Read the big ideas and the method table, then try the seven questions without notes. Each question combines two or more Unit 5 topics.
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 official scoring.
Big ideas of the unit
- Paragraphs do the reasoning. Each body paragraph makes a claim, gives evidence and adds commentary that explains how it serves the argument (5.1).
- Coherence is the reader’s experience of logic. It operates between clauses, sentences and paragraphs (5.2).
- Small devices carry big relationships. Repetition, synonyms, pronouns and parallel structure link and balance ideas (5.3); transitions name the relationship between ideas and between pieces of evidence (5.4).
- Words have two layers. Denotation is meaning; connotation is attitude (5.5).
- Precision serves the reader. Descriptive words convey perspective, and exact words reduce confusion (5.6).
Key relationships and methods
| If the task asks you to… | Use… | Watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| Describe a paragraph’s function | Name its claim, evidence, commentary, and link to the thesis | Calling commentary “more evidence” |
| Revise for unity | Cut sentences that do not serve the controlling idea | Keeping an interesting but irrelevant detail |
| Revise for coherence | Order ideas logically; link with repeated terms, pronouns, transitions | Adding “therefore” where nothing follows |
| Repair linking devices | Make pronoun references clear; match grammatical forms | Vague “this” and “it”; mixed lists |
| Choose a transition | Decide the relationship, then the word | “However” for addition; “therefore” for no result |
| Analyse word choice | Quote the word, name its connotation, link to tone and purpose | Listing words without effect |
| Make writing precise | Replace vague words with exact nouns, verbs and details | Stacked adjectives; fancy but inexact words |
Question 1 (multiple choice · 5.1, 5.2)
Read this paragraph (Marlbridge passage).
A community orchard would give the street a shared project. Neighbours who have never spoken would meet at the pruning days. The council’s budget for next year is £4 million. By autumn, they would be sharing the fruit and the work. The project would turn a strip of waste ground into something the whole street has made.
Which revision would most improve the paragraph’s unity and coherence?
- (A) Delete the sentence about the council’s budget and begin the next sentence with “As the seasons pass,”.
- (B) Move the budget sentence to the beginning of the paragraph.
- (C) Add a sentence defining “orchard” from a dictionary.
- (D) Delete the final sentence.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). The budget sentence does not serve the paragraph’s idea (a shared project), so cutting it restores unity. A transitional phrase such as “As the seasons pass” links the pruning days to the autumn fruit, improving coherence.
- (B) would put an irrelevant sentence at the start.
- (C) adds a dictionary definition that does not advance the claim.
- (D) deletes the sentence that links the paragraph to the argument.
Topics: 5.1, 5.2, 5.4.
Question 2 (multiple choice · 5.3, 5.4)
Read this sentence (Marlbridge passage): “The council told the residents that they would repair the road, but this was not done, and it made them angry.” Which revision best repairs the pronoun references and uses a clear transition?
- (A) The council told the residents that it would repair the road; however, the repair was not done, which made the residents angry.
- (B) The council told the residents that they would repair the road, but this didn’t happen, so it made them angry.
- (C) The council and the residents were angry because it was not done.
- (D) The road was not repaired, and they told them they would.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). “It” clearly refers to the council, “the repair” replaces the vague “this”, and “however” marks the contrast between promise and result.
- (B) keeps the ambiguous “they”, “this” and “it”.
- (C) changes the meaning and keeps an unclear “it”.
- (D) is confusing: “they” and “them” have no clear referents.
Topics: 5.3, 5.4.
Question 3 (multiple choice · 5.5, 5.6)
A writer wants to persuade a council that a footbridge is unsafe, without exaggeration. Which sentence is best?
- (A) The footbridge is a deathtrap, and the council has been criminally negligent.
- (B) Two of the footbridge’s planks have rotted through, and the handrail on the east side moves when leaned on.
- (C) The footbridge is not very nice.
- (D) Something is wrong with the footbridge.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It uses exact details that the reader can check and that imply danger without overstating.
- (A) uses loaded words (“deathtrap”, “criminally negligent”) that the evidence does not support.
- (C) is vague.
- (D) is vague and does not say what is wrong.
Topics: 5.5, 5.6.
