Read the big ideas and the method table, then try the seven questions without notes. Each question combines two or more Unit 6 topics.
These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The sources below are fictional, written by Marlbridge 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
- Sources serve your argument. Synthesising means selecting the most relevant material and combining it as part of your own claim (6.1).
- Every source stands somewhere. Position is what it argues; perspective is where it argues from (6.2).
- The best arguments are honest about their material. They acknowledge bias and limitations and account for them (6.3).
- Evidence can change the claim. A thesis is revised when the evidence requires it, and the line of reasoning with it (6.4).
- Attitude lives in words. Tone is inferred from connotation (6.5), and a shift in tone shows a writer qualifying, refining or reconsidering (6.6).
Key relationships and methods
| If the task asks you to… | Use… | Watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| Synthesise sources | Claim first; select; attribute; comment; show how sources relate | Summarising source by source |
| Describe a source | State its position and its perspective separately | Treating them as the same thing |
| Evaluate a source | Interest, loaded language, omission; sample, scope, method | Calling a source “biased” without saying how |
| Revise a thesis | Test against evidence; narrow, qualify, add a condition, reverse; revise the plan | Ignoring contrary evidence; retreating into vagueness |
| Analyse tone | Quote words, name connotations, name a precise tone, link to purpose | “Negative” and “positive” as labels |
| Analyse a shift | Locate the turn; name tones before and after; say what the shift does | Naming the shift without its effect |
Sources for questions 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 (fictional). The issue: Should a town charge for plastic shopping bags?
Source J (a regional agency summary): “In the year after a 10p charge on plastic bags, the number of bags given out by supermarkets in the region fell by 70%. The agency counted bags issued at 40 supermarkets.”
Source K (a trade association of plastics manufacturers): “Plastic bags are reused by most households, as bin liners and for shopping. Replacing them with ‘bags for life’ means producing heavier bags, which use more material.”
Source L (a university researcher): “Bags for life only reduce environmental impact if they are reused many times, and studies of household behaviour show that many shoppers buy new ones rather than reuse them. A charge works best when paired with a reminder to bring bags.”
Question 1 (multiple choice · 6.1, 6.2)
Which description of the sources is most accurate?
- (A) Sources J and L both support a charge, from the perspectives of an agency that counts bags and a researcher who studies behaviour; Source K, from a manufacturer’s perspective, questions the benefit of replacing bags.
- (B) All three sources have the same position and the same perspective.
- (C) Source J is a manufacturer, Source K is an agency and Source L is a shopper.
- (D) Sources J and K have the same position, and Source L has no position.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). J and L lean toward a charge (J by showing it reduces bags, L by saying a charge works when paired with reminders), K questions the environmental case for replacing bags, and each speaks from a different background.
- (B) The sources differ in position and perspective.
- (C) mislabels who wrote each source.
- (D) Source L takes a position (a charge works best with reminders).
Topics: 6.1, 6.2.
Question 2 (multiple choice · 6.3)
Which is the most important limitation of the evidence in Source J if a writer wants to argue that the charge helps the environment?
- (A) It was written by an agency.
- (B) It counts the number of bags issued, not what shoppers used instead or the overall environmental effect.
- (C) It uses a percentage.
- (D) It mentions the number of supermarkets.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A fall in bags given out does not show what replaced them (for example heavier reusable bags, as Source K suggests), so it cannot alone prove an environmental benefit.
- (A) An agency author is not in itself a limitation.
- (C) Using a percentage is not a limitation.
- (D) Mentioning 40 supermarkets describes the scope; it is a smaller point than the gap between bags issued and environmental effect.
Topic: 6.3.
Question 3 (multiple choice · 6.4)
A student’s first thesis is “A charge on plastic bags will solve the plastic problem.” After reading all three sources, which revision best fits the evidence?
- (A) A charge on plastic bags will solve the plastic problem, whatever the objections.
- (B) A charge on plastic bags is useless.
- (C) A charge on plastic bags can cut the number of bags issued sharply, but its environmental benefit depends on shoppers reusing the replacements, so the town should pair it with reminders to bring bags.
- (D) Plastic bags are an interesting issue.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It uses J (the fall in bags), K and L (the question of replacements) and adds a condition and a proposal.
- (A) ignores the evidence about replacements.
- (B) goes beyond the evidence; J shows an effect.
- (D) makes no claim.
Topics: 6.4, 6.1.
Question 4 (multiple choice · 6.5, 6.6)
Read this passage (Marlbridge passage).
