English
Stage 9
Paper 2 2023
Fiction
1 hour 10 minutes
Additional materials: Insert
INSTRUCTIONS
Answer all questions.
Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
You should pay attention to punctuation, spelling and handwriting.
INFORMATION
The total mark for this paper is 50.
The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in
brackets [ ].
Suggestions for how long to spend on each section are given in the
booklet.
Section A: Reading
Spend 40 minutes on this section.
Read the Text in the insert, and answer questions 1–11.
1 Look at lines 3–7.
What does the reader first learn about the mother’s character?
[2]
2 Look at lines 8–14.
(a) What does the mother really think of the gift?
[2]
(b) Give a two-word phrase that tells the reader that the mother’s command is ignored.
[1]
(c) What does the reader learn about the instruction book? Tick () one box.
It is
well used.
brightly coloured.
strangely shaped.
difficult to understand.
[1]
(d) Give one word that means complicated.
[1]
4>
3 Look at lines 15–25.
(a) Find one phrase that means ‘to find it hard to accept defeat’.
[1]
(b) Find one word that means ‘to accept defeat’.
[1]
(c) Why does Vincent let his sister play?
[1]
4 Look at lines 26–31.
How does the reader know that Vincent is annoyed with his
sister? Give two ways.
First way:
Second way:
[2]
5 Look at lines 32–34.
Why is the mother pretending to read the instructions?
[2]
6 Look at lines 35–39.
What is the best description of the mother’s advice to her
children? Tick () one box.
expand your knowledge
discover things independently
accept the wisdom of your elders
keep an open mind about progressing in life
[1]
5>
7 Look at lines 40–50.
(a) The writer stresses how hard the girl worked to learn chess. Explain how the
writer uses repetition to tell the reader this.
[3
]
(b) Look at lines 43–50.
Why does the writer use long sentences in this paragraph?
[2
]
(c) Look at line 40 and lines 49–50.
What are the two different sentence types?
Line 40
Lines 49–50
[2
]
8 Look at lines 51–52.
(a) Why has the writer used inverted commas ( ‘ ’ )?
[2]
(b) The writer uses a grammatical function to refer to the influence of the
game of chess. Which one word does the writer use to do that?
[1]
9 Look at lines 54–58. The writer uses metaphors to describe the game
of chess. What does the writer compare the game to?
[3]
6>
10 Look at the whole text.
The brothers’ attitude towards playing chess is different from the girl's attitude.
What do you think is different? Explain their attitudes and give evidence from the text
to support your answer.
The boys:
The girl:
[4]
11 Based on the information given in the text about the rules of chess, do you think you
would like to play chess? Give one piece of evidence from the text to support your
answer.
Yes
No
Evidence:
[3]
7>
Section B: Writing
Spend 40 minutes on this section.
12 Your school is taking part in a project to encourage people to learn new things. You
have been asked to write a narrative about someone learning a new skill.
Think about the following:
Will you write in the first person or the third person?
What is the skill?
Is it easy or difficult to learn?
Space for your plan:
Write your narrative on the next page. [15
marks]
8>
9>
Thank You
10>
