WBCHSE HS English (First Language) cheat sheet

Unseen prose answers must be anchored in the passage: quote or paraphrase a specific line before interpreting, since marks are awarded for textual evidence, not prior knowledge.

For 'inference' questions, distinguish what the text states, what it implies, and what the reader assumes; only the first two earn credit.

Tone and attitude questions are answered with a single precise adjective (e.g. ironic, elegiac, indignant) plus one supporting phrase from the passage.

Unseen poetry: identify the form first (sonnet, ode, lyric, dramatic monologue, free verse), because form constrains expected rhyme scheme and volta placement.

A Shakespearean sonnet rhymes abab cdcd efef gg with the turn in the final couplet; a Petrarchan sonnet rhymes abbaabba then cdecde, with the volta after line 8.

Common devices to name precisely: simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, oxymoron, paradox, synecdoche, metonymy, transferred epithet, hyperbole, litotes, irony.

Sound devices: alliteration (initial consonants), assonance (vowel rhyme), consonance (final consonants), onomatopoeia (word imitates sound), sibilance (repeated s).

For 'significance of the title' questions, link the title to the central theme, to a recurring image, and to the ending; three-point answers score full marks.

Answer structure for a prose essay: context (where the passage sits in the text), close analysis of two or three quoted phrases, then a generalisation about theme.

Distinguish author, narrator, and implied author; in first-person essays the narrator's view is not automatically the writer's position.

Identify the essay's rhetorical mode (narrative, expository, argumentative, descriptive) before commenting on style, because mode determines expected devices.

Irony in prose is signalled by contradiction between stated and implied meaning, or by an incongruous register shift; name the type (verbal, situational, dramatic).

When asked about character, cite an action, a speech, and another character's judgement of them; one point alone earns partial credit.

For 'significance of the ending', check whether the close resolves, complicates, or deliberately refuses the question raised at the opening.

Satire targets a vice or folly through ridicule; distinguish it from mere comedy by identifying the corrective purpose.

Quotations must be short and exact; a misquoted line weakens an otherwise sound answer, so paraphrase when unsure of exact wording.

A poetry appreciation answer moves from literal sense (paraphrase in one or two sentences) to form, then device, then effect, then theme.

Metre: iambic pentameter = five iambic feet (unstressed-stressed) per line; blank verse = unrhymed iambic pentameter; free verse = no fixed metre or rhyme.

A caesura is a pause within a line; enjambment is run-on across lines without punctuation. Both control pace and emphasis.

Apostrophe addresses an absent person or abstraction ('O Death'); personification gives human qualities to non-human things; do not conflate the two.

Oxymoron joins contradictory terms in one phrase ('sweet sorrow'); paradox is a self-contradictory statement that reveals a truth.

Transferred epithet shifts an adjective to a noun it does not literally describe ('the plowman homeward plods his weary way').

Theme statements must be arguable claims about the poem's attitude, not topic labels: 'death' is a topic, 'death as a leveller of rank' is a theme.

Rhyme scheme is written in lower-case letters, one per line; mark a refrain with a capital letter or the same letter repeated.

Tragic hero conventions (Aristotelian): high status, a hamartia or error of judgement, a reversal (peripeteia), recognition (anagnorisis), and a fall arousing pity and fear.

Soliloquy: a character alone on stage speaks thoughts aloud; aside: a brief remark inaudible to other characters on stage. Both create dramatic irony.

Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows what a character does not; its effect depends on staging information withheld from that character.

Plot structure: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. Identify the climax by the irreversible decision, not by volume.

Comic devices: mistaken identity, disguise, wit-combat, malapropism, bawdy pun, and the resolution by multiple marriages.

Stage directions are part of the text; settings, props, and lighting carry meaning and should be quoted when analysing mood.

For character questions in drama, use what the character says, what others say about them, and what the action reveals; the gap between these is often the point.

Verse versus prose speech in drama signals rank, formality, or emotional state; a shift from verse to prose is itself evidence.

Subject-verb agreement: the verb agrees with the head noun, not the nearest noun ('The list of items is long', not 'are').

Neither/nor and either/or take a verb agreeing with the nearer subject; 'neither of' plus plural noun takes a singular verb in formal usage.

Collective nouns (team, jury, government) take a singular verb when acting as a unit and a plural verb when members act individually.

Reported speech shifts tense back one step and adjusts pronouns and time-place words: now becomes then, here becomes there, tomorrow becomes the next day.

In reported questions, use statement order and no question mark: 'He asked where I was going.'

