English Advanced Question Thread

[katnisschung]

Hi there!
I'm currently writing an essay for mod and I was trying to interpret this quote...
what does "if only by proxy mean"
"it was considered enough for the mother (if only by proxy) to look after the child’s physical needs.”

[sudodds]

Hi there!
I'm currently writing an essay for mod and I was trying to interpret this quote...
what does "if only by proxy mean"
"it was considered enough for the mother (if only by proxy) to look after the child’s physical needs.”

Hey Usually the term "proxy" refers to a situation where a person or thing acts in place of another person or thing. For example South Korea was a proxy for/fighting in place of the Americans during the Korean War against the North Koreans who were a proxy for the USSR. So I believe in regards to this sentence it means that the mother isn't directly looking after the child's physical needs, but instead has someone else do that for her (perhaps a nanny?), however that is considered enough because the child's physical needs are still met. Pretty sure this is right, hope this helps!

[olliesfield]

Do you guys have any tips on answering the question properly for Module A (1984 and metropolis) ?

[jamonwindeyer]

Do you guys have any tips on answering the question properly for Module A (1984 and metropolis) ?

You should check out this awesome guide on Module A, and check out these sample essays on it! They might spark some ideas

[absdatar99]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone can help me with my T.S Eliot Essay. I'm so confused about what I should write and how I should start writing it.

The question is ‘The continuing appeal of spoken and written texts is that the reader engages with the dilemmas explored by the composer.’ To what extent does this statement reflect your response to the poems?

I'm doing the poems "A Love Song" and "The Hollow men".

Heres what I got so far:

Intro - A poets ability to reflect their ideals and dilemmas explored in the context through the use of written texts, engages the reader by enabling them to understand the societal structure and self centered mentality of people during that time. This is excellently conveyed in T.S Eliot’s poems ‘A Love Song’ exploring the identity of an individual in a materialistic and self-centered society, and ‘The Hollow Men’ exploring the isolation and loneliness of men. Both poems are a reflection of Eliot’s emotions and his perceptions of a modernistic and restructured society, which engage the reader and allows them to understand the context in which the poems were written.

Prufrock paragraph: In the poem a ‘A Love Song by J Alfred Prufrock’, Eliot explores the isolation, insecurity and uncertainty of individuals in a self centered and mainstream society through the characterization of Prufrock. ---> Don't know how to start explaining my examples.


Thanks  👍

[forevertired]

Hey Guys!

We've just been giving a task to write and deliver a 4 minute speech on discovery (our core text is Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' + one related text) with this quote and was hoping I could get some tips? The question is:
How does this quote represent your own understanding of discovery? "When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge." In your speech, make detailed reference to The Tempest and one other text.

Also, could someone please explain what 'rhetoric' and 'textual integrity' is in relation to speeches for mod B?
Thankyou!

[Sukakadonkadonk]

Hi guys,

Could you help me out here by taking a look at my topic sentences for my Mod B, Yeats, essay paragraphs and seeing if it is suitable for these possible questions:

1. How does Yeats manipulate poetic form to explore uncertainties?

2. Yeats' poetry is characterised by both passion and conflict. To what extent is this true of the text you have studied (Yeats)

3. The value of a text lies in its ability to transcend its context.

And my responses in the form of the two topic sentences I have right now are:
1. “Easter 1916” embodies Yeats’ personal response to the Easter uprising and the conflict between the desire for change and apprehension for the ensuing bloodshed and loss.

2. Confronted by the inevitability of death, in Among School Children, Yeats struggles to reconciled the reality of mortality and yearning for an ideal life of immortality



Do you think these topic sentences fit the questions in one way or another? I know that it may go better if they ask, say, Question 2 but are these good starting points? I can always change my topic sentences on the day of exam, but I just want to know if I'm on the right track.

Thanks!

[dradford]

Hey guys, was wondering if anyone could help me out with ideas surrounding the text, 'The Tell Tale Heart' in response to renewed perceptions of self and the world??

Thanks!!

[elysepopplewell]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone can help me with my T.S Eliot Essay. I'm so confused about what I should write and how I should start writing it.

The question is ‘The continuing appeal of spoken and written texts is that the reader engages with the dilemmas explored by the composer.’ To what extent does this statement reflect your response to the poems?

I'm doing the poems "A Love Song" and "The Hollow men".

Thanks  👍

Hello Welcome to the forums! I haven't studied these texts, so I can't offer much text specific advice. But I can comment on your writing.

