) |
| 1 | Says the draft fails to focus because it announces a topic rather than making a claim |
| 1 | Proposes a specific improvement and explains why it helps the reader (not just “add a thesis”) |
Do not award points for a general statement such as “it is boring” without reference to a job of the introduction.
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Read the opening of Frederick Douglass’s address in Rochester, New York, on 5 July 1852, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?
Describe the strategy Douglass uses to begin, and explain its effect on his audience in terms of orienting, engaging and focusing.
Answer and explanation
Strategy. Douglass opens with questions, which place his own presence at an Independence Day celebration in doubt.
Effects. Orient: the audience learns where the speaker stands in relation to them. He is a former slave addressing a celebration of national freedom, and the question signals that his position differs from theirs. Engage: the questions are uncomfortable, so the audience has to consider them rather than settle back into a ceremony. Focus: “What have I… to do with your national independence?” points directly to the central issue of the speech, which is the distance between the nation’s professed principles and slavery.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Correctly names the strategy (questions, rhetorical or challenging) |
| 1 | Explains an effect on the audience tied to the words of the opening (for example, that “your national independence” separates him from his listeners) |
| 1 | Links the opening to the speech’s argument or purpose (focus) rather than only labelling it |
A response that says only “he asks questions to grab attention” earns the first point and nothing more.
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Write an introduction of three to five sentences for this task (Marlbridge prompt): Argue whether libraries should remain open on public holidays. Your audience is the readers of a local newspaper. Then, in one sentence, explain why your chosen strategy suits that audience.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
On Christmas Day last year, the reading room of the Central Library was empty, but the car park was not: a dozen people sat in their cars outside, using the free wireless connection to apply for jobs and call relatives overseas. A library that closes on holidays assumes that everyone has somewhere else to be. Holidays are the days when the building matters most to residents who live alone or lack internet at home, so the library should keep its doors open, at least in the afternoon.
Why it suits the audience: a scene of ordinary local people lets general newspaper readers recognise their neighbours before they hear the claim.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Orients: names the subject and situation (library, holidays) |
| 1 | Engages with a specific, plausible and relevant detail, not a generalisation |
| 1 | Presents a clear, defensible claim, in the introduction or unmistakably led to by it |
| 1 | Avoids announcing the essay’s plan or beginning with an empty generalisation |
| 1 | Justifies the strategy by reference to the audience’s needs |
Alternative strategies (data, a question, contextual information) are equally acceptable if justified.
How did you do?
- If you missed questions 1 or 7, revisit “Reading an introduction” and Worked example 2 in the study guide.
- If you missed questions 2 or 3, review “Choosing by rhetorical situation”.
- If you missed questions 4 to 6, review “Weak and strong introductions side by side” and Worked example 1.
- Then tick off the checklist and revise with the revision notes.