Question 4 (multiple choice · 5.3, 5.5)
In Walden (Henry David Thoreau, 1854), we read: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” What is the effect of the repetition of “desperation” and the choice of “resignation”?
- (A) It shows that the writer cannot think of another word.
- (B) It re-labels calm acceptance (“resignation”) as hidden despair, so the repeated word forces the reader to see the apparent calm as the same thing as desperation.
- (C) It praises resignation as a virtue.
- (D) It changes the subject from men to nature.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The second sentence repeats “desperation” to define “resignation” in its terms, and the connotation of “resignation” (quiet acceptance) is turned into something more troubling.
- (A) The repetition is deliberate.
- (C) The passage criticises resignation as disguised despair.
- (D) The subject remains men’s lives.
Topics: 5.3 (repetition), 5.5 (connotation).
Question 5 (constructed response · 5.1, 5.2, 5.4)
Write a body paragraph of five to seven sentences for the claim The school dining hall is too small. Use this evidence (fictional): the hall seats 120; 450 students eat lunch in two sittings of 25 minutes; queues often take 15 minutes. Include a claim, evidence, commentary and at least two transitions, and keep to one main idea.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
The school dining hall is too small for the number of students it must serve. It seats 120, yet 450 students eat lunch in two sittings of 25 minutes. Because each sitting must feed about 225 students in a hall that seats 120, nearly half of them cannot sit down at once, so many students queue, and the queue often takes 15 minutes. In other words, more than half of a 25-minute lunch can be spent waiting. The result is that students eat in a rush or skip lunch altogether, which is hard to defend in a school that expects them to concentrate in the afternoon. A larger hall, or more sittings, would address the problem at its source.
(450 ÷ 2 = 225 students per sitting; 225 − 120 = 105 students without a seat, which is 47% of 225, so nearly half; 15 of 25 minutes is 60%, so more than half.)
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (6 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Opens with a clear claim |
| 1 | Uses the evidence accurately |
| 1 | Provides commentary that interprets the evidence (for example, what 15 minutes of a 25-minute lunch means) |
| 1 | Uses at least two transitions that match the logic |
| 1 | Stays on one controlling idea |
| 1 | Ends with a sentence that links to the claim or advances the argument |
Question 6 (constructed response · 5.5, 5.6)
Rewrite this passage (Marlbridge passage) so that it is more precise and so that its attitude is clearly admiring. Keep the facts the same.
The old man looked after the garden. It was a good garden with a lot of things in it. He did it every day and it was nice to see.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
Every morning the old man tended his garden with patient care. Rows of beans climbed their canes, tomatoes ripened against the south wall, and a border of marigolds glowed along the path. It was a pleasure to see the work of such steady hands.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Replaces vague words (“good”, “a lot of things”, “nice”) with specific nouns and details |
| 1 | Uses connotations that convey admiration (“patient care”, “steady hands”) |
| 1 | Keeps the facts the same (the man, the garden, every day) |
| 1 | Avoids stacking adjectives or loaded words that the facts do not support |
Question 7 (constructed response · 5.3, 5.4, 5.5)
In his Atlanta Exposition address (1895), Booker T. Washington said: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”
Explain how the writer’s use of parallel structure, a transition and a comparison shapes the meaning of the sentence.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The sentence is built in two matching halves: “as separate as the fingers” and “one as the hand”. The parallel structure (“as… as…”) sets the two ideas, separation and unity, side by side so that they seem equally true. The word “yet” is the transition: it turns from separateness to unity and shows that the two ideas coexist. The comparison is a simile that uses the fingers and the hand, one image for both: fingers are separate but belong to a single hand, so the image makes the claim feel natural and easy to picture. Together, these choices present a possible relationship between two groups as both distinct and joined in shared progress.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the parallel structure (“as separate as… one as…”) and what it does |
| 1 | Identifies “yet” as a transition and the relationship it signals (contrast, coexistence) |
| 1 | Explains the fingers-and-hand comparison |
| 1 | Connects the devices to the sentence’s meaning, not only names them |
What to do next
If any question felt uncertain, return to the matching study guide (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6) and the unit diagnostic. When you are ready, move on to Unit 6 with the Unit 6 diagnostic.