Exercise of the Week #9

Verbal reasoning today - another coded problem, this time using letters and numbers.

Last Week’s Answers

We are looking for descriptive devices, so include figurative language (similes and metaphors) and literal description (five senses). Pay attention to your language and try to use alliteration or assonance to add texture to your sentences. Try to be original: avoid cliched similes or lists of adjectives. Remember that one striking word is better than a heap of mediocre vocabulary.

The marking of descriptive work is subjective. It is not as straightforward as ‘They’ve used a simile, gain a mark.’ Instead, the examiner must use their discretion to assess a response’s originality and skill. Here is a putative mark scheme which makes use of ‘bands’ to group responses. Each band would then have a range of marks in such a way that the strongest responses achieve the higher end of a higher band. Note that the only way to achieve zero marks is by doing something spectacularly silly.

Here is an example response. Try to mark down some of the devices that have been used and consider which band you would place it in.

The soothing winter sun ran its silken fingers along the water’s edge. Gently, the stream gurgled secrets to those who stopped to listen: nowadays, mostly rabbits, cautiously exposing their button-noses from the bracken. In bygone times, the waterwheel would groan and clatter; now, it rests motionless, embracing the termites and rot. The symphony of forest sounds is silent now.