1. Read the following extract carefully and then answer all the questions set on it.

Pita panicked. There was nothing he could do. He was trapped. Trapped with hundreds of others. The monster had
come and was slowly, surely dragging them from the deep. He swam through the excited crowd to try the bottom.
Then he tried the top again. The great monster had encircled them completely. There were millions of holes in its
great hands, but none large enough. If only they were a little larger. Pita tried to push himself through one of the
holes again. He squeezed and squeezed. Great tails lashed around him. Not only he but against his eyes. If only his
head could get through. He pushed again, hard, and the pain quivered through his body.
There was nothing he could do. He heard the breakers roaring above now. That meant they were nearing the shore.
Pita whipped his tail in fury. The monster was gradually closing its hands. There were cries now above the surface.
Below, the monster grated on sand. The shore! They had reached the shore! Frantically, Pita flung himself against
one of the tiny holes. He gave a cry as the scales tore from his back - then a cry of joy. He was free! Free!
He lunged forward below the surface. Down he sped, rejoicing in his tinyness. If he was only a little bigger, he
would have been dying on the shore now. The fateful shore! There had been those who had actually come back
from that world. This was one of the great mysteries. But some said they had been there, and had talked of that
awesome place.
There was no more blood now. Down he swam. Deep, deep until the sound of the breakers was only a bitter
memory, and the sea was not sandy but blue and clear, and until, far, far away in the distance, green with fern and
the tender moss, he saw the rocks of home.
Question
a) To whom or what does 'he' refer? (1 mark)

Question
b) What effect is the author trying to create by using short sentences in the passage? (2 marks)

Question
c) State ONE word which could describe Pita's feelings when he realised, There were millions of holes ... but none
large enough. (2 marks)

Question
d) Why does the author repeat 'squeezed' in line 6? (3 marks)

Question
e) Who or what does the 'monster' refer to? (2 marks)

Question
f) Why does the writer use 'fateful' to describe the shore? (2 marks)

Question
g) Why does Pita utter a cry of joy? (1 mark)

Question
h) Why was 'the sound of the breakers' a bitter memory? (2 marks)

2. Read the following poem carefully and and answer the questions which follow it.
Growing pains
My child-eyes cried for chocolate treats
And sticky sweets
'Twill rot yu' teet'!
Tinkly silver wrapper hides
5

Germs
Worms
Decay
How can a child-eye see?
This child-heart cried for mid-teen love

10

A blow, a shove
Study yuh' book!
Leather jacket

Football boots
Are not the most sought-after truths
15

How can a child-heart know?

So watch the young-girl-heart take wing!
Watch her groove
And watch her swing
She's old enough

20

She's strong and tough

She'll see beneath the silver wrapper
Beneath the flashy football boots
She'll find the great sought-after truth
That child-eye tears are not as sad

25

And child-heart pain is not as bad

As grown-up tears and grown-up pain
Oh Christ, what do we have to gain
From growing up
For throwing up

30

Our childlike ways

For dim
Disastrous
Grown-up days.
ANITA

Question
(a)(i)Who is likely to have said the following lines:
'Twill rot yu' teet'! (line 3) and Study yu' book! (line 11) (ii)What effect is the writer trying to create by using
them? (3 marks)

Question
(b) In what ways is the content of the first two stanzas (lines 1 - 15) similar?
(3 marks)

Question
(c) Why does the poet refer to leather jacket (line 12) and ;football boots (line 13)? (2 marks)

Question
(d) Comment on the poet's choice of the following words:
(i)Tinkly (line 4)
(ii)dim (line 31) (2 marks)
Suggested answer

Question
(e) What do the following lines,
She'll see beneath the silver wrapper
Beneath the flashy football boots ... (lines 21 - 22) tell us about the young girl?
(2 marks)

Question
(f)What is suggested by the poet in the last seven lines (lines 27 - 33) of the poem? (2 marks)
Suggested answer

Total 14 marks

3.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions below it.
Quiet and the night came early and Leonard sat there feeling a flicker of restlessness. He needed his books, a
radio perhaps, he wasn't sure why he had been delaying going into Kingston to fetch his things. The pattern he had
established of working on the house had completely absorbed him, but, he thought, stretching lazily, it was time to
make the trip into town. He would go there the next day, get it over with. If he went like that, mid-week, there
would be nobody there. He could simply pick up his two boxes and leave the key with the next-door neighbour. He
would not have to face his parents and their angry comments, the small guilt-making jabs, 'after all they had done',
giving up his job, 'such good prospects', to hide himself away 'in the depths of beyond', as they put it. And, of
course, he could not explain. He could not say that the prospect of working to buy things did not interest him, of
drifting into a marriage, much like theirs, did not interest him. It was all sound, solid, and it frightened him, the
years stretching ahead, known even before they had happened. He wanted to make something very simple, very
different, for himself. He could not explain because they were so proud of having lived out Grandma Miriam's
dream, to be educated, professionals, a far remove from Grandpa Sam, travelling in on the country bus with his
country talk and his bag of yams.

a) Why was Leonard feeling a flicker of restlessness (line 2)? (2 marks)

b) What does the phrase get it over with (line 12) tell us about Leonard's reaction to the idea of the trip into town?
(2 marks)
c) How did Leonard decide to avoid his parents? (2 marks)
d) How did Leonard's parents feel about his chosen lifestyle? (2 marks)
e) What was Grandma Miriam's ambition for her children? (1 mark)
f) What does the last sentence suggest about Grandma Miriam's' reaction to the lifestyle of Grandpa Sam? (2
marks)
Total: 11 marks

4. Read the following poem carefully and then answer the questions set on it.
The Hawk
The hawk slipped out of the pine, and rose in the sunlit air:
Steady and still he poised: his shadow slept on the grass:
And the bird's song sickened and sank: she cowered with furtive stare,
Dumb, till the quivering dimness should flicker and shift and pass.
Suddenly down he dropped: she heard the hiss of his wing,
Fled with a scream of terror: oh, would she had dared to rest.
For the hawk at eve was full, and there was no bird to sing,
And over the heather drifted the down from a bleeding breast.
A.C. BENSON
(a) Briefly state what happens in the poem. (2 marks)
(b) What does the following tell you about the bird? she cowered with furtive stare... (2 marks)
(c) Explain what is meant by ;the quivering dimness. (2 marks)
(d) Comment on the poet's use of each of the following:
(i) slipped
(ii) drifted (4 marks)
(e) Name one sense to which this poem appeals and quote a word or phrase in support of your choice. (2 marks)
(f) Identify a figure of speech and comment on its effectiveness. (2 marks)

5.

Write a story that includes these words

Martinez and Sam huddled in the scanty shelter, looked back at what was left of their home and
wondered what to do next.
OR
6.

It seemed that the landscape, the atmosphere, the people everything had changed, but he had

left only five years ago. Describe what he felt and saw.

7.

Speaker A

Home work is a waste of valuable time which could be used to do something more

rewarding.

Speaker B

Son dont you think that the reward is the practice that you get which will allow you

to do well? Home work is good practice for success in life.

Write an essay supporting the views of EITHER Speaker A or Speaker B.
AND
8.

It should be mandatory for all secondary school students to participate in extra-curricular activities

as a requirement for graduation.

Write an essay giving your views on this statement.