These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The passages were written by Marlbridge for this practice. Mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Multiple-choice questions have four options.
Passage I (written by Marlbridge).
Rosalind knew the speech was going badly because the man in the second row had begun to read the programme. She spoke more quickly. At the back of the hall the lights buzzed, and somebody coughed in a manner she could only interpret as kind. She did not know, as she turned the page, that the man in the second row was reading the programme because the typeface had been designed by his grandfather, and that he meant to tell her so afterwards.
Passage J (written by Marlbridge).
People in the village say I let the fire go out. I say the wind took it, and I stand by the wind. It is true I was sitting by the window when the last log fell in, and it is true I had a book, but a person may read and still keep faith with a fire, and anyone who says otherwise has never loved a book as I have.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
The sentence “She did not know, as she turned the page, that the man in the second row was reading the programme because …” most directly shows that the narrator of Passage I
- (A) is a character in the hall
- (B) has knowledge that Rosalind lacks
- (C) shares Rosalind’s embarrassment
- (D) is unsure about what the man was thinking
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The narrator knows the man’s reason, which Rosalind does not. This steps outside her perception.
- (A) is wrong because the narration uses “she”, not “I”.
- (C) is not supported; the narrator is informative and slightly ironic, not embarrassed.
- (D) is the reverse of what the sentence shows.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
The main effect of the narrator’s shift to what Rosalind “did not know” is to
- (A) make the reader doubt that the speech is poor
- (B) allow the reader to see her situation more fully than she does
- (C) show that the man in the second row is hostile
- (D) suggest that Rosalind is untruthful
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The reader learns that what Rosalind reads as boredom has another meaning, which creates a gap between her perception and the facts.
- (A) is not supported. The passage does not tell us whether the speech is good.
- (C) is contradicted by the explanation about the typeface.
- (D) has no basis in the passage.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
“Somebody coughed in a manner she could only interpret as kind.” This phrase most clearly reveals
- (A) the narrator’s neutral report of a noise
- (B) Rosalind’s assumption that the audience pities her
- (C) the audience’s real feelings about the speech
- (D) that Rosalind is amused by the audience
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “She could only interpret” marks the reading as hers. It shows how her fear leads her to read pity into an ordinary sound.
- (A) ignores “interpret”.
- (C) is not established; the narrator signals that this is Rosalind’s reading.
- (D) is contradicted by her nervousness (she “spoke more quickly”).
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
The first sentence of Passage J (“People in the village say I let the fire go out”) mainly establishes that the narrator
- (A) is a neutral observer of village life
- (B) is responding to an accusation and presenting her own account
- (C) enjoys talking to her neighbours
- (D) is describing events that have not yet happened
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “People … say” and “I say” set her version against theirs. This is a first-person narrator defending herself.
- (A) is wrong because she is a party to the dispute.
- (C) is not suggested; she disagrees with them.
- (D) is wrong because the fire has already gone out.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
“A person may read and still keep faith with a fire.” This statement most clearly shows that the narrator
- (A) understands why the village blames her
- (B) uses general reasoning to justify what she did
- (C) believes that the fire should have been allowed to go out
- (D) is giving a precise account of the evening
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). She turns a particular lapse into a general principle (“a person may …”), which is a way of defending herself.
- (A) is not shown; she rejects the village’s view.
- (C) is not stated.
- (D) is wrong because the sentence is an argument, not an account of events.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
Because Passage J is narrated in the first person, the reader cannot be certain that
- (A) the narrator loves books
- (B) the wind was the real cause of the fire going out
- (C) the narrator was sitting by the window
- (D) the narrator was holding a book
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). The narrator is involved and interested, and she admits facts that look bad (“it is true”) while insisting on the wind. The reader cannot verify the cause.
- (A), (C) and (D) are things she states and does not dispute, and they are consistent with each other.
Question 7 (multiple choice · core)
Which statement about the narrator of Passage J is most accurate?
- (A) The narrator’s views are necessarily those of the writer.
- (B) The narrator is a voice created by the writer, and her views are not necessarily the writer’s.
- (C) The narrator cannot be a person involved in the events.
- (D) The narrator’s perspective is irrelevant to the reader’s interpretation.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A narrator is not necessarily the author.
- (A) is the misconception the question targets.
- (C) contradicts the first-person form of the passage.
- (D) is wrong because perspective controls which details and emphases the reader receives.
Question 8 (constructed response · core)
Using two details from Passage J, write a short claim about the narrator’s perspective on the fire going out.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The narrator’s perspective is defensive and self-justifying. She says “I stand by the wind”, treating the cause as settled although the village disagrees, and she defends reading by general argument (“a person may read and still keep faith with a fire”), which shows that she wants to present her actions as defensible rather than admit fault.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (3 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A claim about the narrator’s perspective (defensive, self-justifying, reluctant to admit fault) |
| 2 | Two accurate details or quotations |
| 3 | An explanation of how at least one detail supports the claim |
Question 9 (constructed response · stretch)
Compare what the narrator of Passage I can provide with what the narrator of Passage J can provide. Refer to the point of view of each.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Passage I uses a third-person narrator who stays close to Rosalind but steps outside her mind to say what “she did not know”. The reader therefore receives both her fear (she reads the cough as “kind”) and a fact she cannot know, which creates irony and some sympathy. Passage J is first person, so the reader receives only what the narrator chooses to say, including her self-justifying argument. We cannot learn what the villagers think except through her account, so the reader has to test her story against what she admits.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Correctly identifies the point of view of Passage I (third person) |
| 2 | Correctly identifies the point of view of Passage J (first person) |
| 3 | States what each can provide or cannot (extra knowledge versus involved, partial account) |
| 4 | Uses an accurate detail from each passage as evidence |
How did you do? If you missed Questions 1 to 3, reread “First person and third person” in the study guide. If you missed Questions 4 to 7, reread Worked example 2 and the misconceptions. Then check the checklist.