I admit I rolled my eyes when the bag charge began. Another fee, another nag. But the first week I forgot my bags and stood at the till counting coins, I felt something unexpected: embarrassed. By the third week I had bags in the car, in my coat and in my bag. Eye-rolling, it turns out, is a poor match for a ten-pence habit.
Which description of tone and shift is best?
- (A) From sarcastic to furious
- (B) From irritated and sceptical to rueful and self-mocking, with the turn at “But” and the admission “embarrassed”, so the writer qualifies the earlier scorn
- (C) From admiring to hostile
- (D) There is no shift; the tone is detached throughout.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Rolled my eyes”, “another nag” convey irritation; after “But” the writer admits embarrassment and ends with a dry self-mocking line, showing a changed attitude.
- (A) The passage ends in good humour, not fury.
- (C) The opening is scornful, not admiring.
- (D) The attitude is personal and changes.
Topics: 6.5, 6.6.
Question 5 (constructed response · 6.1, 6.2, 6.3)
Write a paragraph of five to seven sentences that argues a town should charge for plastic bags with conditions, using at least two of Sources J, K and L. Introduce each source you use, show how the sources relate, comment on at least one limitation or interest, and keep your own claim in charge.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
A town should charge for plastic bags, but only alongside measures that make reuse the habit. A regional agency counted a 70% fall in bags issued at 40 supermarkets after a 10p charge, which shows that a charge changes behaviour. That figure alone does not show an environmental gain, however, as a plastics trade association points out that heavier “bags for life” use more material, and as the association sells plastic it has an interest in doubting the benefit. A university researcher supplies the missing link: bags for life help only if they are reused many times, and a charge works best when paired with reminders. Taken together, the sources suggest that the charge is a good first step and that its value depends on what shoppers do next, so the council should pair it with a reminder scheme.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (6 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | States a clear, qualified claim that organises the paragraph |
| 1 | Uses at least two sources accurately, with attribution |
| 1 | Shows how the sources relate (qualification, extension, agreement) |
| 1 | Comments on a bias, interest or limitation |
| 1 | Provides commentary that explains the evidence |
| 1 | Ends with a conclusion that follows from combining the sources |
Question 6 (constructed response · 6.4)
A student plans an essay with the thesis “Charging for bags will solve the plastic problem” and three paragraphs: (1) the charge cuts bags by 70%; (2) shoppers adapt quickly; (3) plastics are bad for the sea. After reading Sources K and L, the student wants to revise. Write a revised thesis and a revised outline of three topic sentences that lead to it.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (Marlbridge).
Revised thesis: A charge on plastic bags is worth introducing because it cuts the bags issued sharply, but its environmental value depends on reuse, so the town should pair it with reminders to bring bags.
Revised topic sentences:
- A charge changes behaviour: in one region the number of bags issued fell by 70% after a 10p charge.
- A fall in plastic bags is not the same as an environmental gain, because replacements such as bags for life use more material and help only if reused many times.
- The town should therefore pair the charge with a reminder scheme, so that the new bags are in fact reused.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (5 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | The revised thesis is specific and defensible |
| 1 | It accounts for the contrary or complicating evidence (K and L) |
| 1 | It keeps the supported part of the original claim (J) |
| 1 | The topic sentences are claims, not topics |
| 1 | The order leads logically to the revised thesis |
Question 7 (constructed response · 6.5, 6.6)
In his Second Inaugural Address (1865), Abraham Lincoln says: “Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” He continues: “Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk…”
Identify the shift in tone and explain what it does to the speaker’s perspective.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The tone moves from hopeful and tender, in “fondly”, “fervently” and “pray”, to grave and stern, in the long conditional sentence about “unrequited toil” that may have to be “sunk”. The turn is marked by “Yet”, a turning transition, and by the change from a short, prayerful wish to a long, heavy clause with weighty nouns (“bondsman’s”, “unrequited toil”). The shift qualifies the hope for a quick end: Lincoln expresses the wish for peace but admits that the war may continue until the wrong of slavery has been answered. The effect is to make the speech’s hope credible, since it does not deny the cost of what has happened, and to prepare the audience for the sober recognition that follows.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Award it when the response… |
|---|---|
| 1 | Locates the turn (“Yet”) and the change in sentence style |
| 1 | Names precise tones before and after, with quoted words |
| 1 | States what the shift does (qualifies the hope) |
| 1 | Links the effect to the speaker’s perspective or purpose |
What to do next
If any question felt uncertain, return to the matching study guide (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6) and the unit diagnostic. Unit 6 completes this part of the course; the later units (qualifying claims, sentence structure, style and counterargument) build on these skills.