BGCSE English Language cheat sheet

Literal questions ask for information stated directly in the passage; inferential questions require a conclusion supported by textual evidence but never stated; evaluative questions ask for judgement about effect, quality or the writer's technique.

Skimming means reading fast for gist, structure or overall meaning; scanning means driving the eyes across the text to locate one specific item such as a date, name or figure.

The main idea is what a whole passage or paragraph is about; a supporting detail only illustrates or proves it and cannot replace it when summarising.

Pronouns and demonstratives (it, this, they, such, the former) point backwards or forwards; trace the exact noun phrase they replace before answering any reference question.

Tone is the writer's attitude (ironic, nostalgic, indignant, detached); mood is the feeling produced in the reader. Both are identified from diction, punctuation and sentence length, not from subject matter alone.

Factual claims can be verified; opinion claims carry evaluation markers such as ought, shocking, best, clearly, disgraceful, or modal verbs like should and must.

Connectives signal the logical relation between ideas: because, thus and consequently mark cause and effect; however, although and yet mark contrast; for instance marks illustration.

In 'explain in your own words' items, marks are awarded for the idea, not the quotation; text lifted verbatim normally scores zero.

Answer length is set by the mark tariff: a two-mark question requires two distinct points, a four-mark question generally requires a point plus supporting evidence and comment.

A developed paragraph contains a point, evidence or example, an explanation of its effect or significance, and a link back to the question focus.

A discursive essay presents at least two positions using contrast markers (on the other hand, conversely, whereas, critics argue) before a conclusion that commits to a reasoned position.

Persuasive devices to deploy deliberately: direct address, rhetorical questions, triples, emotive adjectives, anecdote, statistics, hyperbole, and appeals to authority or to the reader's self-interest.

A thesis statement in the introduction declares the essay's position; every subsequent paragraph must advance that position rather than merely list related facts.

Sentence types: simple = one main clause; compound = two main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so); complex = main clause plus one or more subordinate clauses.

Register must stay consistent: contractions, slang, cliché and second-person 'you' are inappropriate in a formal essay unless the reader is being deliberately addressed.

Cohesion is created by lexical chains (repeated key nouns and synonyms), referencing words (this, such, the former) and connectives of addition, contrast and result.

A conclusion synthesises the argument already made; introducing new evidence in the final paragraph weakens the response because it cannot be developed.

Vary sentence openings; consecutive sentences beginning with the same subject, with 'I', or with a fronted adverbial of time produce a monotonous style.

A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma; repair it with a full stop, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction.

A semicolon links two closely related independent clauses or separates complex list items; a colon must follow a complete clause and introduces an explanation, list or quotation.

Singular possessive adds 's (the girl's book); plural possessive ending in -s adds only the apostrophe (the girls' books); irregular plurals add 's (children's). 'Its' is possessive; 'it's' means it is.

A non-restrictive (non-defining) clause supplies extra information and is enclosed by commas; a restrictive clause identifies which one is meant and takes no commas.

A dangling modifier lacks a logical subject in the main clause: 'Walking home, the rain began' is faulty because the rain is not walking; supply the agent ('Walking home, I was caught in the rain').

Subjects and verbs agree in number; each, every, either, neither, everyone and nobody are singular; collective nouns take a singular verb when the group acts as a single unit.

Direct speech: open quotation marks before the first spoken word, capitalise that word, place a comma before the closing quotation mark when a reporting clause follows, and start a new paragraph for each new speaker.

Tense stays consistent unless meaning requires a shift; reported speech normally backshifts (says to said, will to would, can to could).

Capitalise sentence openings, proper nouns, the pronoun I and the first word of a quoted sentence, but not common nouns or the names of seasons unless personified.

Denotation is the dictionary meaning; connotation is the set of associations carried by a word, as in childlike (positive) versus childish (negative).

Register is the formality level fixed by audience, purpose and form; formal writing excludes contractions, phrasal verbs, slang, exclamation marks and direct address.

Near-synonyms differ in strength and attitude: slim (positive), thin (neutral), skinny (negative); statesman (positive), politician (neutral), demagogue (negative).

