Reading comprehension, Year 11: Paper 2 and non-fiction from the 1800s

12; 16

HintTogether the four questions add up to forty.

The whyQuestion 1 (4 marks) picks out true statements. Question 2 (8) draws on both sources. Question 3 (12) is on the language of one source. Question 4 (16) compares the two writers.

Two

HintRecall the paper's reading layout and the labels given to the texts.

The whyPaper 2 gives two linked non-fiction sources on one theme, from different periods. Paper 1 gives a single fiction source.

The nineteenth century (the 1800s)

HintPaper 1 is modern; recall the era of long sentences and formal vocabulary, Dickens's time.

The whyThe other source comes from the 20th or 21st century, so that the pair lets you compare viewpoints across time. Expect longer sentences and more formal words in the older text.

4

HintThink of the true/false split in a typical set of statements.

The whyYou shade the circles beside the four statements you think are true. Shading more than four is not allowed, so decide carefully and check each statement against the lines named.

Writing that presents a point of view

HintThink of the broad term for persuasive, opinion-led prose as in an article or speech.

The whyThe task gives you something to respond to on the theme of the two sources (in the 2026 sample paper, a statement) and names an audience, a purpose and a form, such as a speech to a local council. It is marked out of 40, like the Paper 1 task.

AO3 (comparing writers)

HintRecall which objective needs two texts side by side; Paper 1 has just one.

The whyAn assessment objective is a skill the exam measures. AO3, comparing ideas and how they are conveyed, needs two texts, so it belongs to Paper 2 question 4. AO4, evaluating, belongs to Paper 1 question 4.

A lack

HintIt is the older sense of the word, not the modern one of wishing for something.

The whyIn older writing 'want' often means an absence or shortage: 'for want of a nail'. Here Douglass is saying that not having the information made him unhappy. The words around a familiar-looking word show which sense is meant.

That caring for the sick is women's work

HintThink about what society in the 1800s assumed about who looked after patients at home.

The whyNightingale does not argue that nursing falls to women; she assumes it, as most of her readers did. Spotting what a writer takes for granted is how you read an attitude that belongs to its time.

News

HintIn this period the word could describe information passed on, as in some government agencies' names.

The whyIn the 1800s 'intelligence' commonly meant information or news, a sense that survives in 'military intelligence'. The verb 'sent' is the clue: you can send news, but not brains.

The main clause: who is doing what

HintCut away the subordinate extras to find the core subject and verb.

The whyLong Victorian sentences hang many extra phrases on one simple statement. Find the subject and its main verb, then add the other parts back one at a time.

Fairly comfortable

HintThink of the verb 'tolerate': to put up with something.

The why'Tolerably' means to a moderate degree: good enough to bear. Older writers use many such measuring words ('exceedingly', 'passably', 'indifferently'), and the tone of a whole passage can turn on them.

autobiography

HintThink about the relationship between narrator and subject; the word's first part means 'self'.

The whyAn autobiography is a person's account of their own life, so it is written in the first person. Readers expect the writer's own memories and feelings, and should remember that people choose how to present themselves.

A biography

HintThe word comes from two Greek roots; the first is also found in 'biology'.

The whyA biographer works from letters, records and interviews, and writes in the third person. Readers expect research and a view from outside, which may be kinder or harsher than the subject's own.

A diary (or journal)

HintDated entries made as events happen, usually private: give the everyday name.

The whyA diary is written day by day, without knowing what happens next, and usually with no reader in mind. That makes it frank and immediate, and often clipped, with words left out as here.

literary

HintThe missing word describes writing that is valued for its craft.

The whyPaper 2 pairs non-fiction with literary non-fiction. The second kind is still about real people and events, but it uses description, character and structure as a novelist would.

A news report

HintThink about which form's job is to inform and which one's job is to persuade.

The whyBoth appear in newspapers, and both count as journalism. A report tells readers what happened; a column argues what the writer thinks about it. Knowing which you are reading tells you how much of it is fact.