These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. Passages marked “written by Marlbridge” are original; the references to Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847) and Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861) concern public-domain works. The mark points are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Allow about 45 minutes.
Question 1 (multiple choice · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
I did what was needed, and if my cousin was hurt by it, which I do not deny, it was no more than he had earned by years of idleness.
The syntax of the sentence most clearly serves to
- (A) delay the narrator’s main point until the very end of a very long paragraph.
- (B) show that the narrator is unable to write complete sentences.
- (C) give equal weight to the harm and to the justification.
- (D) place the admission of harm in a subordinate clause and end on the justification, so that the cousin’s fault receives the emphasis.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). The harm is tucked into “if my cousin was hurt by it, which I do not deny”, and the sentence ends with the accusation “years of idleness”. The arrangement emphasises the narrator’s justification.
- (A) is wrong: the passage is a single sentence, and the main point, “I did what was needed”, comes first.
- (B) is wrong: the sentence is complete and carefully built.
- (C) ignores the way the clauses are weighted.
Question 2 (multiple choice · foundation)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
The villagers swarmed through the gate, chattering and snatching, as the steward’s cart came in.
The word “swarmed” most strongly suggests that the narrator
- (A) admires the villagers’ energy.
- (B) is describing a dangerous swarm of bees.
- (C) is a villager himself.
- (D) regards the villagers as an unruly, almost insect-like crowd.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (D). “Swarmed”, with “chattering and snatching”, casts the villagers as a mass and implies contempt.
- (A) reads the word as positive, but its connotations here are of disorder.
- (B) is a literal reading of a figurative word.
- (C) is unsupported; the distance and tone point to an observer above them.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
My sister said something to me then, but I will not repeat it; it was unworthy of her, and I turned and went out.
What can a reader most reasonably infer from the narrator’s choice not to repeat her words?
- (A) The narrator is lying about the argument.
- (B) The sister said nothing.
- (C) The narrator controls the account by withholding the sister’s words, presenting himself as dignified, so the reader cannot judge the quarrel fairly.
- (D) The narrator has forgotten the argument.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). The omission shapes the reader’s view. By calling her words “unworthy” without quoting them, the narrator asks to be trusted and avoids being checked.
- (A) goes further than the evidence: withholding is not necessarily lying.
- (B) is contradicted by the first clause.
- (D) is contradicted by “I will not repeat it”, which implies a choice, not a lapse of memory.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
I have never been a man to raise my voice. When I told the clerk what I thought of him, the windows trembled in their frames, and the clerk, I observed, was white to the lips.
Which detail most strongly undermines the narrator’s claim?
- (A) “I have never been a man to raise my voice”
- (B) “the windows trembled in their frames”
- (C) “the clerk, I observed”
- (D) “what I thought of him”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Windows that tremble suggest that he shouted, which contradicts his claim. The gap between what he says about himself and what he describes is a sign of unreliability.
- (A) is the claim being tested, not the contradicting evidence.
- (C) shows that he is noticing the clerk’s reaction, which supports the same impression but does not contradict the claim directly.
- (D) states that he expressed his opinion, which does not itself conflict with a calm voice.
Question 5 (multiple choice · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
At twelve I was convinced that my future lay in the Navy, chiefly because I had been given a hat.
The tone of this older narrator toward his younger self is best described as
- (A) bitter and resentful.
- (B) gently ironic and affectionate.
- (C) admiring and proud.
- (D) indifferent.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Convinced” and “chiefly because I had been given a hat” gently mock the child’s reasoning, while the narrator’s willingness to share it implies affection. Looking back, the narrator sees more than the child could.
- (A) overstates the feeling: nothing suggests bitterness.
- (C) misreads the irony.
- (D) is contradicted by the careful humour.
Question 6 (multiple choice · stretch)
In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), much of the story is told to Lockwood by the housekeeper Nelly Dean, who has lived alongside the families she describes and takes actions that affect events. Which statement about her reliability is best supported by these facts?
- (A) She is automatically reliable because she is an eyewitness.
- (B) She cannot be believed about anything.
- (C) She is not a neutral observer, so her judgements may be shaped by her own position and choices, and a careful reader should weigh them.
- (D) Her reliability is irrelevant, since narrators have no effect on a reader’s interpretation.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). A narrator who is also a participant has a stake in the events. Her view may be partial without being false.
