This page has a worked paragraph from our teachers and shows when the frame goes stale.
What PEE and PETAL are for
PEE and PETAL are two names for one shape: a paragraph that makes a claim, supports it with evidence from the text and explains how that evidence works. PEE means Point, Evidence, Explanation.
PETAL adds two reminders: name the Technique, and Link back to the question. It means Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Link.
Both stop two common faults: making a claim without proof, and quoting without explaining. You use the shape in Literature essays and in extended reading answers in First Language English.
It is a scaffold, not a law. The aim is to learn the logic so well that the paragraph reads like an argument, not a form you filled in.
Task expectations differ by board and syllabus year, so we teach from each board’s official syllabus. See our qualification pages.
A scaffold, not a cage
A scaffold holds a building up while it is built, then it comes down. PEE works the same way.
It helps while you learn to structure analysis. It limits you if you never grow out of it.
You can spot a caged paragraph by its robot rhythm: “My point is… My evidence is… This shows that…”. To avoid this, learn the frame first, then hide the joins by weaving quotations into your own sentences.
A five-step method
- Make a point. Write a claim that answers the question. It should be an idea you could argue, not a fact anyone can see.
- Choose the shortest quotation that proves it. Put it inside your own sentence so the two flow together.
- Zoom in. Pick the exact word or feature that carries the meaning.
- Explain the effect. Say what the word makes the reader think or feel, and how it develops your point.
- Link back. Connect the paragraph to the question or the larger argument.
A worked paragraph
This paragraph and its quotation are our own, invented for teaching.
The narrator’s guilt appears long before he admits it. Even as he insists that he feels nothing, he describes the memory as a stain that “would not wash out”. A stain soaks in and leaves a permanent mark, which suggests a guilt that he cannot scrub away, however hard he tries.
The words “would not” rather than “did not” hint at his effort and its failure, so the reader senses him fighting his own conscience. The image quietly undercuts his denial and prepares us to doubt his claim that the past no longer troubles him.
The quotation is short and sits inside the sentence. The analysis zooms in on “stain” and then on “would not”.
The last sentence links the point back to the reader’s growing doubt. All the steps of PEE are there, but you cannot see the joins.
This is easier to improve with a teacher beside you. A paid one-hour trial starts from your child's own recent work.
Common mistakes
- The bolt-on quotation. “This is shown when the writer says ’…’” sits outside the sentence and sounds mechanical.
- Quoting too much. The student pastes a long passage and analyses only a small part of it.
- No explanation. The student gives a point and a quotation, then stops, as if the quotation explained itself.
- Naming the technique only. The student writes “metaphor” for the T in PETAL but never says what it does.
- No link. The paragraph is accurate but never connects to the question.
Each fault is a skipped step. That is why you must understand the frame, not just recite it.
How to practise
First, practise embedding. Take a clumsy sentence that announces a quotation and rewrite it so the quoted words sit inside your own sentence without a join. Smooth embedding is the clearest sign that you have outgrown the scaffold.
Second, practise zooming. Choose a short quotation, pick one word in it and write three sentences about that word only.
Third, check your links. After you write a paragraph, read only the first and last sentences.
Does the last one answer the claim in the first? If not, the paragraph has lost its thread.
Where students usually get stuck
Students often follow the letters correctly but write one stiff paragraph after another, or explain a whole quotation instead of one word. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers build paragraphs live with you.
We ask for the shortest useful quotation and keep asking: what does that one word do? This is central to Literature in English tuition, and to First Language English reading responses.
When you want a teacher to look at your paragraphs, book a paid one-hour trial and bring one you wrote recently.
What to read or try next
Compare your work with the annotated model responses, then try the practice tasks. Then read how to write a literature essay introduction and how to write about a character.