Section A - Reading

Question 2:
Presentational Features
Approaching and
answering Question 2

Question 2: Presentational
Features
8 marks
15 minutes, including active reading time
You need to briskly analyse the language of
presentational features such as headlines,
sub-headlines or captions
You need to briskly analyse the image
You need to explain how presentational
features are effective, and how they link to
the text itself

Match the headline to the

picture!
1. Government bans
calculators from
primary maths tests
2. NHS Direct to close
most call centres,
cutting hundreds of
jobs, says union
3. Britain to stop aid to
India
4. Most UK ash trees
will be diseased
within 10 years,
ministers told
5. Top five regrets of
the dying
6. Anger over harsh

Match the headline to

the picture!
1. Cost of university
accommodation
doubles in 10 years
2. Is the Six-MillionDollar Man possible?
3. The consequences of
having a foreign
name
4. The women living in
Chernobyl's toxic
wasteland
5. Coffee threatened
by climate change
6. Don't like the licence
fee? Simple. Don't
pay it

Headlines with
puns

Burning questions on tunnel safety unanswered

(About

the possibility of fires in the Channel tunnel)

Science friction (About an argument between scientists and the British
government on the topic of BSE or mad cow disease)
Between a Bok and a hard place (About the remote chances of
the Welsh rugby team beating the South African team)
Waugh cry as Aussies blast off (Waugh is an Australian cricket
player)
Return to gender (About a reoccurrence of sexual harassment in
London post offices)
A shot in the dark (About the murder of a Russian politician)
Dutch take courage and prepare for the Euro (About the
introduction of the Euro into the Netherlands)
Silent blight (On the incidence of sore throats among teachers)
No flies on this heart-stopper (A review of the play of The Lord of
the Flies)
Why the Clyde offer is not so bonny (About a take-over offer
by a Scottish engineering company)

Resurgent Welsh dragon too fired up to lose its puff

(About a game of rugby involving the Welsh team)

On a whinge and a often
prayercontain
(On thean
resignation
of a known
ministerphrase
of the /
idiom (well
British government)
saying) or a cultural reference. Which of these

Headlines with other

devices

Merseyside derby: It's the hope that kills

you
Starbucks wakes up and smells the stench
of tax avoidance controversy
Bargain Hunter: Pretty planters and
rattan rocking chairs
Up, up and away in Bristol's beautiful
balloons
The Philippines: The world's budget
English teacher
Metropolitan Police declare war on antisocial behaviour
We've been on the back foot with the EU
Which use alliteration? The rule of three?
ever since we joined
Repetition? Personification? Clich?
The end of a dream Exaggeration?
for Camelot?
Rhetorical questions?

What can we always say about headlines

(before weve even read the article)?
Government bans
Most UK ash trees will be
calculators from
diseased within 10 years,
primary maths
ministers told
tests
NHS Direct to close most call centres,
Don't like the licence fee?
cutting hundreds of jobs, says union
Simple. Don't pay it

Britain to stop
aid to India
1
.
2
.
3
.

Anger over harsh GCSE

English grades

What can we always say

about pictures?

1
.
2
.
3
.

Analysing the effectiveness of

presentational features

Powerful words such as war, huge

and ruining emphasise / exaggerateStatistic
puts story
the seriousness of the issue
into
perspective
Waste crime: Britain's war on illegal
and, again,
emphasise
dumping
s
There are more than 1,000 illegal waste sites in
seriousnes
Britain, causing huge pollution and ruining
s
Rhetorical

Pun /
play on
words.
Hate
crime is
a serious
crime
based on
people's lives. Are the
prejudice
.
about the problem?
Referring
/ alluding
to this
makes
waste
dumping
seem
The image
more
serious. depicts illegal
dumping; this
Colon
picture is
adds
impact unpleasant and
to what messy and,
comes again, gives the
after it reader a clearer
picture of the
Link to issue
article at The Guar

authorities doing enough

question leads
into the article;
it makes the
reader curious
Image is
bright,
colourful and
vivid, giving
a clear
illustration of
the issue

Analysing the effectiveness of presentational

features. Your turn

The Philippines: The world's budget

English teacher

Elizaveta is a Russian student taking courses

taught in English in the Philippines - she says
fees are a quarter of courses in Australia or
Canada

Link to article on BBC On

Analysing the effectiveness of presentational

features. Your turn

Starbucks wakes up and smells the

stench of tax avoidance controversy
Cafe chain executive to face questions from MPs, while protesters
plan to turn branches into creches and refuges

Police protect a Starbucks branch during an anticuts march last month after the company's low
tax bill was revealed

Link to article at The Guard

1
.

Highlight the key words in the question. This

question asks you to do to two things, and is
always very similar:
It asks you to analyse the presentational
features, noticing how they are effective.
It asks you to link the presentational features
to the content of the text.

Explain how the headline and picture

are effective, and how they link to the
text.
Explain how the headline, subheadline and picture are effective, and
how they link to the text.
Explain how the headline, picture and
caption are effective, and how they
link to the text.

2
.

Text 17: Explain how the headline

and picture are effective, and how
they link to the text.

Actively read the text:

First, look at /
read the things youve been asked to analyse (in this
case, the headline and picture).

highlighting the
short quotes that most strongly
link to the presentational features.

Next, go through the text,

Then, knowing whats in the article, go back to the

highlight /

IN
annotate them in terms of their effectiveness.
GROUPS
presentational features and

3
.

Writing up ideas
Now youre ready to write up
your ideas, you need a clear introductory
sentence introducing your response (see next slide
for a reminder).
You then need to

talk about each

feature

in turn. Youll need to say more than

one thing about each feature (making about 4-5
points about presentational features overall).

Pepper your points

IN
GROUPS

with short quotes,

linking the presentational features to the text with
perceptive comments.

3
.

Purpose and
Audience
Remember! Keep it simple!
Text 2 aims to inform Guardian readers about the
serious tax avoidance allegations made against the
coffee shop chain Starbucks.
Text 2 explains to BBC Online News readers that
growing numbers of people are visiting The
Philippines to learn English at a cut-price rate.
This article makes readers of The Guardian aware of
the widespread problem of illegal waste sites in
Britain. Its headline, sub-headline and image help
convey how serious this issue is.

Why are these good openings?

WHAT TO
WRITE

3
.

Connective

Firstly
Secondly
Thirdly
As well as
this
Furtherm
ore
Moreover
Finally
Lastly
Likewise
Similarly

The headline /
image etc
Amuses
Attracts
Connote
s
Delights
Describe
s
Depicts
Emphasi
ses
Fascinat
es
Highligh
ts
Informs
Interest
s

Refers to
Reflects
Reveals
Signifies
Suggests
Summari
ses
Shocks
Shows
Tells

How they
link to the
text

The
reader
(or we)

Alludes to Is made
Demonstr
aware
ates
Is
Echoes
informed
Illustrates
Is told
Links
Portrays
Learns
Reinforces Discover
Reiterates
s
Reflects
Realises

USEFUL WORDS &

PHRASES

Text 20: Explain how the

headline and pictures are
effective, and how they
link to the text.

IN PAIRS

Question 2: Presentational Devices Sample

Mark Scheme

Text 12: Explain how the

headline, sub-headline (or
lead) and picture are
effective, and how they
link to the text.

ON YOUR
OWN