Conditionals: first (if + present, will), second (if + past, would), third (if + past perfect, would have). Mixed conditionals combine past condition with present result.

Dangling modifier: the introductory participle must describe the subject of the main clause; 'Walking home, the rain began' is wrong because rain does not walk.

Restrictive clauses take no commas and use 'that'; non-restrictive clauses take commas and use 'which' in formal edited prose.

Prefixes: un-, in-, im-, il-, ir- (negation); re- (again); pre- (before); post- (after); sub- (under); super- (above); mis- (wrongly); anti- (against).

Assimilation of in- before l and r gives il- and ir- (illegal, irregular); before labials it gives im- (impossible, immobile).

Suffixes fix word class: -tion/-ment/-ness/-ity form nouns; -ous/-ful/-ive/-able form adjectives; -ise/-ize/-ify form verbs; -ly forms adverbs.

Common idioms and meanings: 'to bite the bullet' (endure pain), 'to beat about the bush' (avoid the point), 'a white elephant' (costly burden), 'to turn a deaf ear' (refuse to listen).

Distinguish confusables: affect (verb) versus effect (noun); principal (chief) versus principle (rule); stationary (still) versus stationery (paper).

Phrasal verbs change meaning with the particle: 'put off' (postpone), 'put up with' (tolerate), 'put down' (suppress or insult), 'put by' (save).

One-word substitutions for precise writing: 'ephemeral' (short-lived), 'loquacious' (talkative), 'frugal' (thrifty), 'obstinate' (stubborn), 'benevolent' (kindly).

Collocation rules: 'make a decision', 'do harm', 'take measures', 'commit a crime'; wrong collocation is a lexical error, not a grammatical one.

Essay types: narrative, descriptive, expository, argumentative, reflective. The type dictates whether the thesis is a story arc, a picture, an explanation, or a claim with counter-argument.

Argumentative structure: claim, two or three reasons with evidence, acknowledgement of the strongest counter-argument, rebuttal, conclusion restating the claim.

A paragraph needs a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a closing or linking sentence; a paragraph with two controlling ideas is unfocused.

Cohesion devices: pronoun reference, synonyms, repetition of key terms, and connectives (however, consequently, moreover, in contrast).

Formal essay register: avoid contractions, slang, and first-person anecdote in expository writing unless the prompt invites reflection.

Word limit discipline: plan roughly 25 words per minute of writing time; an essay 30 per cent over the limit risks losing marks for relevance.

Introductions should narrow from the general topic to the specific thesis in three or four sentences; avoid opening with a dictionary definition.

Conclusions should not introduce new evidence; they should synthesise and point outward to implication or significance.

Formal letter layout: sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, salutation (Dear Sir/Madam), subject line, body, subscription (Yours faithfully with Dear Sir; Yours sincerely with a named recipient), signature.

Report format: title, byline with designation, date, and place, then a factual body in past tense and third person, ending with recommendation if asked.

Notice format: the word NOTICE centred, institution name, date, heading, body of four to six lines, and the writer's name and designation. No salutation or subscription.

Advertisement copy: headline, subheadline, body with selling points in bullet form, call to action, and contact detail; use persuasive adjectives and imperative verbs.

Job application letters must map the applicant's qualifications to each stated requirement; generic claims without evidence score poorly.

Letters of complaint state the facts chronologically, specify the redress sought, and remain courteous; invective weakens the case.

Editorial letter to a newspaper: address the Editor, state the issue in the first line, argue with two reasons, propose an action, sign with name and place.

Register check for functional writing: no contractions, no exclamation marks in formal letters, and no informal closings such as 'Take care'.

A précis is a continuous, connected prose summary in the writer's own words, roughly one-third of the original length unless a limit is stated.

Steps: read twice for gist, underline topic sentences, list the key points, draft in third person and past or present tense as the original requires, then count and trim.

Exclude examples, illustrations, figures of speech, dialogue, and repetition; retain the main argument, causal links, and conclusions.

Never introduce opinion, evaluation, or information absent from the passage; a précis reports, it does not comment.

Retain the original's point of view where it is third person; convert first-person passages to third person unless the identity matters.

Supply a title or heading only if asked; a title should be a noun phrase of four to eight words capturing the central idea.

Summarisation of a table or set of data requires a topic sentence naming the overall trend, then two or three supporting comparisons, not a list of every figure.

Word-count accuracy matters: state the count at the end, and stay within ten per cent of any stipulated limit.