WBCHSE HS Alternative English (ALTE) cheat sheet
WBCHSE HS Alternative English (ALTE) · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Prose – comprehension and critical analysis of prescribed prose texts
Identify the prose text's central thesis before answering: WBCHSE ALTE prose questions reward stating the author's argument, not summarising the plot.
Distinguish tone from mood: tone is the writer's attitude toward the subject, evidenced by diction; mood is the feeling created in the reader.
Locate the pivot word in an argumentative essay (but, yet, however, therefore): the author's real position usually follows it.
For 'critically analyse' questions, use the three-step frame: claim of the passage, technique used to support it, effect on the reader.
Autobiographical prose in the syllabus is read for the gap between the narrated self and the narrating self - the adult looking back judges the child.
Satire signals: exaggeration, irony, understatement, and a target the author wants corrected. Name the target explicitly in answers.
When quoting, keep quotations under one line and always attach a comment on the word choice; an unexplained quotation earns no marks.
Compare-and-contrast prose answers must give one point of similarity and two of difference, each tied to textual evidence.
Poetry – comprehension, appreciation and poetic devices in prescribed poems
Metre check: count stressed syllables per line; iambic pentameter = five unstressed-stressed pairs, the default line of English verse.
Sonnet form: 14 lines; Shakespearean rhymes abab cdcd efef gg with a turn at line 13; Petrarchan splits octave/sestet with the turn at line 9.
Enjambment (line runs on without punctuation) speeds pace; end-stopped lines slow it - cite the effect, not just the label.
Identify devices by function: simile/metaphor compare, personification animates, synecdoche substitutes part for whole, metonymy substitutes an attribute.
Sound devices: alliteration repeats initial consonants, assonance repeats vowels, consonance repeats final consonants; onomatopoeia imitates sound directly.
Rhyme scheme is described only after marking the final stressed vowel sound of each line with letters a, b, c.
To answer 'appreciate the poem', cover subject, structure, poetic devices, tone and central theme in that order.
An ode addresses or celebrates a subject; an elegy mourns a death; a ballad narrates in quatrains; a lyric expresses a single speaker's feeling.
Supplementary reader / long fiction – theme, character and narrative technique
Theme statements must be full sentences about human experience ('X shows that loyalty survives loss'), never single words like 'love' or 'fate'.
Character analysis uses four evidence types: what the character says, does, thinks, and what others say about them.
Flat characters serve one function; round characters change or reveal contradiction. Identify which the question is asking about.
Narrative point of view: first person = limited and subjective; omniscient third = access to all minds; limited third = access to one mind only.
Free indirect discourse merges narrator and character voice without quotation marks - a marker of modern fiction technique.
Plot structure: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. Map the text before writing an essay.
Setting is analysed functionally: how does place or period shape character choices and theme?
Symbol hunting is only valid when an object recurs or is foregrounded by the narrator; state the link between symbol and theme explicitly.
Reading comprehension of unseen passages
Read the questions before the passage; this converts passive reading into targeted scanning.
Question stems signal answer type: 'state' wants a fact, 'infer' wants a reasoned conclusion, 'suggest a suitable title' wants a noun phrase covering the whole passage.
Answer in your own words where instructed; lifting a full sentence verbatim usually loses marks even when the content is right.
Vocabulary-in-context items: substitute each option into the sentence and test whether the sentence's logic still holds.
Inference answers must be supported by a stated line - an inference with no textual anchor is a guess.
For 'meaning of the underlined word', check whether the passage uses it literally or figuratively before choosing a synonym.
Summaries should compress by deleting examples and restating main clauses, not by copying the first sentence of each paragraph.
True/false/not-given items: 'not given' means the passage is silent, not that the statement is false.
Writing skills – report, letter, notice, paragraph and essay
Notice format: the word NOTICE centred at the top, then date, heading, body (5 Ws), and name plus designation of the issuer.
Formal letter order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject line, salutation, body, subscription, signature. No comma after 'Dear Sir/Madam'.
Report format: heading, byline (By …), dateline/place, then past-tense factual body in third person; reports avoid 'I'.
Paragraph structure: topic sentence, two or three supporting sentences with examples, closing sentence that returns to the topic.
Essay plan before writing: one-sentence thesis, three body points, one counterpoint, conclusion restating thesis in new words.
Word-limit questions: exceeding the limit by more than about ten per cent invites penalty; count before submitting.
Letter register: formal letters avoid contractions and slang; informal letters permit them but still need a clear purpose in the opening line.
Notice word limit is typically 50 words, so drop articles and use phrases rather than full sentences where space is tight.
Grammar and vocabulary in context
Subject-verb agreement: ignore prepositional phrases between subject and verb - the head noun decides number.
Reported speech backshift: present becomes past, past becomes past perfect; time and place words shift (now→then, here→there, tomorrow→the next day).
Conditionals: type 1 if + present, will; type 2 if + past, would; type 3 if + past perfect, would have.
Passive voice requires a transitive verb; convert by promoting the object and using be + past participle.
Relative pronouns: who for people, which for things, that for defining clauses, whose for possession.
Preposition collocations are fixed: depend on, insist on, capable of, prefer to, married to, good at.
Determiners: 'a/an' for countable singulars, 'the' for shared or previously mentioned reference, zero article for general plurals.
Transformation items must preserve meaning: change the grammatical form only, and re-read both sentences to confirm the sense is unchanged.
Textual reference-to-context and short-answer questions across the syllabus
Reference-to-context answers have three parts: name the text and author, place the extract (who speaks, to whom, at what point), then explain significance.
Quote the extract's key word in your explanation to show the link between context and meaning.
Short answers of 2-3 marks need one point plus one piece of evidence; padding with plot retelling wastes time and earns nothing extra.
If the extract is verse, identify the speaker and addressee before discussing theme; misattributed speakers lose all context marks.
For 'significance of the extract', link it to a theme or turning point in the whole text, not just to the lines quoted.
Author names must be spelled correctly; a wrong author invalidates an otherwise accurate context answer.
When two texts treat a similar theme, a comparative short answer should name both authors and both positions in one sentence each.
Answer length should track marks: roughly one developed sentence per mark for short-answer items.
Prose – comprehension and critical analysis of prescribed prose texts
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Poetry – comprehension, appreciation and poetic devices in prescribed poems
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Supplementary reader / long fiction – theme, character and narrative technique
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Reading comprehension of unseen passages
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Writing skills – report, letter, notice, paragraph and essay
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Grammar and vocabulary in context
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Textual reference-to-context and short-answer questions across the syllabus
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