ABC Education · 11+ Practice
Week 49 · English Practice Paper
Reading: 25 marks · Writing: 25 marks · Suggested time: 1 hour.
Reading Passage
Read this passage carefully, then answer the questions below. Spend around 30 minutes on this section.
The Clock Tower
Up went Isaac through the clock tower's spiral stair, taking the worn stone steps two at a time until his legs began to burn. He slipped out through the gap in the fence behind the boat sheds, ducked below the bunting strung across the towpath, and left the noise of the river festival crowding the wharf far behind him. The tower door was supposed to be locked, but everybody in Hallow Bridge knew the bolt didn't quite catch if you lifted the handle first, and Isaac had known it since he was six years old.
Higher and higher the stairs wound, past the old clock mechanism itself, all brass wheels and dust, ticking steadily in the gloom, and up into the little stone room just below the bells, where a narrow slit of a window looked out over the whole town. Isaac climbed alone, and he sat alone, and he watched the festival crowds swell alone below him.
He looked down on his whole world: the river, curling brown and slow past the wharf; the terraced roofs of Weaver Street, where he lived; the spaces where the old cotton mills used to stand, now just flattened yards of rubble and weeds. He saw his own school, Hallow Bridge Primary, its playground empty and grey. He saw the baker's, the chip shop, and the little green where the fair usually set up its rides each summer, though this year there was no fair, only the boats and the bunting and the crowds.
Round and round the swifts wheeled below the tower, screaming their thin, high cries, and the smoke from the chip shop's fryer curled up lazily to meet him, carried on a breeze that smelled of vinegar and the river.
He thought of his mother, down there somewhere among the crowds, and he was glad of her, glad of the whole ordinary, cluttered town spread out beneath him. He thought, too, of the world beyond the hills that ringed the valley, of cities he had never seen and seas he had only read about, and the size of it all made something lurch strangely in his chest — not quite fear, not quite joy, but something close to both.
Then, without warning, the great bell above him began to strike the hour, and the whole stone room shuddered with the sound, on and on and on, until Isaac clapped both hands over his ears and laughed instead of crying, though he could not have said afterwards which of the two he had been closer to.
Section A: Reading
Question 1
[3 marks]The following words are used in the extract. Give the meaning of each one. (3 marks) wheeled (paragraph 4) cluttered (paragraph 5) shuddered (paragraph 6)
Question 2
[3 marks]These words are also used in the extract. Give another word or phrase for each one which has a similar meaning. (3 marks) burn (paragraph 1) steadily (paragraph 2) lazily (paragraph 4)
Question 3
[4 marks]Draw a line to match each word to its correct meaning. (4 marks) Spiral / Belfry / Towpath / Bunting
Question 4
[3 marks]Read the following lines from the extract again: "the terraced roofs of Weaver Street, where he lived; the spaces where the old cotton mills used to stand, now just flattened yards of rubble and weeds. He saw his own school, Hallow Bridge Primary, its playground empty and grey." Identify three adjectives from this section and write them in the table below. (3 marks)
Question 5
[2 marks]Read again: "Isaac climbed alone, and he sat alone, and he watched the festival crowds swell alone below him" (paragraph 2). What is suggested about Isaac from this repetition? (2 marks)
Question 6
[2 marks]Read lines from paragraph 3 again: "the spaces where the old cotton mills used to stand, now just flattened yards of rubble and weeds." What is suggested about this town? (2 marks)
Question 7
[2 marks]Explain what is meant by this personification: "the smoke from the chip shop's fryer curled up lazily to meet him" (paragraph 4). (2 marks)
Question 8
[2 marks]In paragraph 6 the writer says: "on and on and on." Why do you think the writer has used repetition here? Answer using a full sentence. (2 marks)
Question 9
[4 marks]Read this section from the text again: "He thought, too, of the world beyond the hills that ringed the valley, of cities he had never seen and seas he had only read about, and the size of it all made something lurch strangely in his chest — not quite fear, not quite joy, but something close to both." How does the writer emphasise the character's emotions here? Choose TWO examples and explain each one. There is a completed example to help you: "the size of it all" — in this quotation, the character seems to feel a mixture of awe and unease, emphasised by the phrase "the size of it all", because it suggests the world is far bigger than he can properly understand, which makes his feelings hard to separate into simple fear or joy. (4 marks)
Section B: Writing
Choose ONE of the following:
- You should spend 30 minutes on this section. Use five minutes to plan.
- When you write, remember to check: spelling; paragraphing; punctuation; descriptive techniques; detailed description and interesting vocabulary; using similes and metaphors appropriate to the story, setting and character.
- Choose ONE of the tasks below and write your story.
Option 1: Write a story with the title: 'Alone at the Top'.
- You could write about a time you have experienced, or use your imagination and create a fictional story. (25 marks)