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Wednesday 14th May exam: English Language AQA A level

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Reply 300
The bad thing is, everyone at my school is saying they found the exam really easy :frown: (bad for the rest of us anyway)
Hi! I was resitting this exam due to completely messing up with exam last year due to the stupid Gender question!
I did groupings on: spoken discourse - obviously the two spoken ones; specific audience - the vow/church one (saying it was likely to be for engaged couples to practise their vows, or ministers practising - however I didn't finish this due to time!), I said the jokes were suited to an adult audience as the connotations of flexibility followed by the "I can't do tuesdays" links to an adult's busy lifestyle due to their working life and family commitments etc. I didn't say very much about these though! I also did a group on to inform with a subgroup of to persuade which had the comic book one, saying how it would be seen by a vast audience due to people carrying the bag and just saying about the exclamative title and how the graphology suggests that it would be approachable for both men and women etc. I also put the one about the dustbin and spoke about personification, saying how due to this being a serious document from the council it should be rather formal but however they use this personification to add humour etc. and I also put in the text about the detective novel in the inform/persuade (subgroup).

My English is so bad there (oops). I also did Power and loved it!
Wrote about the asymmetry in terms of address, however that Marie (or whatever) turns it around to establish her own power, how Marie uses epistemic modals at the beginning due to the man having more power due to being a consumer. I said about Marie's positive and negative politeness, how she holds the ground and controls the topic with her use of interrogatives; her persuasive language etc. I also said how the man uses a face-threatening act when he says "not being funny but..." and so on! Also said how there isn't many non-fluency features in Marie's language but it may be down to it actually being planned due to it being a company and them wanting to keep their customers!

Overall, a good paper! The grouping texts weren't the best I've seen, but I was really really happy with my Power question and answer!
Reply 302
Original post by Abbiedaniella
Hi! I was resitting this exam due to completely messing up with exam last year due to the stupid Gender question!
I did groupings on: spoken discourse - obviously the two spoken ones; specific audience - the vow/church one (saying it was likely to be for engaged couples to practise their vows, or ministers practising - however I didn't finish this due to time!), I said the jokes were suited to an adult audience as the connotations of flexibility followed by the "I can't do tuesdays" links to an adult's busy lifestyle due to their working life and family commitments etc. I didn't say very much about these though! I also did a group on to inform with a subgroup of to persuade which had the comic book one, saying how it would be seen by a vast audience due to people carrying the bag and just saying about the exclamative title and how the graphology suggests that it would be approachable for both men and women etc. I also put the one about the dustbin and spoke about personification, saying how due to this being a serious document from the council it should be rather formal but however they use this personification to add humour etc. and I also put in the text about the detective novel in the inform/persuade (subgroup).

My English is so bad there (oops). I also did Power and loved it!
Wrote about the asymmetry in terms of address, however that Marie (or whatever) turns it around to establish her own power, how Marie uses epistemic modals at the beginning due to the man having more power due to being a consumer. I said about Marie's positive and negative politeness, how she holds the ground and controls the topic with her use of interrogatives; her persuasive language etc. I also said how the man uses a face-threatening act when he says "not being funny but..." and so on! Also said how there isn't many non-fluency features in Marie's language but it may be down to it actually being planned due to it being a company and them wanting to keep their customers!

Overall, a good paper! The grouping texts weren't the best I've seen, but I was really really happy with my Power question and answer!


I think I mentioned most of the features you picked out on the power example as well. I said Joe uses deontic modality to try and control the topic of conversation, he was very definitive etc. And I also said Maria used interrogatives, epistemic modality, how Maria's language in partially planned/ practised, politeness strategies, her influential power etc.

If you don't mine me asking, what grade are you aiming for by the way (just seeing if I can gauge what I should be expecting, as I really don't know what to think of that exam). :biggrin:
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 303
Original post by JoshZ
I'll second that, do AQA really think I'm going to spend 3 minutes trying to find the joke.... :confused: I understood that one where the guy asked for a beer with tarmac on his arm and then said "oh and one for the road", but the one about only doing splits on a Tuesday!?....

image.png


Anyhow, that marriage one was also dreadful............. All I said about that was that it was monologic and prepared lol...


The splits one was a joke on how the trainer asked if the guy was flexible or not - the trainer meant physically flexible, but the guy thought that he meant flexible as in time. The road one was about how the guy was carrying some tarmac and asked for some beer for himself and 'one for the road'; it's a typical idiom, meaning that you're about to leave the pub and want another drink - but of course tarmac is also 'the road'.

