This page provides useful lesson resource material and guidance on how to approach and write a GCSE ‘compare’ essay.

A typical question would  be:

Referring to Source 3, and Source 2, you are going to compare the two texts.  Compare the ways in which language is used for effect in the two texts.  Give some examples and analyse the effects.

In any English Language exam, you are asked: to identify how  language is being used; to quote and give examples; and to identify how the author achieves his/her purpose (or, if you like, how the effect on the reader is created).

First: Identify the author’s main purpose:

IMPORTANT NOTE on 1-3 below: Be flexible – texts will be!  

1. Is the author’s purpose to provide information (facts) or give an opinion (or both)?

For information (facts) : you might find examples of:

• • • • Statistics, numbers, dates, times
      • The author’s own examples and quotes
        • Quoting an expert (which often poses as fact!)
        • Reported Speech
        • Dialogue
      • Technical Language (suggesting expertise)

For opinion, there might be:

• • • • anecdotes
      • first person pronouns
      • unsubstantiated claims
      • hyperbole
      • commands(imperative verb form),
      • challenging rhetorical questions
      • generalisations
      • asides

NOTE on linguistic devices: It is not enough to spot these devices, the examiner wants to know whether you have appreciated the effect of any feature on you, the reader.

Let us return to how an essay might develop.  I have written a sample paragraph for an old paper.  The paragraph is not a GCSE student’s but it might usefully serve as a model.  You might ask students to annotate the point, evidence, expanation/analysis:

The purpose of article 1 is to  inform the reader about the water problems in the UK.  Geoffrey Lean starts by showing that we automatically assume water shortage is only a problem to desert nations, with the metaphor that the reader’s mind might ‘ fly” there.  The speed of flight is used to demonstrate how we automatically view Britain in terms of the fertile adjective ‘green’ . This is further supported by the quote from Shakespeare which repeats the word ‘rain’ to give a sense of unending wetness; the humorous image of always being a soaked is conveyed in the informal metaphor of us being a ‘soggy nation’.    This is all described with view to surprise us with the actual truth, which is an ironic contrast.   We are given sobering facts, such as parts of Britain having less rain than the Mediterranean, and predictive reports that we will even have water-rationing by the specific date of 2015.  Figures about future costs rising to £25 Billion are alarming – particularly because they are in a Government report which one might think is reliable.   In this passage, factual language is therefore used to expose our mistaken beliefs.  The facts and evidence are used to give us the ‘true’ picture, as the author sees it.

I have annotated the same paragraph, in red, so that students can see what an examiner might note:

The purpose of article 1 is to  inform [author’s purpose] the reader about the water problems in the UK.  Geoffrey Lean starts by showing that we automatically assume [reader becomes aware of his/her preconceptions] water shortage is only a problem to desert nations, with the metaphor [terminology] that the reader’s mind might ‘ fly” [embedded quote] there.  The speed of flight [analysis of ‘fly’] is used to demonstrate how we automatically view [effect on reader]  Britain in terms of the fertile adjective [accurate terminology] ‘green’ [embedded quote].  This is further supported by the quote [author’s evidence noted] from Shakespeare which repeats [structure/vocabulary feature] the word ‘rain’ [embedded quote] to give a sense of unending wetness [effect on reader explained]; the humorous [author’s tone] image of always being a soaked [effect on reader] is conveyed in the informal [writing style] metaphor [terminology] of us being a ‘soggy nation’ [embedded quote].    This is all described with view to surprise us [effect on reader] with the actual truth, which is an ironic [author’s tone] contrast [author’s writing structure].   We are given sobering [effect on reader] facts [author’s evidence], such as parts of Britain having less rain than the Mediterranean [author’s factual example noted],and predictive reports [author’s evidence] that we will even [effect on reader] have water-rationing by the specific date [predicted fact] of 2015.  Figures about future costs rising to £25 Billion [predicted ‘fact’] are alarming [effect on reader] – particularly because they are in a Government report [the high quality of author’s evidence is understood] which one might think is reliable [effect on reader].  In this passage, factual language is therefore used to expose our mistaken beliefs [appreciation of author’s purpose].  The facts and evidence are used to give us the ‘true’ picture [effect on reader], as the author sees it [understands that the author’s purpose is subjective].

To continue with the essay: it is now  time to compare and contrast this with the language in the other text and show how they create different effects on the reader.  Note to students: you are not being asked to compare/contrast the content, you must always compare/contrast the language.  

To improve your skills in this type of language question, learn to use comparative words and phrases, such as: ‘unlike’; ‘in contrast’; ‘by way of contrast’; ‘different from’, ‘more evident in’  etc.

I hope you get the idea!

P.S. this material is based on Question 4 in the January 2012  exam.  A long time ago but some things never change!