These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages marked “Marlbridge passage” were written for this resource; quotations from historical texts are from public-domain sources with author, title and year. The rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Read this passage (Marlbridge passage).
Patience is not the same as passivity. The passive person waits because she has stopped expecting anything; the patient person waits because she still does. A farmer who has planted wheat in October and walks the field in March, checking the shoots, is patient. A farmer who has planted nothing and watches the sky is not.
Which method of development does the writer mainly use?
- (A) Comparison of two cities
- (B) An extended definition that uses contrast and an example
- (C) A narrative of a single day
- (D) A cause-and-effect chain
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The writer defines patience by contrasting it with passivity and illustrating it with two farmers.
- (A) No cities are mentioned.
- (C) The farmers are illustrations, not a story with events in order.
- (D) The passage does not trace a chain of causes and effects.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which sentence develops an idea most effectively through description?
- (A) The kitchen was very nice and everyone liked it.
- (B) The kitchen smelled of toast and warm radiators, and the kettle ticked as it cooled on the stove.
- (C) A kitchen is a room where food is prepared.
- (D) There are many kinds of kitchen.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It uses specific sensory details (smell and sound), so the reader can imagine the room.
- (A) uses vague words (“very nice”).
- (C) is a definition, not a description.
- (D) is a general statement with no detail.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Ambrose Bierce, in The Devil’s Dictionary (first published as The Cynic’s Word Book in 1906), defines “Positive, adj.” as “Mistaken at the top of one’s voice.” What does this definition do?
- (A) It gives the neutral, technical meaning of the word.
- (B) It redefines the word in a way that criticises people who are certain, using humour.
- (C) It traces the origin of the word.
- (D) It describes a specific person.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The definition is not neutral; it makes a pointed comment on loud certainty.
- (A) A neutral definition would say “certain” or “sure”.
- (C) It says nothing about the word’s history.
- (D) It describes a type of person in general, not a specific individual.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
In Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853), the narrator describes London: “Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.” What is the main effect of the repeated phrase “fog up the river… fog down the river”?
- (A) It shows that the narrator is lost.
- (B) It suggests the fog is inescapable, extending in every direction along the river.
- (C) It describes the narrator’s journey in chronological order.
- (D) It defines the word “fog”.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The parallel phrases cover both directions, so no part of the river is free of fog.
- (A) The narrator is describing the setting, not being lost.
- (C) The narrator is not travelling in time.
- (D) The passage does not define anything.
Question 5 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which statement about definition and description is most accurate?
- (A) A definition must always begin with a dictionary entry.
- (B) Definition and description relate the characteristics, features or sensory details of an object or idea, often with examples or illustrations.
- (C) Description can only be used in narratives.
- (D) A definition is not open to debate.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). This is the core of the method.
- (A) A dictionary entry is usually a weak opener.
- (C) Description supports arguments too.
- (D) Definitions of key terms are often contested.
Question 6 (constructed response · core)
Write an extended definition of fairness of five to seven sentences for an argument that a school should let students choose their own deadlines for one assignment per term. Use at least one example and one contrast, and end by linking the definition to the claim.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
Fairness is not treating everyone identically; it is giving everyone what they need to meet the same standard. If two students are asked to run a race and one is given a head start because she has a bad ankle, we do not say the race is unfair. A deadline works the same way. A student who looks after a younger sibling on weekday evenings and a student with the evenings free are given the same date, but not the same time. Fairness, understood this way, asks that the standard be fixed (the quality of the work) while the route to it is allowed to vary. A school that lets students choose one deadline a term is applying that standard of fairness rather than abandoning it.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Gives a clear, defensible definition that is not circular |
| 1 | Uses a concrete example or illustration |
| 1 | Uses contrast, negation or features to sharpen the definition |
| 1 | Links the definition explicitly to the claim about deadlines |
Question 7 (constructed response · core)
Here is a draft sentence from an argument that a town’s bus station needs repair (Marlbridge passage): “The bus station is in very bad condition and is unpleasant for travellers.” Rewrite it as two or three sentences of description that use specific, sensory details, and say in one sentence how the details support the claim.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
Rain drips through the roof of the shelter onto a bench with one slat missing, and the departure board has flickered the same number since March. The air smells of diesel and damp, and an old man in a wet coat counts his coins to see if he can afford the ticket.
Why it supports the claim: the details of rain, the broken bench, the unreliable board and the man counting coins show that the building fails passengers in comfort, information and dignity, which is the case for repair.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Replaces general adjectives with specific details |
| 1 | Includes at least two different senses or features |
| 1 | Selects details that point to the claim (the need for repair) |
| 1 | Explains how the details support the claim |
Question 8 (constructed response · stretch)
Read this passage (Marlbridge passage).
What is a neighbour? Not simply someone who lives next door; some of us have lived beside the same wall for years without learning a name. A neighbour is someone whose absence you would notice: the light that does not come on in the window across the lane, the dog that is not walked at six. By this measure, a town is not a set of houses but a net of small noticings.
Explain how the writer uses definition to develop an idea and what it contributes to the passage’s purpose.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The writer begins with a question, then rejects the obvious definition (someone who lives next door) and replaces it with a functional one: a neighbour is “someone whose absence you would notice”. The two examples, the unlit window and the unwalked dog, illustrate the definition in concrete terms. The last sentence extends the definition to a larger claim: a town is made of “small noticings”. The definition therefore moves the reader from a geographical idea of community to a relational one, which is the passage’s purpose.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the method as definition (extended, by negation and example) |
| 1 | Describes the move from the rejected definition to the new one |
| 1 | Refers to the examples (the window, the dog) as illustration |
| 1 | Connects the definition to the larger claim about a town |
How did you do?
- If you missed questions 1 or 5, revisit “Two methods that make an idea visible” and “Definition” in the study guide.
- If you missed questions 2 or 4, review “Description” and Worked example 2.
- If you missed questions 3, 6 or 8, review “Definition as strategy” and Worked example 1.
- Then tick off the checklist and revise with the revision notes.