KS3 English topics

Retrieval & inference

Find what a text says — and what it means underneath.

Writer’s methods

Spot the choices: imagery, sentence shape, sound.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “You can't analyse choices you haven't noticed.”

Paragraphs & topic sentences

Build paragraphs that carry one idea each.

Builds on: Planning before writing

Skimming and scanning

Skim a text quickly for its gist, or scan it for one particular detail — two different speeds for two different jobs.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference

Working out words from context

Use the sentences around an unfamiliar word to make a sensible guess at its meaning.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “Working out a word starts from reading around it.”

Summarising a passage

Shrink a passage to its main points in your own words, leaving the detail behind.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “You can't summarise what you haven't retrieved.” · Skimming and scanning

Tracking plot and sequence

Follow what happens in a story, in order, including when the telling jumps around.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “Following a plot is retrieval across a whole text.”

Fact vs opinion

Tell the difference between something a writer can prove and something a writer believes.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “Telling fact from opinion is close reading.”

Reading a whole novel

Stay with a full-length book — holding characters, plot and threads across weeks of reading.

Builds on: Tracking plot and sequence — “A novel is plot-tracking, at length.”

Choosing the best evidence

Pick the quotation that best supports a point — short, sharp and on-topic.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “Choosing evidence means finding it first.” · Fact vs opinion

Inferring character feelings

Work out how a character feels from what they do and say, even when the writer never names the feeling.

Builds on: Retrieval & inference — “Inferring a feeling is inference, aimed at a person.”

Simile and metaphor

Recognise the two core comparisons — ‘as brave as a lion’ and ‘a heart of stone’ — and tell them apart.

Builds on: Writer’s methods — “Imagery is the first method to name.”

Personification

Spot writing that gives human behaviour to non-human things — ‘the wind howled’ — and say what it adds.

Builds on: Simile and metaphor — “Personification is metaphor with a living mask.”

Alliteration and onomatopoeia

Notice the sound effects — repeated first letters, words that sound like their meaning — and what they do to the ear.

Builds on: Writer’s methods — “Sound is another method a writer chooses.”

Embedding quotations

Weave a short quotation into your own sentence so it reads smoothly — no ‘this quote shows’ bolted on.

Builds on: Choosing the best evidence — “You embed the evidence you chose.”

Rhyme and rhythm basics

Hear a poem’s pattern — which lines rhyme, where the beat falls — and describe it simply.

Builds on: Alliteration and onomatopoeia

How writers build character

See the techniques behind a character — what they do, say, wear, and what others say about them.

Builds on: Tracking plot and sequence · Inferring character feelings — “Analysing character starts from inferring feeling.”

Setting and atmosphere

See how writers use place, weather and detail to make a scene feel safe, tense or strange.

Builds on: Writer’s methods — “Atmosphere is built by methods you can name.”

Planning before writing

Spend two minutes deciding what you will say and in what order, before the first sentence.

Writing a story opening

Start a story so a reader wants the next paragraph — with action, a voice, or a question in the air.

Builds on: Planning before writing — “A good opening starts from a plan.”

Describing with the five senses

Build description from what can be seen, heard, smelt, touched and tasted — not just adjectives.

Builds on: Writing a story opening

Writing formal and personal letters

Write a letter that fits its reader — warm to a friend, properly formal to a stranger — with the right layout for each.

Builds on: Paragraphs & topic sentences — “A letter is paragraphs with a purpose.”

Show, don’t tell

Let actions and details reveal a feeling instead of naming it — ‘her hands shook’ rather than ‘she was scared’.

Builds on: Describing with the five senses — “Showing leans on sensory detail.”

Writing dialogue that works

Write conversations that sound like people and move the story on — every line earning its place.

Builds on: Punctuating speech — “Dialogue needs speech punctuation to work.”

Proof-reading your own work

Read your own writing back slowly, hunting the slips your brain autocorrects — a habit, not an afterthought.

Builds on: Paragraphs & topic sentences

Naming the word classes

Know nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions by name — the labels the rest of grammar uses.

