Warwick School

11+ Entrance Examination

English: Comprehension Section – Section A

Please write your full name here:

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Before you start read these instructions:

You have 30 minutes for Section A.

All your answers should be written on the booklet.

If you get stuck, do not worry. Do not spend lots of time on it, just go on to the next question. The questions at the end are worth the most marks. You may have time at the end to go back to any questions that you have missed out.

HAVE YOU WRITTEN YOUR FULL NAME IN THE BOX?

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Look at the extract from ‘And When Did You Last See Your Father’ by Blake

Morrison on the separate sheet. Answer the ten questions that follow. The later

questions are worth more marks so make sure you leave enough time to answer

them.

1. What has happened to the traffic in the opening line of the passage?

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[1 mark]

2. Looking at the first paragraph, give one reason why the family is going to

watch the motor race?

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[1 mark]

3. Look again at the first five lines. At what time are the racing drivers going to

start their cars up for the main event, the Gold Cup race?

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[1 mark]

4. Look, below, at these lines 3 and 4 from the passage. Complete the sentences

a) and b).

In the sudden silence we can hear the distant whinge of what must be the first

race of the afternoon.

a) The words ‘sudden silence’ are interesting because…

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b) The words ‘distant whinge’ invite us to imagine…

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[2 marks]

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5. Look at the description of how the other people in the queue behave (lines 20

-24). Complete the following in your own words:

In the cars around them, the other people seem to be ____________________

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In contrast, Morrison’s father appears to be ____________________________

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[2 marks]

6. Look again at the lines below:

He gets back in and steams some more. The roof of our Alvis* is down, the sun

beating on to the leather of the upholstery, the chrome, the picnic basket. …The

hood is folded and pleated into the mysterious crevice between the boot and

the narrow back seat where my sister and I are scrunched together as usual.

Copy out three words or phrases which suggest how uncomfortable the

narrator is as he sits waiting inside the car.

1) ______________________________________________________________

2) ______________________________________________________________

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[3 marks]

*A luxurious and rather sporty make of English car.

7. Making comparisons. Looking at similes.

Finish these sentences.

a) Arthur Morrison is described as being like a ‘blue tailed fly’. This comparison

suggests_________________________________________________________

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b) The stethoscope is described as hanging from the car’s rear view mirror ‘like

a skeleton’. This comparison suggests to me ____________________________

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[2 marks]

8. Write down the meaning of these two words:

Marooned _______________________________________________________

Crevice _________________________________________________________

[2 marks]

Fuller Answers, testing your understanding of the passage.

9. Look again at the opening of the passage, from lines 1-19.

Explain how the writer creates and slowly builds up tension as the family sit

waiting in the car.

Tip. Look carefully at the writer’s language, imagery, and how he has varied

the sentences that he has used.

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[5 marks]

10. Look again at the end of the passage, from line 34 “Well, I’m not going to

wait…”

Using quotations from the this part of the passage, describe

1) How the father behaves, and

2) How his wife and children feel about what he decides to do.

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[6 marks]

END OF TEST

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