English Language

IGCSE/O-level
Ms. Saleha Noor
Qualifications/Experience

• Secured an A in English Language –O’level

• MBA graduate from Lahore School of economics
• Started my career as an Educator at Aitchison College, Lahore in 2013
• Joined Beaconhouse Newlands, Lahore in 2017-2019
• Taught English Language(IGCSE/Olevel) & then proceeded to teach Business
studies & Economics
• Teaching as a visiting faculty at Beaconhouse Potohar Campus, Islamabad 2019-
to date
• Last Batch GPA 4.6 (Business studies) 4.1 (Economics)
• 6/8 A*’s (Business studies) 5/8 A/A*’s (Economics)
English Language

• O-level: English Language 1123

• IGCSE: English Language 0500

Differences between paper patterns
IGCSE- 0500
English Language- O-level- 1123
Paper 1 (Writing)
(Section 1)
• 1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks – external assessment,
• 50 per cent of qualification
• This paper has two sections and candidates answer in
a separate answer booklet.
• Section 1: Directed Writing (30 marks) • Candidates
are presented with one task, e.g. write a letter,
speech, report, article, which is fit for purpose and
relevant to the world of study, work or the
community.
• Candidates should write 200–300 words to inform or
persuade a particular audience. • A total of 15 marks
are allocated for task fulfilment and 15 marks for
language.
(Section 2)
• Composition (30 marks)
• This is an essay, testing language and
content combined.
• Candidates answer one question from a
choice of five essay titles
• Candidates will be presented with 1
descriptive, 2 argumentative and 2
narrative essay titles from which to choose.
• Candidates are advised to write a response
of between 350 and 500 words.
Sample question
A- Grade (Sample Candidate response)
 Examiner comment – grade A

• This is a very good response because it is admirably business-like in its approach and does not make the mistake
of lapsing into narrative.
• The task fulfilment is very strong. There is a clear sense of the purpose, audience and situation given in the
address and the opening paragraph. The purpose is re-emphasized in the opening of the final paragraph which
brings a sense of unity to the text. The format is good, without being perfect – “Cordially” is just formal enough
to confirm the seriousness of the letter, whereas ‘Yours faithfully’ would have been better. There is an effort
made to provide an opinion with justification in the penultimate paragraph. The tone and register are excellent
as the letter is crisp, matter-of-fact and polite; it has a number of appropriate phrases such as “On the day in
question”. Most importantly, the detail in response to the bullet points in the question, especially in the second
paragraph, is convincing and helpful to the police. There is a real attempt to suggest how the police might
catch the thieves, something that many candidates left out or simply allowed to be a hope. There is also a
sensible use of elaboration in providing a contact number.

• The language of the letter is very good indeed because it is not over elaborate; a letter like this needs to be
direct. The accuracy is excellent and the sentence structure is complex in places, without being fussy. The verb
forms and tenses are absolutely secure while the vocabulary is mature (“perpetrators”; “inventory”) and the
spelling is accurate. Paragraphing and punctuation (even a semi-colon) are also of a high standard, although
some lapses with commas and the repetition of “I” as a paragraph opening prevent this from being full marks
C- Grade (Sample Candidate response)
Continued…
Sample Question
 Examiner Comment- C Grade
• This is a very satisfactory response (just above middle of the range) because it is mostly accurate but it is a ‘safe’ response; it relies
on basic correctness rather than any great sophistication and this is often the hallmark of a high Band 3 script or low Band 2 script.
• The task fulfilment is perfectly adequate and lifts the overall achievement. A sense of the purpose, audience and situation emerges,
although the expression “express my situation” is a little vague. The purpose is re-emphasised in the opening of the final paragraph,
although again it could be more forceful. The format is good; it is a formal letter with the correct valediction. There is a hint that
the format is of a report (the sub-heading and the paragraph headings) but this is acceptable in this case. Unfortunately, it lapses
into narrative on occasions as in the detail about rushing into the house to make an inventory and this detracts from the crispness of
the letter. There is an effort made to provide an opinion with justification in the penultimate paragraph in the detail about the
“digital prints”. The tone and register are very good as the letter is polite, especially with the thanks at the end, and it has one or
two appropriate phrases such as “some blood residue”. The detail in response to the bullet points in the question is convincing but
needs to be more helpful to the police. For example, “last night” is too vague when it would have been easy enough to suggest a
time, although this is put right a few lines later. The greatest weakness is in the lack of helpful detail about the stolen items; it is
merely a list and “a hefty value” is particularly vague. The final bullet point is addressed well.
• The language of the letter is ‘clean’ but straightforward. It has good accuracy and clarity in explaining the situation and there are
some good phrases such as “To my dismay” but there are few vocabulary ticks for real merit. The sentence structure has some
complexity. The verb forms and tenses are secure although there is a lapse with “I will” in the fi nal paragraph. Spelling is mainly
correct but more difficult vocabulary (“profesional” and “occurred”) proves to be a problem. Paragraphing is good and, crucially in
this band, punctuation is sensible, with secure sentence endings. The script is an example of an upper Band 3 (bordering on a grade
B) rather than lower Band 3
Planning

