Read the following passage:

I saw him take out a sort of scalpel which had a long steel handle and a small pointed blade. He
crouched below the end of Ellis’s bed, holding the scalpel in his right hand.
“Give me a large towel, Matron, “ he said.
The Matron handed him a towel.
Still crouching low and hidden from little Ellis’s view by the end of the bed, the doctor unfolded
the towel and spread it over the palm of his left hand. In his right hand he held the scalpel.
Ellis was frightened and suspicious. He started raising himself up on his elbows to get a better
look. “Lie down, Ellis, “ the doctor said, and even as he spoke, he bounced up from the end of the bed
like a jack-in-the-box and flung the outspread towel straight into Ellis’s face. Almost in the same second,
he thrust his right arm forward and plunged the point of the scalpel deep into the centre of the enormous
boil. He gave the blade a quick twist and then withdrew it again before the wretched boy had had time
to disentangle his head from the towel.
Ellis screamed. He never saw the scalpel going in and he never saw it coming out, but he felt it
all right and he screamed like a stuck pig. I can see him now struggling to get the towel off his head, and
when he emerged the tears were streaming down his cheeks and his huge brown eyes were staring at the
doctor with a look of utter and total outrage.
“Don’t make such a fuss about nothing, “ the Matron said.
“Put a dressing on it, Matron, “ the doctor said, “with plenty of mag sulph paste.” And he
marched out of the room.

Now answer the following questions:

1. What is Roald Dahl’s purpose in this passage? (AF6)

2. How does the author use narration to show his attitude? (AF6)

3. Write down an example of an effective verb. (AF2)

4. What does it suggest to the reader? (AF5)

5. Write down an example of a simile. (AF2)

6. What does this suggest to the reader? (AF5)

7. How is the structure of the line ‘The Matron handed him a towel.’ effective? (AF4)
 8. How does Ellis feel about what has happened to him and how do you know this? (AF3)

9. How does the author feel about what has happened to Ellis and how do you know this? (AF3)

10. How does the author make us feel sympathy for Ellis in the last paragraph ?(AF5)

Mark scheme

1. To entertain (1 mark, if further explanation, 2 marks)

2. Use of first person narrator - ‘I’ helps view of impartiality, ‘he’ makes us feel sympathy for Ellis
(up to 3 marks)
3. crouched, bounced, flung etc (1 mark)
4. – sudden movements, animal, violence etc (up to 3 marks for detailed explanation)
5. like a jack-in-the-box; like a stuck pig (1 mark)
6. sudden/ out-of-control; helpless, panicking (up to 2 marks)
7. One paragraph – stands out for effect/ builds tension etc (1 mark for mention of paragraph, 1 for
valid explanation as to effect)
8. Outraged etc with appropriate quote and explanation (3 marks for PEE)
9. He feels sorry for him (1 mark). 1 mark for appropriate quote. 1 mark for detailed explanation.
10. 1 mark for appropriate quotation (could be vocab , could be sentence structure) . 1 mark for
effect of quote.

Level 7 21 – 23
Level 6 17 – 20
Level 5 11 – 16
Level 4 5 – 10
Level 3 0- 4