English Advanced Question Thread

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey can someone please check the following sentences (fixed them up, apparently they grammatically made no sense before)

Please tell me if they make sense now
1) leading to the conclusion of Yeats’ ineffectiveness in his portrayal of uncertainty
2) leaving critical audiences wonder Yeats’ effectiveness in his portrayal of uncertainty
3) In addition, their ability to “paddle in the cold companionable streams” oxymoronically references Yeats’ unrequited love for Gonne, as metaphorically stated in ‘When You Are Old’ where he “loved the pilgrim soul” in Gonne, accentuating the desire for immortality to love her through changing times
4) This is similarly portrayed in ‘The Second Coming’ where the notion of change is elucidated in the “widening gyre”, suggesting the declination and imperfection of the swans through the transcendence of time
5) This is coupled with the odd number of “fifty-nine”, suggesting the distance between the mortal and the immortal as swans mate eternally. This is contrasted against the persona’s “heart which is sore now”, the monosyllabic words create a monotonous, dreary tone, reinforced by the diction “now”, reiterating the persona’s current state of decline

Thank you!

Hey! Sure thing, I'll have a scan:

1 - No, what is leading? This is the back end of a sentence.
2- No, same as above
3- Definitely a mouthful, but I think it works - One of those "in Gonne" bits needs to go though
4- Good
5- Good

Hope it helps

[Mary_a]

hey hey!
whatever you feel comfortable with writing in 40 minutes
i find that 900-1200 is a good guide (this is what most people are able to achieve)
anything more or less than that often means you're not able to flesh out your ideas
or you're waffling way to much.

you've probably a heap of assessments from year 11 so maybe judge which assessments
u did well in and approx. how many words u wrote in those.

personally i know i feel comfortable writing around the 1000+ mark

Hey Katniss (cool user by the way!)

Thank you so much! That's super helpful. My biggest problem is that I overwrite everything and need to make sure I condense it.

Cheers,

Mary x

[sudodds]

Hey Katniss (cool user by the way!)

Thank you so much! That's super helpful. My biggest problem is that I overwrite everything and need to make sure I condense it.

Cheers,

Mary x

Hey Mary!
I was 100% like you in that I used to over write everything, and often would hand in drafts well over the word limit/how much I could feasibly write within 45 minutes (6000 word extension history draft sorry Mr. Smith  ). I found that a really good way to make sure that I didn't go overboard was to be really particular about what information I included. If I couldn't put "blah blah blah, thus (insert my argument here) is supported," then I'd have to really debate myself as to whether or not it should be included (more often than not I could cut it out and it wouldn't even affect the quality of my essay). I wouldn't physically write that exact sentence out every single time, but if I mentally couldn't truthfully add that to end of my point, then the point was probably pointless

Hope this helps!

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey Guys,

In an English Advanced Exam how many words.pages do you suggest for the essay/creative?

Thanks,

Mary x

Hey Mary! To add to the great answer from katniss above (edit - and sudodds!):

In an exam I normally wrote about 700 words for my Creative, and about 800-900 for my essay. But as katniss says, it's very much dependent on what you are comfortable with. Personally, I was comfortable with my ability to get 14's and 15's with those word limits, so I invested the time to planning, thinking (and devoted some time to short answers too) - Some people need to write 1000+ to get 15 - And that is okay! Some people can get 15 in as little as 700 words in their essay - Rare but possible. I've seen a 15/15 creative of just over 500 words. It's totally down to style - But the less words you have, the less room you have to impress

[ajajaj]

Ah okay haha, was Act 5 the forgiveness scene? If not, if you could give me a basic outline of what happens I'll see if I can remember and write up an explanation 😊

In the beginning of the scene Prospero has successfully captured his enemies (i.e. Alonso and his royal party), where Ariel stops him from having  revenge on them, leading to him forgiving them. Prospero then reveals to Alonso that his son is still alive and married to Miranda, and releases Ariel

[legorgo18]

Hey! Sure thing, I'll have a scan:

1 - No, what is leading? This is the back end of a sentence.
2- No, same as above
3- Definitely a mouthful, but I think it works - One of those "in Gonne" bits needs to go though
4- Good
5- Good

Hope it helps

Oh for the first 2 its the end of a sentence, does the expression make sense like conclusion of...

[Mary_a]

Hey Mary!
I was 100% like you in that I used to over write everything, and often would hand in drafts well over the word limit/how much I could feasibly write within 45 minutes (6000 word extension history draft sorry Mr. Smith  ). I found that a really good way to make sure that I didn't go overboard was to be really particular about what information I included. If I couldn't put "blah blah blah, thus (insert my argument here) is supported," then I'd have to really debate myself as to whether or not it should be included (more often than not I could cut it out and it wouldn't even affect the quality of my essay). I wouldn't physically write that exact sentence out every single time, but if I mentally couldn't truthfully add that to end of my point, then the point was probably pointless

Hope this helps!

Thanks Susie! It definitely helps!

