How to answer 'word choice' questions in the Nat 5 English exam!

In the National 5 English exam, you will find questions in both papers 1 and 2 that require you to be able to pick out key choices of words that the writer has made and explain why the writer has used these words.

2 Questions Types for Word Choice:

Sometimes it will be obvious that the question is asking you to pick out examples of word choice such as in the following example from the 2024 past paper:

Extract from 2024 – Paper 1 (RUAE)

“Look at lines 20 –31. By referring to two examples of word choice, explain how the writer’s criticism of public acts of kindness is made clear.”

Often though, the questions will not specifically ask you to pick our word choice examples. Instead, it will ask you to pick out examples of language (of which word choice can be one of those language features that you select). For example, you can see this in the following question from the 2024 past paper:

Extract from 2024 - Paper 2 (Critical Reading)

“Look at lines 1–5.

By referring to two examples of language, explain how the poet makes clear the speaker’s feelings for their mother.”

Answer Structure for Word Choice Questions

Regardless of whether your question asks specifically for a word choice example, or whether you are choosing a word choice example as part of your examples of language question, you fundamentally structure your answer to the question in the same way using the following formula:

F – Feature

Q – Quote

A – Analysis Statement

Example Answer

Here is an example of how you might answer a word choice question using the above example questions. You can gain access to the texts required for answering these questions at the following links (Paper 1 - N5_English_Reading-for-Understanding-Analysis-and-Evaluation_2024.pdf and Paper 2 - N5_English_Critical-Reading_2024.pdf)

Question:

“Look at lines 20 –31.

By referring to two examples of word choice, explain how the writer’s criticism of public acts of kindness is made clear.” – 4 marks

Example Answer:

F – Word Choice

Q – “unwitting recipients”

A – “Unwitting” means unsuspecting and unaware of the full facts. By using this word to describe the homeless recipients of money given by social media stars who film the encounters, this shows that the writer feels the recipients are not fully aware of what’s involved in them accepting the money, such as that their moment of vulnerability will be broadcast to many people online.

F – Word Choice

Q – “charitable boasters”

A – “Boasters” is a negative term that means people who brag and are motivated primarily by ego. By using this word to describe those filming their acts of kindness, this shows that the givers motivation seems to be focused on boosting their ego and being seen to do a good deed, rather than just doing the good deed.

Key points to note from the above answer:

·       It was a 4-mark question, so I needed to put at least two examples to get full marks.

·       I used the F, Q, A structure to write down each example.

·       My analysis statement for word choice answers is broken down into two main parts – what does it mean and what does it show?

The Breakdown of the Analysis Statement:

It’s really important with word choice questions to show that you know what the key word(s) mean and then what it shows if the writer is using that word in as part of their description.

For the 'what does it mean' part, ask yourself the question "What is the dictionary definition of this word?" and then write it down. Then, explain why the writer used that description to describe who/what they were describing.

It's also important to note that you will use the same F,Q,A structure whether the question specifically asks for word choice examples, or whether it just asks for examples of language (of which word choice is one feature you can choose).

If you have any questions on this though, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer them below or on social media! :)