BSEH SS English Elective cheat sheet

Skim the passage once for gist, then read questions; answer in the order the answers appear in the passage to save time.

Factual questions: locate the exact sentence and lift vocabulary; do not import outside knowledge about the topic.

Inference questions: the answer must be supported by textual evidence, not merely plausible in real life.

Vocabulary-in-context: substitute each option into the original sentence and test which preserves meaning and grammar.

Tone/attitude questions: look at adjectives, adverbs, and punctuation; irony and sarcasm signal contrast between words and situation.

Summary/central-idea questions: the correct option covers the whole passage, not one paragraph or one example.

Word-limit answers (e.g., 'in not more than 30 words'): count words, keep the key noun and verb, and drop examples before dropping the main claim.

Note-making: use headings, sub-headings, indentation, and abbreviations; supply a key for any abbreviation used.

Formal letter format: sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, subject line, salutation, body, complimentary close, signature - in that order.

Letter types by purpose: complaint (state problem, evidence, requested remedy), enquiry (specific questions), order (items, quantity, terms), application (post, qualifications, availability).

Report format: title, byline (name/designation), place and date, then past-tense factual body in third person or passive voice; no personal opinion unless asked.

Article format: title, byline, introduction stating the issue, body of 2-3 paragraphs with causes/effects/solutions, conclusion with a call to action.

Notice format: boxed, the word NOTICE at the top, name of issuing body, date, bold heading, body of 4-5 lines, name and designation of signatory.

Word limits are graded: a 120-150 word article needs roughly 3 short paragraphs; exceeding the limit by more than about 10 percent loses marks.

Register rule: formal writing avoids contractions, slang, and first-person emotive language; semi-formal (school magazine) permits 'we'.

Cohesion devices to deploy deliberately: 'therefore', 'however', 'in addition', 'as a result', 'on the other hand'.

Tense sequencing: after 'since/for' use present perfect or present perfect continuous; after 'if' (type 2) use past simple in the clause and 'would + base' in the main clause.

Subject-verb agreement traps: 'one of the + plural noun' takes a singular verb; 'each/every/either/neither' is singular; 'the number of' is singular while 'a number of' is plural.

Reported speech backshift: present to past, past to past perfect, 'will' to 'would'; pronouns and time/place words shift (now to then, here to there, tomorrow to the next day).

Active to passive: object becomes subject, verb becomes 'be + past participle' in the same tense, agent introduced by 'by' and omitted when unknown.

Conditionals: type 1 (if + present, will + base), type 2 (if + past, would + base), type 3 (if + past perfect, would have + past participle).

Modals of deduction: 'must' (strong certainty), 'may/might/could' (possibility), 'can't' (impossibility); 'should' expresses advice, 'ought to' equivalent.

Determiners and articles: 'a/an' with singular countable first mention, 'the' with unique or already-mentioned nouns, zero article with uncountable general reference.

Error-spotting checklist: prepositions after verbs (depend on, consist of, insist on), comparative forms ('more better' is wrong), and double negatives.

Character analysis answers need three elements: a trait, a textual incident proving it, and the effect on theme.

Narrative point of view controls reliability: first-person narrators may be limited or self-serving; omniscient narrators supply judgments the characters lack.

Setting is functional, not decorative: note how place and period constrain characters' choices and symbolize their condition.

Theme statements should be arguable claims about human experience, not one-word topics like 'greed' or 'childhood'.

Irony types to name precisely: verbal (saying the opposite), situational (outcome reverses expectation), dramatic (reader knows what a character does not).

Short-story structure: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution; identify which stage the given extract occupies.

Quotation use: short embedded phrases with context, then explanation of significance; never a long block quotation without commentary.

Compare-contrast answers must use a consistent basis of comparison (e.g., both authors treat loss through a child's perspective).

Identify form first: sonnet (14 lines), ballad (narrative stanzas with refrain), ode (elevated address), lyric (short personal utterance), free verse (no fixed metre).

Metre basics: iambic pentameter is five unstressed-stressed feet per line; count stresses, not syllables, when naming a metre.

Rhyme scheme is labelled with letters (abab, aabb, abba); an abba quatrain is an envelope stanza.

Sound devices: alliteration (consonant repetition at word start), assonance (vowel repetition), consonance (consonant repetition inside/end), onomatopoeia (word imitates sound).

Figures: simile uses like/as, metaphor states identity, personification gives human traits to non-human things, synecdoche uses part for whole.

Enjambment (line runs on without punctuation) speeds pace; a caesura (mid-line pause) slows it; end-stopped lines feel closed.

Tone and mood differ: tone is the speaker's attitude, mood is the feeling evoked in the reader.

Poetry answers must quote the device, name it, then state its effect on meaning - three steps, not a device list.

Drama is written to be performed: analyse dialogue, stage directions, props, lighting, and off-stage action as meaning-bearing.

Soliloquy (alone on stage, reveals inner thought), aside (short remark unheard by others), monologue (extended speech to listeners) - do not interchange the terms.

Tragic structure: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, catastrophe; the tragic flaw (hamartia) drives the reversal (peristasis) and recognition (anagnorisis).

Comic devices: mistaken identity, disguise, witty repartee, malapropism, and the exposure of hypocrisy.

Supplementary reader answers should name the character, the situation, and the value or conflict the episode illustrates.

Theme-and-value questions require a judgment plus evidence; state the value (courage, honesty, empathy) and cite the incident that shows it.

Character transformation questions need a before-and-after contrast with the turning-point incident named.

Dramatic irony in drama: the audience knows the disguise or the trap while characters on stage do not; state what each party knows.