Mary x

[Mary_a]

Hey Mary! To add to the great answer from katniss above (edit - and sudodds!):

In an exam I normally wrote about 700 words for my Creative, and about 800-900 for my essay. But as katniss says, it's very much dependent on what you are comfortable with. Personally, I was comfortable with my ability to get 14's and 15's with those word limits, so I invested the time to planning, thinking (and devoted some time to short answers too) - Some people need to write 1000+ to get 15 - And that is okay! Some people can get 15 in as little as 700 words in their essay - Rare but possible. I've seen a 15/15 creative of just over 500 words. It's totally down to style - But the less words you have, the less room you have to impress

Thanks Jamon! That's really helpful, I guess my biggest fear is that the less I write the less marks I get!

Mary

[sudodds]

In the beginning of the scene Prospero has successfully captured his enemies (i.e. Alonso and his royal party), where Ariel stops him from having  revenge on them, leading to him forgiving them. Prospero then reveals to Alonso that his son is still alive and married to Miranda, and releases Ariel

Okay! So essentially within that scene Prospero rediscovers his humanity through forgiveness Though the play starts off as one centered around the concept of revenge, it’s final message of forgiveness emphasize the dramatic transformation of the characters, in particular Prospero. Initially vengeful towards Antonio and Alonso, by the end he forgives their transgressions. This act of forgiveness and reconciliation is crucial to Prospero’s transformation as he discovers that he can no longer consume himself in revenge, and must instead focus on commonalities in order to effectively rule (this also goes back to his understanding that if his daughters relationship with Ferdinand, and needing to at least be civil with the in-laws). He no longer sees issues as black and white, and can see the humanity in others, which in turn informs his own. The message of this scene is pretty similar to Act 4 if I remember correctly, just with this added layer of forgiveness 

Hope this helps!

[jamonwindeyer]

Oh for the first 2 its the end of a sentence, does the expression make sense like conclusion of...

Ohhh right right - Not quite. The first one, "leading to the conclusion of Yeats’ ineffectiveness in his portrayal of uncertainty," is quite awkward. Like, it works, but it is a double negative. Don't say, "he stops being ineffective." Say, "he starts being effective" or just "it is effective" - The way you've analysed is a little roundabout

Second one - Audiences can't 'wonder' Yeats’ effectiveness in his portrayal of uncertainty, I'd replace "wonder" with "to appreciate," (if that suits what you were aiming for)

[jamonwindeyer]

hi this is a broad ended question for aos discovery
i'm finding when i'm writing my essays i'm ending up retelling a lot of the plot..
i do this because i find that I have to establish what the persona's original views
to show their change... (i've given an example in quite rudimentary terms to give u an idea of what i mean)

e.g. Discovery is confronting, yet empowering
--> talked about how discoveries challenge an individual's inherent world views
that lead to radically new views. Such process is fulfilling as it uncovers the individual's true values
yet confronting as central to the human condition is a hatred towards the admittance of a flawed perspective...
(yas its a work in progress  )

pt 1) Prospero discovers forgiveness to be more fulfilling than revenge
--> initial views of obsession for revenge (i need to establish what his initial views are in order to show what the change is)
challenged by Ariel & anticlimatic nature of play (when he does reach fulfillment of revenge, realities he is not satisfied)
etc rest of pt

how can i avoid this?

Hey Katniss! So basically, your job is to provide only the minimum of detail required for your analysis to make sense. Usually, you can get away with less than you think. For instance, in the example you provided, I could write:

The challenge to the protagonists beliefs is accentuated to the audience through TECHNIQUE in QUOTE, and as Prospero _______, the audience comes to appreciate _________.

Even that is more reliant than you could be - I could ditch the plot altogether and just write:

The transformative nature of Discovery is epitomised by TECHNIQUE in QUOTE, as the audience realises...

You can technically abstract completely from the plot in certain places if you so choose!

In terms of noticing how much retell is too much, ask yourself two questions:

1 - Is someone who has read the text confused by your argument? You need more, which could include more textual explanation.
2 - Could someone who has read the text understand your argument without including this particular bit of retell? If yes, then remove it!

[chelseam]

Hi! Can syntax be used as a technique for analysis? If so, what sort of effect would it have in a quote?

Thank you

[ajajaj]

Okay! So essentially within that scene Prospero rediscovers his humanity through forgiveness Though the play starts off as one centered around the concept of revenge, it’s final message of forgiveness emphasize the dramatic transformation of the characters, in particular Prospero. Initially vengeful towards Antonio and Alonso, by the end he forgives their transgressions. This act of forgiveness and reconciliation is crucial to Prospero’s transformation as he discovers that he can no longer consume himself in revenge, and must instead focus on commonalities in order to effectively rule (this also goes back to his understanding that if his daughters relationship with Ferdinand, and needing to at least be civil with the in-laws). He no longer sees issues as black and white, and can see the humanity in others, which in turn informs his own. The message of this scene is pretty similar to Act 4 if I remember correctly, just with this added layer of forgiveness 

Hope this helps!

Yayy that really did help a ton!! Thank you so much for replying to my 50 million questions quickly and with such detailed answers HAHA

[sudodds]

Yayy that really did help a ton!! Thank you so much for replying to my 50 million questions quickly and with such detailed answers HAHA

absolutely no worries! The Tempest is a hella confusing text, so 100% happy to help make it a bit easier 

[mylinh-nguyen]

In the tempest what are examples on discoveries stimulating new ideas, process of discovering can vary according to personal, cultural, historical, and social contexts and values, their worth may be reassessed.