Intro - A poets poet's ability to reflect their ideals and dilemmas explored in the context through the use This doesn't make perfect sense, it's a little unclear. "reflect their ideals and dilemmas explored through written texts... When we take out "in the context" it makes more sense. It's just a little awkward to read. of written texts, engages the reader by enabling them to understand the societal structure and self centered mentality of people during that time. I'd take this second part and put it in it's own sentence. It's a long and strenuous connection for a marker. Your point is made at the very end, and by the time we get there, we're a bit lost. So put it on it's own to give it the prevalence it deserves This is excellently conveyed in T.S Eliot’s poems ‘A Love Song’ exploring the identity of an individual in a materialistic and self-centered society, and ‘The Hollow Men’ exploring the isolation and loneliness of men. Both poems are a reflection of Eliot’s emotions and his perceptions of a modernistic and restructured society, which engage the reader and allows them to understand the context in which the poems were written. Beautiful! The only problematic section of this paragraph is the first sentence, you're on a roll for the rest!

Prufrock paragraph: In the poem a ‘A Love Song by J Alfred Prufrock’, Eliot explores the isolation, insecurity and uncertainty of individuals in a self centered and mainstream society through the characterization of Prufrock. ---> Don't know how to start explaining my examples. The enjambment creates the tone of.... OR, The tone of insecurity is established in the low modality... (Note: I made up these examples, I have no idea about this text). So I think that by just jumping into a technique that reflects one of the ideas in your introductory statement, you get the ball rolling and it flows. It is more difficult to start with a quote, it doesn't always fit so seamlessly. So I usually look at form before language, in order to avoid that awkwardness. But that's just my personal approach! You could also provide a sentence of context and then link it directly into the text in the next sentence, if that helps you warm up!

I think you're doing better than what you think you are, you've given yourself good foundations here. Once you start filling it all out you might need to come back to these foundations and adjust them to the tone you take on throughout, but it is an excellent start!

[elysepopplewell]

Hey Guys!

We've just been giving a task to write and deliver a 4 minute speech on discovery (our core text is Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' + one related text) with this quote and was hoping I could get some tips? The question is:
How does this quote represent your own understanding of discovery? "When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge." In your speech, make detailed reference to The Tempest and one other text.

I think this is an excellent quote for discovery! So, part of the discovery rubric is about worlds that are known, and worlds that come to light after discoveries. So, this quote works well for changes in perspectives, and the prompt for such a change. I don't know The Tempest well enough to give you exact textual examples unfortunately, but hopefully this kind of breaks it down into the words you can relate to. Patterns, are known states, worlds, perspectives, ideas.... When they are broken, or challenged, new worlds (ideas, perspectives, ways of thinking) are revealed

Also, could someone please explain what 'rhetoric' and 'textual integrity' is in relation to speeches for mod B?
Thankyou!

Hey! Textual integrity...one of my favourite terms. Textual integrity is the way that every aspect of a text works together to create a wholesome body. By definition, integrity is wholesomeness, cohesiveness, or lack of division. So with "textual" in front of it - it's talking about this in relation to texts. A composer's entire oeuvre could work together for textual integrity, or each text they produce could be a pocket of textual integrity. Rhetoric has a few different meanings. Rhetoric can be the art of persuasive or meaningful communication and writing, especially through the use of manipulation of form and language. Sometimes people also use rhetoric in the way of intentionally being persuasive in spoken word, so you would say that short and simple political slogans may be persuasive rhetoric. But, usually the former is what Module B refers to

[elysepopplewell]

Hi guys,

Could you help me out here by taking a look at my topic sentences for my Mod B, Yeats, essay paragraphs and seeing if it is suitable for these possible questions:

1. How does Yeats manipulate poetic form to explore uncertainties?

2. Yeats' poetry is characterised by both passion and conflict. To what extent is this true of the text you have studied (Yeats)

3. The value of a text lies in its ability to transcend its context.

Do you think these topic sentences fit the questions in one way or another? I know that it may go better if they ask, say, Question 2 but are these good starting points? I can always change my topic sentences on the day of exam, but I just want to know if I'm on the right track.

Thanks!

It definitely sounds like you're on the right track! I'll write my thoughts in bold font...

1. “Easter 1916” embodies Yeats’ personal response to the Easter uprising and the conflict between the desire for change and apprehension for the ensuing bloodshed and loss. I really like this, you cover a lot without it ever being too complicated. This really captures the intention of Easter 1916 perfectly, I think. You should be proud of this, you can tell a lot of thought when into it.

2. Confronted by the inevitability of death, in Among School Children, Yeats struggles to reconciled reconcile* the reality of mortality and yearning for an ideal life of immortality. As a topic sentence, this does more than is required of it. I think you'd be better off leaving the first bit out, because that's contextual, and using that to flesh out and support the ensuing ideas.