Precise verbs replace verb-plus-adverb strings: sprinted for went quickly, muttered for said quietly, scrutinised for looked at carefully.

Intensifiers such as very, really, quite and totally usually weaken prose, because a single stronger word carries more force.

Collocation describes words that conventionally co-occur (heavy rain, make a decision, do homework, deeply concerned); a broken collocation reads as an error although the grammar is sound.

Euphemism softens an unpleasant idea (passed away, let go); dysphemism or loaded language sharpens it (kicked the bucket, sacked).

Idioms are non-literal and generally unsuitable in formal reports and summaries, where they must be replaced by literal paraphrase.

Specialist vocabulary must match the assumed reader; unexplained jargon alienates a general audience, while over-simplified vocabulary can patronise a specialist one.

A summary states the main points in the writer's own words, in continuous prose, with no examples, quotations, repetition or personal opinion.

Identify the topic sentence of each paragraph first; these usually carry the points that must survive into the summary.

Compress by nominalising clauses (because the weather was bad becomes owing to bad weather) and by merging points that share a cause or category.

Discard illustrative detail, single statistics used only as example, figurative language and any idea already counted elsewhere.

Word limits are usually set as a range; answers that exceed the upper limit lose marks for inclusion of material that is not essential.

In information-transfer tasks copy data exactly as given, including numbers, names, units and spelling, and never add interpretation.

Supply only the category a heading asks for: a column headed 'cause' requires a cause, not an effect or a consequence.

Converting direct speech to reported speech removes the dialogue frame and compresses quotation into statement, which is often the fastest route to a shorter summary.

Test the finished summary for independence: it must make sense to a reader who has not seen the original passage.

Purposes are inform, explain, instruct, describe, persuade, advise and entertain; the chosen form must serve the stated purpose and audience.

A formal letter of complaint states the issue, supplies evidence or dates, requests a specific remedy and closes formally; Yours faithfully pairs with Dear Sir/Madam, Yours sincerely with a named recipient.

A news report uses inverted-pyramid order: the most important facts first (who, what, when, where, why), then expanding detail and background.

Headlines compress by dropping articles and auxiliary verbs and by using the present tense for past events ('Minister resigns over leak').

Bias arises from selection, omission and placement as well as from loaded vocabulary; a text can be biased without containing a single false statement.

Leaflets and instructions use imperative verbs, direct address, bullet points, short sentences and clear sequencing words.

A review combines description, evaluation against criteria, and an explicit recommendation, each supported by evidence from the text or product.

Reports favour the passive voice, third person and technical vocabulary to create an objective, impersonal tone ('Samples were tested twice').

A speech uses direct address, rhetorical questions, repetition, triples and signposting ('First... Second... In conclusion') to hold a listening audience.

Homophone checks: their/there/they're, your/you're, its/it's, whose/who's, to/too/two, practice/practise (noun/verb), advice/advise (noun/verb).

Affect is normally a verb meaning to influence; effect is normally a noun meaning a result ('it affected me'; 'the effect on me').

Doubling rule: a one-syllable word ending consonant-vowel-consonant doubles the final consonant before a vowel suffix (hop to hopped, run to running); an unstressed final syllable does not (offer to offered, visit to visited).

Silent final -e is dropped before a vowel suffix (make to making) but kept before a consonant suffix (hope to hopeful) and after soft c or g (noticeable, changeable).

I before e except after c when the sound is a long /e/ (receive, believe); common exceptions include seize, weird, protein, their and caffeine.

Plurals: add -es after s, x, z, ch and sh; consonant plus y becomes -ies; many -f and -fe words become -ves (leaf, knife) but some take -s (roofs, chiefs).

Adverbs in -ly: consonant plus y changes to i (happy to happily); true drops the e (truly); full adds -ly to become fully.

Proofread in separate passes: one for sense and missing words, one for punctuation, one for spelling, and one reading backwards to isolate individual spelling errors.

Long sentences are where agreement and tense errors cluster, so check each verb against its own subject after any intervening phrase or clause.