This question is not about what happens but about how the words work. You choose your own phrases from a single text. Then you explain the picture each one puts in a reader's mind and why a writer might have chosen it.
Try each task first without notes, then read the reveal. Once you have written a full answer, bring it to a lesson to talk it through.
1Read this paragraph, which we wrote for practice. 'The sea had stopped pretending to be friendly. It heaved itself at the harbour wall and fell back hissing, dragging a rattle of shingle down with it like something swallowing stones.
Above, the sky had bruised from grey to a low, tender purple, and the wind found every gap in the boat shed and played it like a broken flute.' Choose three words or phrases from the paragraph and explain how the writer uses language to make the sea and sky feel threatening. For each choice, explain the picture it creates and why it is effective. Comment on connotation and imagery, not only the literal meaning.
Write to the length the marks imply; check how many phrases the question expects on the 0500 specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Choose phrases that do real work, not just any adjective. For each, name the technique or image, then explain the effect on the reader. 'Stopped pretending to be friendly' personifies the sea as deceptive and now openly hostile.
Next, 'like something swallowing stones' turns the rattle of shingle into a hungry, living threat. Finally, 'bruised to a low, tender purple' suggests injury and a sky sore to the touch.
Model opening: The phrase 'the sea had stopped pretending to be friendly' personifies the sea as something that has been concealing its true nature; the word 'pretending' unsettles the reader by implying the danger was always there, merely hidden.
Checklist:
- Chose three phrases that genuinely carry effect
- Named the image or technique in each (metaphor, personification, connotation)
- Explained the effect on the reader, not just the literal meaning
- Commented on individual word choices, not only whole phrases
- Avoided simply retelling what the paragraph describes
2Read this paragraph, which we wrote for this exercise. 'The lane was a single argument in forty voices. Baskets of chillies burned red at knee height; a fishmonger's ice glittered and dripped; somewhere a radio lost a battle with a man selling knives who could, he swore, halve a coconut with the side of his hand.
The crowd did not walk so much as get carried, and I went with it, my feet occasionally consulted about the direction.' Choose three words or phrases and explain how the writer uses language to convey the energy and crush of the market. For each, explain the impression it creates in the reader's mind and comment on the word choice. Keep to the length the marks imply; see the 0500 specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Look for phrases that convey energy and being overwhelmed. 'A single argument in forty voices' compresses the whole din into one image of conflict. Next, 'chillies burned red' uses heat and colour to make the scene almost painful to the eye.
Finally, 'my feet occasionally consulted about the direction' wittily shows the narrator carried along, no longer in control. Explain how each creates a sense of a place in motion.
Model opening: 'The lane was a single argument in forty voices' uses metaphor to fuse the whole noise of the market into one image of quarrelling; the precise 'forty' makes the din feel countable yet overwhelming, pressing in on the reader from every side.
Checklist:
A trial lesson can start from your child's attempt at Writer's effects practice for Cambridge International 0500, with feedback from an experienced teacher.
- Selected three effective phrases about energy or crush
- Explained the picture each creates in the reader's mind
- Commented on connotation, not just denotation
- Included at least one comment on a single word
- Kept to how language works rather than summarising events
3Read this paragraph, which we wrote for practice. 'The factory had been shut so long the town had stopped seeing it. Ivy had got a grip on the north wall and was pulling it, patiently, back into the ground.
Inside, the machines stood in rows under a fur of dust, still facing the way they had worked, like a congregation whose church had forgotten them. A pigeon clapped up into the roof, and the silence closed over the sound.' Choose three words or phrases and explain how the writer uses language to convey neglect and the passing of time. For each, explain the mood it creates and comment on the specific word choice.
Write to the length the marks imply; check the 0500 specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Target phrases that convey neglect and slow time. 'The town had stopped seeing it' implies the building has faded from collective memory. Next, 'pulling it, patiently, back into the ground' personifies the ivy as a slow, deliberate force reclaiming the site.
Finally, 'like a congregation whose church had forgotten them' makes the abandoned machines pitiable and lost. Explain the feeling each image creates.
Model opening: 'Ivy had got a grip on the north wall and was pulling it, patiently, back into the ground' personifies nature as a patient, unstoppable force; the adverb 'patiently' stretches the sense of time, suggesting the ruin is being undone across years rather than seasons.
Checklist:
- Chose three phrases conveying neglect or the passing of time
- Explained the effect and mood each creates
- Analysed word choice and imagery specifically
- Commented on at least one single, telling word
- Did not merely describe the derelict building
4Read this paragraph, which we wrote for this exercise. 'On the last bend her legs had become an argument she was losing. Her lungs pulled at air that seemed to have been rationed; the track lengthened cruelly in front of her, as though someone were feeding it out. But her name came down from the stand in one rising wall of sound, and she reached for it, and her stride, for ten more metres, agreed to obey.' Choose three words or phrases and explain how the writer conveys both the runner's exhaustion and her determination.
For each, explain the impression created and comment on the word choice. Keep to the length the marks imply; see the 0500 specimen paper on the Cambridge International website.
Show plan, model opening & checklist
Plan: Find phrases that hold exhaustion and determination together. 'An argument she was losing' personifies her own legs as turning against her. Next, 'air that seemed to have been rationed' suggests scarcity and a struggle for breath.
Finally, 'one rising wall of sound' turns the crowd's noise into something physical she can 'reach for'. Show how the language carries both the failing body and the will to continue.
Model opening: 'On the last bend her legs had become an argument she was losing' uses metaphor to present the runner's own body as an opponent; the word 'losing' admits her exhaustion, while framing it as an 'argument' hints she has not yet given in.
Checklist:
- Chose three phrases capturing both exhaustion and determination
- Explained the reader's impression created by each
- Analysed connotation and imagery, not surface meaning
- Commented on a specific verb or word
- Balanced the two feelings rather than describing only tiredness
See the method and an annotated model on the writer's effects (language analysis) page for Cambridge International 0500, or the technique in our writer's effects (language analysis) skills guide.