If you were asked the question of uncertainty, you'd have to adjust the sentences to actually include uncertainty as an explicit concept. Not so difficult 0 because both of the poems here explore uncertain times, personally or nationally. If asked the third question, some slightly bigger changes would be required, just to universalise the ideas a bit more. Right now you're looking at specific contextual ideas, but if you universalise the ideas of struggle, yearning, conflict, passion, etc...and then talk about the specific context of Yeats in a follow up sentence, you can still keep the same ideas and make it work for you.

So ultimately, you are definitely, definitely on the right track. These are well worded and thought out. In your introductions, don't forget to talk about textual integrity when you get the opportunity!

[absdatar99]

Hello Welcome to the forums! I haven't studied these texts, so I can't offer much text specific advice. But I can comment on your writing.

Intro - A poets poet's ability to reflect their ideals and dilemmas explored in the context through the use This doesn't make perfect sense, it's a little unclear. "reflect their ideals and dilemmas explored through written texts... When we take out "in the context" it makes more sense. It's just a little awkward to read. of written texts, engages the reader by enabling them to understand the societal structure and self centered mentality of people during that time. I'd take this second part and put it in it's own sentence. It's a long and strenuous connection for a marker. Your point is made at the very end, and by the time we get there, we're a bit lost. So put it on it's own to give it the prevalence it deserves This is excellently conveyed in T.S Eliot’s poems ‘A Love Song’ exploring the identity of an individual in a materialistic and self-centered society, and ‘The Hollow Men’ exploring the isolation and loneliness of men. Both poems are a reflection of Eliot’s emotions and his perceptions of a modernistic and restructured society, which engage the reader and allows them to understand the context in which the poems were written. Beautiful! The only problematic section of this paragraph is the first sentence, you're on a roll for the rest!

Prufrock paragraph: In the poem a ‘A Love Song by J Alfred Prufrock’, Eliot explores the isolation, insecurity and uncertainty of individuals in a self centered and mainstream society through the characterization of Prufrock. ---> Don't know how to start explaining my examples. The enjambment creates the tone of.... OR, The tone of insecurity is established in the low modality... (Note: I made up these examples, I have no idea about this text). So I think that by just jumping into a technique that reflects one of the ideas in your introductory statement, you get the ball rolling and it flows. It is more difficult to start with a quote, it doesn't always fit so seamlessly. So I usually look at form before language, in order to avoid that awkwardness. But that's just my personal approach! You could also provide a sentence of context and then link it directly into the text in the next sentence, if that helps you warm up!

I think you're doing better than what you think you are, you've given yourself good foundations here. Once you start filling it all out you might need to come back to these foundations and adjust them to the tone you take on throughout, but it is an excellent start!

Thank You so much for the help!!!

[tahliamadeldine]

Hi,
Midcourse exams are happening in three weeks and we are doing a paper 1 style, AOS Discovery exam with short answer, creative and essay (ugh).
I just wanted some direction upon the length of short answer responses. We have been given the questions and the stimuli (which is nice but means I have to do a really well prepared response). We have 3 2-mark questions, a 3-mark and a 6-mark. How many lines/words should I be writing. How many textual examples and ideas?
Is there anything else I should take into consideration whilst writing these?
Thanks.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hi,
Midcourse exams are happening in three weeks and we are doing a paper 1 style, AOS Discovery exam with short answer, creative and essay (ugh).
I just wanted some direction upon the length of short answer responses. We have been given the questions and the stimuli (which is nice but means I have to do a really well prepared response). We have 3 2-mark questions, a 3-mark and a 6-mark. How many lines/words should I be writing. How many textual examples and ideas?
Is there anything else I should take into consideration whilst writing these?
Thanks.

Hey Tahlia, welcome to the forums!

So with short answer responses, you do need to use a little bit of common sense on top of the guidelines I'll give. It depends on the verb and the text type and the complexity of the concept. That said, roughly, I aimed for this:

2 Marker: A couple of decent length sentences - No introduction, just techniques and effect.
3 Marker: A decent MATES/PEEL paragraph, with an intro, a few quotes/techniques (for 3 marks, do three quotes!) and a conclusion.
6 Marker: An extended response - Multiple MATES/PEEL paragraphs as you'd find in an AoS essay, but a little shorter and with no Thesis at the start (some people do use the Thesis and it does work well). Definitely well over a page of writing, closer to two pages

Remember to do lots of practice! You can find some Trial Paper 1 Exams here

[forevertired]

Hey! sorry if this is a dumb question, but to refrain from using the same word over and over again, would calling a 'speech' simply a text or oeuvre work in an essay? It just sounded a bit funny to me so I'm not quite sure.