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Commentary english lit and lang aqa

does anyone know how to construct a good commentary for ella 3?? i know the basics but i want my commentary to be get full marks its one of the easiest things to do on the paper?

Reply 1

TSR Jessica

Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown:

Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile:

Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:

You can also find the Exam Thread list for A-levels here and GCSE here. :dumbells:

Just quoting in Puddles the Monkey so she can move the thread if needed :h:

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Reply 2

alexr212

Original post by cakey123

does anyone know how to construct a good commentary for ella 3?? i know the basics but i want my commentary to be get full marks its one of the easiest things to do on the paper?

To be honest its not one of the easiest things to do on the paper and its the area where people always do worst, thankfully its the lowest percentage of marks. The structure that we have been told to do is pretty basic. Essentially, set out the frameworks you're gonna talk about, (e.g Lexis, Structure, Formality/style) then within those use the same point evidence explained structure you would for your section A response. You should really aim to have about 3 points per framework in there, supported by one or two pieces of evidence, length dependant of course.

Generally though, i wouldn't stress over your commentary too much, that large majority of your marks are gonna come from your section A response and your response to section B, which together total 85 out of the 100 marks. Considering 80 was the flatline for full 120 UMS last year, it's pretty safe to say the commentary is in no way a major issue in this exam, you could probably even not do it and still get an A because of how low the grade boundaries are

Reply 3

cakey123

i really hope what you're saying is true! because i haven't practised a commentary in forever I've just been focused on section a because I'm not the analytical type. But thanks for the support, do you happen to have any suggestions for section a structure. I've seen the CAMPLGSS which i shall try entail, however looking at the AQA book for english they've structured a sample answer that seems way more processed and deeply analysed than ever before. I'm starting to panic a little...again. haha

Reply 4

alexr212

yeah we use "the anchor approach", don't know if other places call it that, but basically you choose the text that you feel strongest on, and you analyse it without any comparisons, then you do the next strongest text and you make links and comparisons back to the points or ideas you've made about the first text you did, then the same fro the third text but link back to both. Thats a general structure for the whole essay, an introduction and conclusion isn't really necessary as its more about the analysis.

Breaking each text down then, you should start each one with a small paragraph on the context of the text and how this could affect its content, e.g "text B is an extract from a novel, and therefore is more likely to present figurative and hyperbolic language than text A, which was a transcript. This fulfils its purpose as a novel; to entertain." etc etc

Then you want to start your main analysis for each text, use the point evidence explained structure again, and aim to make about 3 points per text, focusing on attitudes, e.g "In the text, John displays an extreme dislike for crisps", this is important as it is at the end of the day an essay analysing attitudes and how theyre presented. For each point, look to have around 3 pieces of evidence from the text to support it, obviously quote size dependent, and break these down lexically to demonstrate more detailed and embedded analysis. remember always to refer back to the attitude your discussing in the point, but use a variety of synonyms for the attitude word so that its not repetitive. Do this for each of the three points per text, and in the second and third texts make sure to throw your links in there in an effortless way, so like in your points for the second text you could say something like "Unlike John in Text A, the Character of Emily in text B demonstrates an affection for crisps, particularly salt and vinegar flavour".
you want to cover a good range of frameworks so be selective in your quotes and make sure you can get a wide range of terminology into your essay through them.

okay so to summarise:
essay should have analysis of the three texts (duh i know) with links back to the first text in the second and third
each text should be broken down into four paragraphs, a small intro like para on context and its effects, then a paragraph per point on attitude
each paragraph after the context intro should contain between 3-4 quotes covering a range of frameworks and balanced explanation of the evidence

hope this is useful! you should aim to write about 6 pages on section A but manage your time carefully, you have 2 and a half hours, the best allocation of time should be 30mins planning section A, 1 hour writing section A, 10 mins planning section B, 50 mins writing section B and the commentary.