Mark Scheme

In this lesson, you are going to mark your assignment answers.

Below you will find a full mark scheme. For any questions that you get wrong, make sure to copy out the full correct solutions neatly into your notebook.

STANDARD LEVEL

1. In the first paragraph why does the writer say he doesn’t ‘know how time works any more’?

The writer says that he doesn’t know how time works anymore because he hasn’t been getting a lot of sleep as his son has been keeping him up at night.

2. Re-read the fourth and fifth paragraphs, in your own words describe the son’s personality.

The son has a little bit of everyone’s personality in him but he is developing his own personality. He is full of energy – he likes to play and puts all his energy into his actions. He is just learning to talk and likes to shout at his family but they don’t understand what he is saying.

3. In the fourth paragraph, what do you think the father means when he says he feels ambushed?

When someone is ambushed, they are attacked by surprised. The father feels ambushed by all the changes his son if going through – they seem to come from nowhere. An ambush is an unwelcome and terrifying event so this tell us that the father doesn’t really like all these changes.

4. Re-read the fifth paragraph, find a simile and a metaphor and explain what each means.

Simile: The photos ‘seem like dispatches from a million years ago’. A dispatch is a type of letter. The simile is emphasising that his son is growing so fast as his photos look like they are of an unknown child taken a long time ago.

Metaphor: He is leaving ‘tiny parts’ of his father along the way. This creates emotive imagery that shows that the father feels as if the effort and emotion of raising his son is taking away part of him, parts he will never get back. This is emphasising the emotional impact of raising a child.

5. In the seventh paragraph, why does the father feel ‘sadness’? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

The father feels ‘sadness’ because his son is growing and is ‘never going to stop changing’. The father feels like he is losing his little boy and he will never get that time with him back. This makes him sad as he wants to keep the happy and funny moments of his childhood forever.

6. Do you think the father is right to feel sad? Make at least three points to build your argument.

In some ways, the father is right to be sad. It is difficult for parents to see their children grow up and change because they feel as if they are losing them. They know that they will never get that time with them back.

However, growing up is a part of life and the father should be proud to see his child grow up, it is a sign of the father’s achievements.

Also, as his son grows and his personality changes, the father will have the chance to discover new things about his son and get to know him as a teenager and adult. There are still many wonderful experiences that they can share together.

STRETCH LEVEL

1. In the third paragraph, the writer describes his son as a ‘sleepy ball of scrunched-up flesh’ – what language technique is this and what effect does it have on the reader?

This is a metaphor. This creates an imagine of an unrecognisable object, innocent and vulnerable. It emphasises how different and fragile his son was when he was first born compared to now when he runs around, screams and laughs.

2. In the third paragraph, how has the writer used similes to create powerful imagery for the reader?

When the writer says they ‘twang his lips like a ruler on a table’ this creates a funny image in the readers mind of the son perhaps sticking him lip out to be flicked. This tells us how playful the son was.

When the writer says that when his son spoke, it was ‘like he’s tiring to shove noise up a hill’, this creates an image of his son putting a lot of effort into getting the words out. The reader can image the son moving around the round with all his energy making noise, giving the reader an idea of the son’s energetic behaviour.

3. Re-read the last sentence of the sixth paragraph, what structure technique is used here and what effect does it have on the reader?

This is a long sentence that allows the writer to give the reader a lot of information about his son. This helps the reader to get a better sense of the son’s personality and what the father is scared of losing. This helps the reader to get emotionally invested and want to keep reading.

4. Re-read the final line. What structure technique is used here and what effect does it have?

The writer has used two short sentences. When he writes ‘But it’s ok’, the writer is emphasising that there is nothing he can do – he has to be ok with it. The shortness of the sentence make it seem a little like the father has given up and reluctantly accepted what is happening.

The short sentence ‘You can’t hoard time’ further emphasises that the father doesn’t like what is happening and if he could change it he would. Again, the shortness of the sentence creates a matter-of-fact tone that shows the father’s sadness.

5. Re-read the last three paragraphs, what is the effect of the writer’s use of varying paragraph lengths here?

By varying the paragraph length, the writer can transition between given the reader a lot of information about the change that are happening and the sadness he feels (lines 34-38), to focussing in on his finally decision to just accept things as they are (line 41). The shortness of the last paragraph gives the impression that there is nothing more to say as they is nothing that can be done to change things. The changing paragraph lengths also help to keep the reader engaged by letting them move from areas of a lot of information, to areas of less information, giving them time to process what they have read.