Every card in Writing composition, Year 8: more practice
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- A detective story ends with a villain nobody has met before turning up in the last line to confess. Why does this ending feel unearned?
Nothing earlier in the story led to it
HintAsk what the reader was given to prepare for it.
WhyAn earned ending follows from events and clues the reader has already seen. A surprise that comes from nowhere feels like a cheat, however dramatic it is.
- A news report puts its most important facts in the first paragraph and the extra detail later. Why?
Readers may stop early, so they get the key facts first
HintThink about a reader who only has a moment.
WhyOrdering by importance lets a reader leave at any point and still know the essentials. A story builds towards its best moment, but an information text does not.
- You are explaining how the water cycle works, a process that always happens in the same way. Which tense is usual: past or present?
Present
HintThe process is happening in the world right now, as it always does.
WhyExplanations of how things work use the present tense: 'water evaporates, then it condenses'. The past tense is for telling what happened on one occasion.
- Which introduction to an essay on school uniform frames what follows better: 'School uniform is a big topic.' or 'This essay will argue that school uniform should stay, because it is fair and practical.'?
'This essay will argue that school uniform should stay, because it is fair and practical.'
HintWhich one tells the reader where the piece is heading?
WhyA good introduction states the position and hints at the reasons to come. The first sentence could open an essay on any side of the debate.
- A conclusion simply repeats the introduction word for word. What should it do instead?
Sum up the argument and end with a final thought or judgement
HintThe reader has travelled somewhere since the opening.
WhyA conclusion that only repeats feels like standing still. Pulling the points together and ending on a judgement gives the piece finality.
- Paragraph one argues that school uniform is fair. Paragraph two begins: '_____, uniform can be expensive for families.' Which links better: 'Furthermore' or 'However'?
However
HintIs the second paragraph agreeing with the first or pushing against it?
Why'However' signals a change of direction, which is what the cost point does here. 'Furthermore' would add another point on the same side.
- Why is starting every paragraph 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'Thirdly' a weak way to link them?
It lists the points instead of connecting the ideas
HintDo these words say how one idea relates to the next?
WhyNumbering only tells the reader the order. A better link picks up an idea from the end of the last paragraph and builds on it.
- You are writing in role as a medieval peasant. Which sentence fits the voice better: 'My back aches from hauling the lord's hay all day.' or 'I'm absolutely shattered after my twelve-hour shift.'?
'My back aches from hauling the lord's hay all day.'
HintWhich sentence uses words and a world the peasant would know?
WhyA role's vocabulary and details come from its time and life. 'Shift' belongs to modern working life, and it breaks the illusion.
- A draft says: 'She was very tired.' Which redraft strengthens the word choice: 'She was very, very tired.' or 'She was exhausted.'?
'She was exhausted.'
HintOne precise word can do the job of a weak word plus an intensifier.
WhyPiling on 'very' only adds volume. A stronger single word, like exhausted, carries the strength itself.
- Repeating the same sound at the start of nearby words, as in 'slow, silver snow', is called ____.
alliteration
HintThink of 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers'.
WhyHere the repeated 's' sound is soft and hushing, which suits snow. Poets repeat sounds on purpose to create a mood.
1★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0080
2★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0081
3★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0082
4★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0083
5★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0084
6★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0085
7★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0086
8★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0087
9★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0088
10★ KS3-ENLA-WRI-0089
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.