The exam-style question
This is an embedding quotations question, in the style of the Literature in English papers. Read it as you would in the exam, then compare your plan with the model.
Read our original extract below. Then study how short quotations are woven neatly into analysis of the writer's presentation of the storm, and contrast it with a clumsy version. This is our own teaching passage.
The Storm Comes In
The wind arrived first, testing the shutters one by one like a thief trying handles. Then the rain, not falling so much as thrown, flung in fistfuls against the glass. The old house braced itself; somewhere upstairs a loose slate lifted and clattered back, lifted and clattered, keeping a broken time.
In the kitchen the candle flame lay almost flat, streaming sideways, and the shadows it threw leapt and shrank on the walls as though the room itself were breathing hard. Grandfather did not look up. He had seen sixty of these come off the sea, and he counted this one no worse than the rest, turning his cup slowly in his hands while the storm spent its temper on the roof.
When at last it eased, near dawn, the silence that followed felt louder than the wind had, and the whole house seemed to sit very still, listening, as if it could not quite believe it had been let go.
Model response: Embedding quotations
Embedding means folding a short quotation into your own sentence so it reads smoothly and lets you analyse the exact word. This model shows the technique in action.
Reading a model answer helps. In a paid one-hour trial, a teacher helps your child write one like it on Embedding quotations.
Common errors we see
- Quoting whole lines instead of the shortest telling fragment
- Announcing quotations ('this is shown in the quote') rather than embedding them
- Dropping a quotation in with no analysis of a specific word
- Vague comment ('good description') after the quotation
- Evidence and analysis kept in separate sentences, not woven together
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards.
For embedding quotations, the objectives in play are listed below. The wording is summarised for Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English (0475) on our qualification page.
- Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts across the three forms (drama, poetry and prose), supporting points with reference to the text.
- Analyse the ways writers use language, structure and form to shape meaning and create effects.
Short, embedded quotations show detailed knowledge of the text. Analysing the exact words shows how the writer creates meaning.
Other boards word their objectives differently, but the same skills earn the marks. Your board's official syllabus gives the exact weighting.
Where to go next
Learn the method in our guide to embedding quotations, then try the embedding quotations practice tasks. You can browse every annotated model response or see how we teach this in our Literature in English tuition.
When you have written your own answer, take it to a paid one-hour trial lesson and the teacher who would continue will mark it with you.