Simple, compound, complex sentences

Recognise the three sentence structures and what joins them — a single clause, an ‘and/but/or’, or a subordinate clause. Read the full explainer →

Builds on: Naming the word classes — “You build sentences from the word classes.”

Apostrophes: possession and contraction

Use apostrophes for ownership — Amara’s book — and for missing letters — don’t — and nowhere else.

Builds on: Naming the word classes

Punctuating speech

Set out spoken words with the right marks — inverted commas, the comma before the closing quote, a new line per speaker.

Builds on: Simple, compound, complex sentences — “Speech punctuation needs the sentence first.”

Giving a short talk

Speak to the class for a minute or two on a prepared subject — audible, ordered, and looking up.

Listening and building on ideas

Listen well enough to answer what was actually said — then add to it, question it, or take it somewhere new.

Builds on: Giving a short talk

Reading aloud with expression

Read a text aloud so it sounds meant — using pace, volume and tone to carry the meaning.

Builds on: Giving a short talk

Analytical paragraphs

Point, evidence, zoom-in — the analytical unit.

Builds on: Writer’s methods — “Analysis needs methods to point at.” · Paragraphs & topic sentences — “The paragraph is the container the argument ships in.” · Embedding quotations — “An analytical paragraph runs on embedded quotation.”

Inferring the writer’s viewpoint

Work out what the writer thinks about their subject from tone and choices, not just from what is stated.

Builds on: Inferring character feelings — “Reading a viewpoint extends inferring a feeling.”

Linking details across a text

Connect details from different parts of a text to build one bigger point.

Builds on: Tracking plot and sequence — “Linking details needs you to hold the sequence.”

Identifying purpose and audience

Work out what a text is for — to inform, persuade, entertain — and who it was written for.

Builds on: Fact vs opinion — “Purpose is the writer's intent behind the facts.”

Spotting bias in non-fiction

Notice when a text leans to one side — through what it includes, what it leaves out, and how it words things.

Builds on: Fact vs opinion · Inferring the writer’s viewpoint · Identifying purpose and audience — “Bias is purpose bending the facts.” · Sources & provenance (HIST)

Understanding narrative perspective

See who is telling a story — first or third person, all-knowing or limited — and what that lets the reader see.

Builds on: Inferring character feelings — “Perspective is whose feelings we're given.”

Following an argument

Trace the steps of a writer’s argument from claim to conclusion — what is being argued, and what supports it.

Builds on: Linking details across a text — “An argument is details linked into a line.”

Reading pre-1914 language

Get comfortable with the older vocabulary and longer sentences of nineteenth-century and earlier texts.

Builds on: Working out words from context — “Old language is decoded from context, patiently.”

Presentational features in non-fiction

Read the layout as well as the words — headings, captions, bullet points, images — and what each is doing.

Builds on: Identifying purpose and audience

Word connotations

Go beyond a word’s dictionary meaning to its flavour — why ‘slender’, ‘thin’ and ‘scrawny’ paint different pictures.

Builds on: Simile and metaphor — “Connotation is the meaning imagery carries.”

Sentence length for effect

Notice when a writer uses a short sentence to jolt, or a long one to build — and explain the choice.

Builds on: Writer’s methods

Analysing openings and endings

Study how texts begin and end — what a first line promises, what a last line leaves behind.

Builds on: Setting and atmosphere

Decoding Shakespeare’s language

Turn Shakespeare’s word order, ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, and unfamiliar words into sense — line by line.

Builds on: Reading pre-1914 language — “Shakespeare is pre-1914 language, on stage.”

Stagecraft and stage directions

Read a play as a performance — stage directions, entrances, props and silence are all choices that mean something.

Builds on: Decoding Shakespeare’s language — “Stagecraft reads the play the language sits in.”

Dramatic irony

Understand the charge a scene gets when the audience knows something the characters don’t.

Builds on: Writer’s methods · How writers build character — “Dramatic irony works on characters we know.”

