Use this diagnostic to find which Unit 1 topics to revisit: one short question for each of the six topics, then two written questions that combine them.
These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages were written by Marlbridge for practice. The diagnostic is not calibrated and gives no predicted score. Allow about 25 minutes; answer everything before opening any answer. No calculator is needed.
Question 1 (multiple choice · 1.1)
Read this opening of a letter, written by Marlbridge: “Dear Trustees: Last month you voted to sell the playing field. I coached the under-elevens there for twelve years, and I am writing to ask you to think again.” Which component of the rhetorical situation is most directly signalled by “Dear Trustees”?
- (A) The exigence
- (B) The audience
- (C) The message
- (D) The writer’s credibility only
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Direct address names the group the writer is speaking to. The exigence is the vote, the message is the request to reconsider, and the coaching history is part of the writer’s credibility. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.1 study guide.
- (A) is wrong: the exigence is the vote to sell the field.
- (C) is wrong: the message is the position that the trustees should think again.
- (D) is wrong: credibility is signalled by the coaching, not by the salutation.
Question 2 (multiple choice · 1.2)
A mayor’s broadcast, written by Marlbridge, says: “After three days of flooding that closed forty roads, I am asking every resident to stay home until Friday.” Which statement best gives the purpose?
- (A) The flooding that closed forty roads
- (B) Flooding
- (C) The mayor’s position in the town
- (D) To persuade residents to stay home until Friday for their safety
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). A purpose is what the writer wants the audience to do. The flooding is the exigence. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.2 study guide.
- (A) is wrong: describes the exigence.
- (B) is wrong: names a topic.
- (C) is wrong: describes the writer.
Question 3 (multiple choice · 1.3)
A writer revises a notice to parents by adding the costs and dates, removing slang and opening with “We understand that many of you have planned your weeks around this trip.” These changes most clearly show attention to the audience’s
- (A) needs and background
- (B) age only
- (C) favourite subjects
- (D) hobbies
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). Costs and dates answer what parents need; the formal tone fits their background; the opening acknowledges their situation. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.3 study guide.
- (B) is wrong: age is only one factor and the changes address more than age.
- (C) is wrong: nothing refers to subjects.
- (D) is wrong: hobbies are not addressed.
Question 4 (multiple choice · 1.4)
Which of the following is a claim that requires a defence?
- (A) The town library has two floors.
- (B) I enjoy quiet evenings.
- (C) The town should extend its library’s evening hours because teenagers have nowhere else to study.
- (D) Libraries lend books.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It takes a position a reasonable person could dispute and gives a reason that needs support. The others are facts or a preference. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.4 study guide.
- (A) is wrong: a checkable fact.
- (B) is wrong: a preference.
- (D) is wrong: a checkable fact.
Question 5 (multiple choice · 1.5)
A writer claims that painted bike lanes on Mill Road have reduced collisions. Which evidence most directly supports the claim?
- (A) Many residents like bikes.
- (B) The lanes were painted in green.
- (C) Recorded collisions on Mill Road fell from 14 in the year before the lanes to 6 in the year after.
- (D) Other towns have bike lanes.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It measures the outcome named in the claim before and after the change. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.5 study guide.
- (A) is wrong: shows attitudes, not collisions.
- (B) is wrong: a detail that says nothing about collisions.
- (D) is wrong: shows others do it, not what happened here.
Question 6 (multiple choice · 1.6)
Which sentence embeds its quotation best?
- (A) By declaring that these “are the times that try men’s souls,” Paine casts the crisis as a test of character, not merely of strength.
- (B) Paine wrote something. “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
- (C) “These are the times that try men’s souls.” It is Paine.
- (D) Paine’s pamphlet is famous.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The quotation is part of the writer’s own grammar and is followed by commentary on its effect. If you missed this, read the Topic 1.6 study guide.
- (B) is wrong: the quotation is dropped in as its own sentence.
- (C) is wrong: dropped in with no commentary.
- (D) is wrong: no quotation or analysis.
Question 7 (constructed response · 1.1 to 1.3)
Read this passage, written by Marlbridge.
Neighbours: the council has just announced that the footbridge over Mill Stream will close for repairs from 3 June. I have crossed that bridge every morning for nineteen years on my way to the allotments. I am asking you all to come to the meeting at the village hall on Thursday and tell the council that the repair must be finished before the school term starts.
Identify the exigence, the audience, the purpose and one element of the context, with a detail from the passage for each. Then explain one choice the writer makes that suits the audience.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. Exigence: the council’s announcement that the footbridge will close from 3 June. Audience: neighbours, addressed directly (“Neighbours”), people who live in the village and know the bridge. Purpose: to persuade neighbours to attend Thursday’s meeting and press the council to finish repairs before term starts. Context: a village hall meeting on Thursday, shortly before the closure, a local community setting. Choice: the writer shares nineteen years of daily crossings, which builds credibility and common ground with neighbours who share the route.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Exigence identified with the announcement as evidence. |
| 1 | Audience identified with a detail (direct address or shared place). |
| 1 | Purpose stated as an effect on the audience (attend, press the council). |
| 1 | A context element (time, place or occasion) with a detail. |
| 1 | A choice explained and linked to the audience. |
Question 8 (constructed response · 1.4 to 1.6)
Claim: “Our school should open its library at lunchtime.” Evidence (invented for practice): “A count over five lunchtimes found 120 pupils a day waiting in corridors with nowhere quiet to sit.” Write a paragraph of three or four sentences that states the claim in your own words, embeds the evidence and adds commentary that explains how it supports the claim.
Answer and explanation
Model answer. Our school should open its library at lunchtime, because many pupils have nowhere quiet to go. A count over five lunchtimes found that about 120 pupils a day were waiting in corridors with nowhere to sit. That is roughly one pupil in five with no place to read or work during the break, so opening the library would give them a space that the building does not currently provide. The cost is small beside the benefit of giving that many pupils somewhere to be.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points)
| Points | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | States the claim in the writer’s own words. |
| 1 | Embeds the evidence accurately in a sentence. |
| 1 | Commentary explains what the figure shows. |
| 1 | Commentary connects the evidence to the claim, not just repeats it. |
| 1 | Writes a coherent paragraph of three or four sentences. |
The fraction in the model answer assumes about 600 pupils; accept any reasonable explanation that does not repeat the claim.
After the diagnostic
For every question you missed, read the study guide it names, then try the topic’s practice questions. When you are ready, take the Unit 1 mixed review.