• Brain storm
• Mind Map
• Sequence of events
• Task and Language
• Tenses, spelling, vocabulary
• Relevance
• Paragraphing
• Recheck ALL instructions
Paper 2- Reading
Choice

• Plan in advance, according to your skill level

• Descriptive, Narrative and Argumentative
• Correct interpretation of topic chosen
• Practice and Evaluate
• Importance of following instructions (tone, tense, word limit)
• Sentence structure
Flow of writing
8 most common parts of speech

 Noun: a naming word. It names a person, place, thing, idea, living creature, quality, or action. E.g. cowboy,
theatre, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival 
 Verb: describes an action (doing something) or a state (being something). E.g. walk, talk, think, believe, live,
like, want
 Adjective: describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun. Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing,
beautiful, quick, important
 Adverb: usually describes a verb. It tells you how something is done. It may also tell you when or where
something happened. E.g. slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here, everywhere
 Pronoun: used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun. E.g. I, you, he, she, it, we, they
 Preposition: usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the
sentence. E.g. on, in, by, with, under, through, at
 Conjunction: joins two words, phrases or sentences together. E.g. but, so, and, because, or
 Interjection: an unusual kind of word, because it often stands alone. Interjections are words which express
emotion or surprise, and they are usually followed by exclamation marks. E.g. Ouch!, Hello!, Hooray!, Oh no!,
Ha!
Sentence structure

• A sentence that contains just one statement is called a simple sentence.

• Some sentences, however, consist of two main ideas, joined by a conjunction
(a word such as ‘and’ that links together two parts of a sentence). For
example, ‘You turn left at the crossroads and then carry on for another 100
metres.’ This type of sentence is known as a compound sentence.
• Some sentences contain a mixture of main and subordinate clauses (a clause,
beginning with a conjunction plus a subject, or a relative pronoun that is
dependent on a main clause for its meaning to be clear). For example, ‘You
carry on down for another 100 metres when you will find a signpost directing
you to the bus station which is in Garden Square facing the post office.’ This is
known as a complex sentence.
Complex sentences practice

• Turn each of the following groups of simple sentences into one complex sentence using
any method you think suitable.
• a Sarah was feeling bored. She had been on holiday for three days. It had been raining all
week. She decided that she must get out of the house.
• b Sarah picked up the telephone. She dialled the number of her friend, Jane. Jane
answered in a sleepy and tired voice.
• c Jane was pleased when she heard Sarah’s voice. She had been very depressed by the
bad weather. Now there might be a chance to do something interesting.
• d Sarah suggested that they went into town. Her older brother was at home. She would
ask him if he would drive them in his car. They would call for Jane in 30 minutes.
• e Jane put down the telephone. She was very pleased with Sarah’s suggestion. She ran
into her bedroom. She needed to get ready
Punctuation .?!,:;
• SEMICOLONS AND COLONS
Commas, semicolons, and colons help improve sentence structure
and create complex sentences.
These sentences can help you more fully elaborate on an idea.
These punctuation marks, however, can be difficult to tell apart.
Comma

• While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller

break. Some writers think of a comma as a soft pause—a
punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a
sentence.
• It was sadly the last day of camp.
• It was, sadly, the last day of camp.
Colons
Used to introduce or define something. Colons are also your only grammatical option when
combining a complete sentence with a noun or a list. This is because the two parts would
be unequal
Semicolon

• A general rule of thumb is to use a semicolon when you wish two

sentences could be one, but can’t
• Joan likes eggs; Jennifer does not.

• The cat slept through the storm; the dog cowered under the
bed.

•  I have a big test tomorrow; I can't go out tonight.

Figures of speech

• Simile (comparison made between two objects of different kinds which

have however at least one point in common):
As bold as brass, as tough as leather, as good as gold, as cool as a
cucumber
• Metaphor (implied simile- does not state that one thing is like another &
proceeds as if two things were one):
Life is a dream, he was a lion in the fight
• Personification (inanimate objects & abstract notions are spoken of as
having life & intelligence):
Death lays his icy hand on kings
• Hyperbole (statement is made emphatic by overstatement):
I slept like a rock last night, these high heels are killing me, be careful, it's a
jungle out there.
• Euphemism (is an appropriate expression used in the place of a phrase or words
that may be found inappropriate or offensive):
“Passed away” instead of “died”, “Let go” instead of “fired”
• Oxymoron (a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in
conjunction) (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).
• Pun (a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that
there are words which sound alike but have different meanings)
the Railway Society reception was an informal party of people of all stations
(excuse the pun) in life