Lame jokes AQA. LAME
Reply 304
Is it bad I giggled to myself in the exam at the jokes? and the wheelie bin one haha
Original post by JoshZ
I'll second that, do AQA really think I'm going to spend 3 minutes trying to find the joke.... :confused: I understood that one where the guy asked for a beer with tarmac on his arm and then said "oh and one for the road", but the one about only doing splits on a Tuesday!?....

image.png


Anyhow, that marriage one was also dreadful............. All I said about that was that it was monologic and prepared lol...


Can you teach me how to do the splits?
How flexible are you?
I can't make it on Tuesdays.

Seems pretty obvious to me...
And the marriage on was good. It had deontic modality, metaphors, direct address,pre adjectival modification.
Reply 306
Original post by HillyH1995
Can you teach me how to do the splits?
How flexible are you?
I can't make it on Tuesdays.

Seems pretty obvious to me...
And the marriage on was good. It had deontic modality, metaphors, direct address,pre adjectival modification.


I was so confused about the purpose of the marriage one and the wheelie bin! I said that the purpose of the marriage one was 'to marry the bride and groom' (???) and I just made up a load of crap on the bin one...
Original post by JoshZ
I think I mentioned most of the features you picked out on the power example as well. I said Joe uses deontic modality to try and control the topic of conversation, he was very definitive etc. And I also said Maria used interrogatives, epistemic modality, how Maria's language in partially planned/ practised, politeness strategies, her influential power etc.

If you don't mine me asking, what grade are you aiming for by the way (just seeing if I can gauge what I should be expecting, as I really don't know what to think of that exam). :biggrin:


The power question was great!

I would absolutely love an A and my teacher's are hoping I get an A, but I would be happy with a B! So an A/B :smile:
I said about the idioms used in the jokes ones such as "a man walked into a bar" and stuff; most adults can associate with them and it will make them laugh as they could probably apply it to someone they know etc.
Reply 309
I grouped the comic under spoken mode but didn't say that the speech bubbles were represented speech, will I lose marks? All I said about it was that the speech is stereotypical of an exaggerated character which is typical of comics and that the 'gulp' and ellipsis show features of speech so it will tell the audience how the characters are feeling and the way they're saying things and it will entertain the audience and make them want to go to the bookshop
Is that alright or is that not making the right point?


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Original post by Rarar
I was so confused about the purpose of the marriage one and the wheelie bin! I said that the purpose of the marriage one was 'to marry the bride and groom' (???) and I just made up a load of crap on the bin one...


I wrote that it had a dual purpose. To instruct the minister and to inform the bride and groom
Original post by Rarar
I was so confused about the purpose of the marriage one and the wheelie bin! I said that the purpose of the marriage one was 'to marry the bride and groom' (???) and I just made up a load of crap on the bin one...


The only bit I was confused on was whether the bin one was using humour. Was 'eaten' like meant to be a joke or is that the term they actually use, because I put that in my humour group :O
My groupings weren't too great, I did:
Transcripts of spoken language
Persuasive purpose
Graphological features

Loved the technology question though!! Easiest I've done by far, hope it all has come together okay though!! Good luck to everyone :smile:


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Reply 313
Original post by EzBB
I am so glad I did English language on year 10 and got and A*.


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Oh sorry, I didn't read this I took gcse language in year 10 not a level



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Reply 314
Did anyone do a grouping on modal verbs or was it just me???? If so what did you put because mine was just a load of waffling!!
i used humour!! i did a group on humour and said about how the use of humour made a friendly, informal relationship with the consumer (whoever's bin has been "eaten")

and i did transcripts, use of humour and the purpose of entertainment, but didn't use the marriage text at all!! :/
the gender text was a gem!!! so much to write about on gender socialisation, stereotypes etc!!! anyone else do it?
Reply 317
Original post by lizzy_parker
the gender text was a gem!!! so much to write about on gender socialisation, stereotypes etc!!! anyone else do it?


I did it and loved it too! I wrote about the connotations of 'lady' the animal and weak imagery within 'catfight', Keith and Shuttleworth's theory about how men refer to women and machines the same, 'women are programmed', and how men prefer sport, 'you'll be back in time for the footie'. Loads on socialisation and the difference theory. Got the defecit model in their too. Afraid I might have rambled on in some areas but other than that I loved it!
The jokes on the grouping texts

[video="youtube;KBWuDhIv9B0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBWuDhIv9B0[/video]
Original post by elxse
I did it and loved it too! I wrote about the connotations of 'lady' the animal and weak imagery within 'catfight', Keith and Shuttleworth's theory about how men refer to women and machines the same, 'women are programmed', and how men prefer sport, 'you'll be back in time for the footie'. Loads on socialisation and the difference theory. Got the defecit model in their too. Afraid I might have rambled on in some areas but other than that I loved it!

Will I lose marks for saying that the 'programmed' thing was suggesting it's genetic and that women are all naturally drawn to shopping? I was never told about the machines theory...

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