A* Reading List
A* Reading List
A* Reading List
Some students assume that getting an A* in GCSE English is about big words and long sentences. They think it’s about complicatedness. They probably think this sentence ...
The golden ball shimmered enticingly in the rich azure wilderness of space.
... is better than this ...
The bright sun threatened to bake and then burn us.
The second is a much better sentence: it’s more vivid, more visual; it personifies the sun which catches our interest; it challenges our perceptions (the sun is usually associated with kindness - here it has an air of menace); and it uses simple, but well chosen words. The first sentences, on the other hand, is pretentious and over-written. It’s flabby and over-complicated.
So a reminder: great writing isn’t about complicatedness. It consists of short sentences and long sentences; big words and little words; familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary; and most importantly a well judged sense of knowing how to surprise the reader, of taking risks, of making us want to keep on reading.
And that applies to articles, letters, speeches, or any of the other forms of writing that you may be asked to write in the 25 or 35 minutes of your English exam.
Finally, there’s no simple tick-list for how to write well. But there is one important way to prepare: by reading writing that is interesting, opinionated, challenging and which dares to be different.
Here are a few examples from today’s newspapers:
Jay Rayner restaurant review (Observer)
David Mitchell on giving prisoners the vote (Observer)
Allison Pearson on exams (a letter) (Telegraph)
Nigel Farndale on cancelling the Olympics (Telegraph)
Alasdair Palmer on parenting (Telegraph)
Bryony Gordon on the Olympic torch (Telegraph)
Fiona Philips on bravery (Mirror)
Good luck with the exam on Tuesday.
Geoff Barton
Sunday 27 May, 2012
Sunday, 27 May 2012