Shaping a story arc

Give a story a shape — build-up, turning point, consequence — so the ending feels earned.

Builds on: Writing a story opening — “An arc extends the opening into a whole.”

Writing to inform and explain

Present information clearly and in a sensible order, so a reader who knew nothing ends up understanding.

Builds on: Paragraphs & topic sentences — “Explaining is paragraphs doing a job.”

Introductions and conclusions

Open a piece so the reader knows where they are going, and close it so they know they have arrived.

Builds on: Writing to inform and explain — “Every informative piece needs a frame.”

Linking paragraphs smoothly

Connect paragraphs so the whole piece flows — each one picking up from the last.

Builds on: Paragraphs & topic sentences — “Links join the paragraphs you can already build.”

Writing in role

Write as someone else — a character, a witness, a historical figure — keeping their voice and their limits.

Builds on: Understanding narrative perspective — “Writing in role needs a grasp of perspective.”

Redrafting for impact

Go back into a draft to make it better, not just correct — cutting, reordering and strengthening word choices.

Builds on: Proof-reading your own work — “Redrafting is proof-reading with ambition.”

Writing your own poem

Write a poem with deliberate choices — line breaks, sound and image working on purpose.

Builds on: Simile and metaphor · Rhyme and rhythm basics — “Writing a poem uses rhyme and rhythm.”

Commas that change meaning

See how a comma can change what a sentence says — ‘Let’s eat, Grandma’ — and place them where the grammar needs them.

Builds on: Simple, compound, complex sentences — “Commas reshape the sentences you can build.”

Roots, prefixes and suffixes

Break words into their building blocks — un-help-ful — to unlock spelling and meaning at the same time.

Builds on: Working out words from context

Fixing comma splices

Spot two complete sentences glued with just a comma — and repair the join with a full stop, a conjunction or a semicolon.

Builds on: Commas that change meaning — “You fix a splice by knowing what a comma does.”

Colons and semicolons

Use the colon to introduce and the semicolon to balance — two marks that make writing look and think sharper.

Builds on: Fixing comma splices — “Semicolons pick up where comma splices fail.”

Subject–verb agreement

Match the verb to its subject — ‘she was’, ‘they were’ — even when other words crowd in between.

Builds on: Naming the word classes — “Agreement links the subject and verb you can name.”

Keeping tenses consistent

Stay in the tense you started in — or change it only on purpose, and signal the change.

Builds on: Naming the word classes — “Tense lives in the verb you've learned to spot.”

Standard English and dialect

Understand that Standard English is one variety among many — the one expected in formal writing — and that dialect is difference, not error.

Builds on: Subject–verb agreement

Playing your part in discussion

Take a role in structured discussion — chairing, summarising, challenging — and help the group think better than one person could.

Builds on: Listening and building on ideas — “Discussion is listening and building, in a group.”

Performing a scripted scene

Rehearse and perform a scene from a script — using voice, movement and stillness to bring the words to life.

Builds on: Stagecraft and stage directions · Reading aloud with expression — “Performing extends reading aloud with expression.”

Giving a presentation

Plan and deliver a longer presentation — structured content, a clear through-line, and any visuals earning their place.

Builds on: Writing to inform and explain · Giving a short talk — “A presentation is a short talk, grown up.”

Comparing two texts

Hold two writers side by side without losing either.

Builds on: Analytical paragraphs — “Compare with paragraphs you already trust.”

Rhetoric & persuasion

Writing that moves people — ethically.

Builds on: Writer’s methods · Building a written argument — “Persuasion is argument with feeling.”

Evaluating a writer’s success

Judge how well a piece of writing achieves what it set out to do — with evidence, not just taste.

Builds on: Inferring the writer’s viewpoint · Identifying purpose and audience — “You judge success against purpose and audience.”

Recognising unreliable narrators

Notice when the person telling the story can’t be fully trusted — and read around them.

Builds on: Understanding narrative perspective — “An unreliable narrator is a perspective you can't trust.” · Detecting irony and sarcasm

Detecting irony and sarcasm

Hear when a writer means the opposite of what the words say — and what the gap is for.