- (A) assumes that being present guarantees fairness.
- (B) is an overstatement; unreliability is a matter of degree.
- (D) contradicts the point that a narrator controls the details and emphases a reader receives.
Question 7 (written response · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge.
Cousin Maud arrived on the Tuesday with three trunks and no manners. I was perfectly civil. I showed her to the best room, though it had never been offered to anyone, and I mentioned only once, and very kindly, that Mr Rudd’s late wife had been content with the blue one. She wept, I believe, from fatigue. By Thursday she had left, and I have never understood the ingratitude.
Write a paragraph of about 120 to 150 words explaining what the narrator’s diction and choice of details reveal about her perspective and her reliability.
Answer and explanation
Model response. The narrator presents herself as the model of hospitality, but her language undercuts her. She says Maud arrived “with three trunks and no manners”, a judgement made before any conduct has been described. She insists she was “perfectly civil” and “very kindly” mentioned the late wife’s contentment with a lesser room, a remark that sounds like a rebuke. Maud’s weeping is explained away with “I believe, from fatigue”, which discounts a distress the narrator does not wish to examine. Her closing claim not to understand “the ingratitude” shows blindness to her own part. Because the account is defensive and omits Maud’s words, the reader suspects that Maud was hurt by remarks the narrator now excuses, and so trusts the narrator’s feelings more than her facts.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (6 points).
| Point | What earns it |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the narrator’s self-presentation (civil, hospitable) |
| 2 | Uses diction (“no manners”) as evidence of prejudgement |
| 3 | Reads the “blue room” remark as a rebuke softened by “very kindly” |
| 4 | Reads “I believe, from fatigue” as dismissal of Maud’s distress |
| 5 | Identifies omission (Maud’s words and feelings) as a sign of bias |
| 6 | States a conclusion about reliability supported by the details (reliable about feelings, doubtful about facts) |
Question 8 (written response · core)
Passage written by Marlbridge. A landlord, who narrates, says: “My tenants have never wanted for anything.” A tenant is quoted later: “We asked for the roof to be mended three winters running.”
In three or four sentences, explain how a reader might use the tenant’s remark to test the narrator’s reliability.
Answer and explanation
Model response. The tenant’s remark contradicts the landlord’s claim: a roof left unmended for “three winters running” is a clear want. The contradiction suggests that the landlord’s account is either biased or incomplete, since he defines “wanting” narrowly or ignores requests. A reader should therefore weigh his other statements with caution and look for further omissions. The tenant’s account does not prove that the landlord is lying; it shows that his perspective, that of the owner, leaves out what the occupants experience.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points). One point for identifying the contradiction with specific words; one for concluding that the narrator is biased or incomplete; one for explaining that the reader should weigh the narrator’s other statements; one for recognising that the contradiction shows a limited perspective, not necessarily a lie.
Question 9 (written response · stretch)
Choose a longer work with a distinctive narrator, or use Great Expectations (Dickens, 1861), narrated by an older Pip about his younger self. Explain, in 120 to 150 words, how the narrator’s perspective shapes the way a reader understands one other character.
Answer and explanation
Model response (Great Expectations). Because Pip narrates as an adult looking back, he describes the child he was with a mixture of memory and hindsight. When he describes Miss Havisham, the reader receives the eerie details through the child’s eyes: the wedding dress long past its wear, the clocks stopped at one moment. The adult narrator, however, knows what these details meant, and his careful choices of what to stress let the reader sense both the child’s fear and the older man’s understanding. Because the narrator is also the person most changed by her, the reader cannot see her apart from his needs and mistakes, and a careful reader asks how far his account is an adult’s judgement and how far it remains a child’s impression.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points). One point for correctly identifying the narrator’s position (retrospective, first person); one for describing how this shapes what is included or emphasised about the other character; one for a specific detail from the work; one for a conclusion about how the narrator’s perspective affects interpretation or reliability. Any well-supported choice of work earns credit.
How did you do?
- 8 to 9 correct or well-supported answers: Move on to the Topic 6.5 study guide.
- 5 to 7: Re-read the reliability toolkit in the study guide and redo the written questions.
- 4 or fewer: Work through both worked examples again, then use the revision notes and checklist.