Supplementary Reader / Non-detailed Text
The supplementary reader tests longer narratives taken from the prescribed non-detailed text. Questions tend to focus on plot recall, character motivation, twist endings, irony and the lesson's underlying value, so accurate knowledge of how each story ends is essential.
Core approach
- One line per story. Write a single-sentence summary of each prescribed story - situation, twist, outcome.
- Motivation over event. "Why did Horace Danby open the safe?" needs a reason, not a retelling.
- Twist awareness. Non-detailed stories often turn on a revelation: a disguise, a mistaken identity, a betrayal. Identify what the reader knows that the character does not.
- Title as clue. Titles such as A Question of Trust or Footprints without Feet state the theme directly; connect the ending back to the title.
- Value question. When asked what you would have done, answer in the first person, briefly, with a reason anchored in the story's situation.
Worked example
Footprints without Feet (H. G. Wells): Griffin, a scientist who has made himself invisible, uses the power for theft and revenge, and his muddy footprints betray him. Reasoning: the footprints are literally evidence of his presence and symbolically evidence of his guilt - invisibility hides the body, not the consequences. The story is a warning about knowledge separated from ethics. Answer: Griffin's science is impressive but morally empty; his footprints show that actions leave traces no power can erase, so the lesson argues that scientific knowledge must be matched by responsibility.
Traps that cost marks
- Merging two stories or swapping their endings.
- Retelling the plot when the question asks for a reason.
- Missing the irony in a title or final line.
- Giving a vague moral instead of naming the specific issue.
- Answering a personal-response question without any reference to the text.