Builds on: Inferring the writer’s viewpoint — “Irony is a viewpoint saying the opposite of its words.”

Reading with historical context

Use what you know about a text’s time and place to understand what it meant to its first readers.

Builds on: Reading pre-1914 language · Chronology & period sense (HIST)

Poetic form and its effect

Recognise sonnets, ballads and free verse — and treat the choice of form as part of the poem’s meaning.

Builds on: Rhyme and rhythm basics — “Form builds on rhyme and rhythm.”

Building tension and pacing

Trace how writers speed up and slow down a story — withholding, delaying, cutting away — to keep readers gripped.

Builds on: Sentence length for effect — “Pacing is sentence length across a scene.” · Analysing openings and endings

Symbolism and motifs

Spot an object or image that carries a bigger meaning — and notice when it keeps coming back.

Builds on: Setting and atmosphere · Word connotations — “A symbol is connotation, made to recur.”

Analysing a Shakespeare scene

Put language and stagecraft together to analyse one scene — what is said, how it plays, and why it matters.

Builds on: Decoding Shakespeare’s language · Stagecraft and stage directions — “Analysing a scene uses the stagecraft you've met.” · Analytical paragraphs

Building a written argument

Construct an argument in writing — a clear position, reasons in order, evidence attached to each.

Builds on: Fact vs opinion · Following an argument · Writing to inform and explain — “Argument is explaining, then taking a side.”

Answering the counterargument

Raise the strongest version of the other side’s case — then show why yours still stands.

Builds on: Building a written argument — “You answer an argument you can first build.”

Writing a thesis statement

Compress your essay’s whole argument into one steering sentence at the top.

Builds on: Building a written argument — “A thesis is the argument in one sentence.”

Matching tone to audience

Adjust how you write — warmth, formality, vocabulary — to suit exactly who will read it.

Builds on: Identifying purpose and audience — “Matching tone needs a grip on audience.”

Scripting a speech

Write words designed to be heard — shorter sentences, repetition that lands, pauses built in.

Builds on: Rhetoric & persuasion — “A speech is rhetoric, out loud on the page.”

Flashback and foreshadowing

Bend a story’s timeline on purpose — dropping hints forward, cutting back — without losing the reader.

Builds on: Shaping a story arc — “Time-shifts restructure the arc you can build.”

Formal and informal register

Recognise the sliding scale from chatty to ceremonial — and what moves a piece of writing along it.

Builds on: Matching tone to audience · Standard English and dialect — “Register formalises the Standard-English idea.”

Active and passive voice

Tell ‘the dog bit the man’ from ‘the man was bitten’ — and know what the passive hides and when that is useful.

Builds on: Subject–verb agreement — “Voice rearranges subject and verb.”

Turning verbs into nouns

Turn ‘we decided’ into ‘the decision’ — the packing-down move that makes writing sound formal and dense.

Builds on: Active and passive voice

Using terminology precisely

Use terms like ‘metaphor’, ‘clause’ and ‘imperative’ to mean exactly what they mean — labels that sharpen analysis instead of decorating it.

Builds on: Writer’s methods — “Terminology names the methods you analyse.”

Varying sentence openings

Start sentences differently on purpose — an adverb, a subordinate clause, a prepositional phrase — so writing doesn’t drone.

Builds on: Simple, compound, complex sentences — “You vary openings by knowing sentence types.”

Debating: making your case

Argue a motion within debate rules — timed speeches, points in order, evidence ready.

Builds on: Building a written argument · Playing your part in discussion — “Debate is discussion with sides.”

Rebutting on your feet

Answer the other side’s actual argument, live and unscripted — the thinking-while-standing skill.

Builds on: Answering the counterargument · Debating: making your case — “You rebut once you can make the case.”

Speaking in Standard English

Switch into fluent Standard English for formal moments — interviews, presentations, debate — and back out again.

Builds on: Formal and informal register — “Speaking Standard English applies register aloud.”