The following words were found on a Department for Education website some time ago and are a clue as to some of the mistakes that are made in GCSE coursework and Controlled Assessments, but also happen in the exam. Here, they are spelt correctly for you to learn.

apologise

according

again

always

almost

ache

accommodation

although

ancient

against

body

beautiful

beginning

business

build

believe

certain

chemist

complete

caught

cough

conscious

conscience

category

distance

disguise

difference

describe

decided

double

divide

early

especially

exercise

enough

excite

example

experience

embarrass

famous

finish

familiar

guest

guarantee

guilty

government

halve

happened

information

interest

imagine

immediately

independent

instead

juice

knowledge

language

listen

league

maintenance

month

mountain

machine

measure

meant

necessary

neither

ocean

once

occasion

original

opposite

phrase

pressure

paragraph

period

purpose

possible

parliament

quite

quiet

queue

receive

region

remember

receipt

soldier

sugar

sure

sergeant

says

several

separate

similar

sincerely

sentence

thousands

therefore

temperature

thorough

tomorrow

theatre

unfortunately

until

usually

variety

various

vary

vehicle

village

vacuum

written

whose

Rhyme 

Where words sound alike at the end of lines of poetry, or sometimes, in the middle of a line of poetry.

 Eg. “word” and “heard”

Rhythm

Where there is a rhythm to either a song, or a poem, or a piece of prose writing. This determines the pace of reading a text.

Eg. A slow, determined pace in poems

Simile

A way of comparing two things by using the words “like a” or “as a” in comparison of one element to another.

Eg. “He took to the work like a duck to water.”

Metaphor

A figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object.

Eg. ”The traffic is murder today!”

Alliteration

The use of letter sounds at the beginning of words, usually but not always in poetry, to emphasise the sounds of something.

Eg. “Woman much missed, how you call to me…”

Thomas Hardy – The Voice

We will come to them later in the year as we look at the poetry, but be prepared to begin using some of these in your writing; your sentences will come to life if you can figure out how to use them.

Have a go at this one please…… you have to find 5 rules for direct speech from what is below. 

‘Hi, Lennie,’ said George. ‘How do you like the pup now?’

Lennie replied breathlessly, ‘He’s white and brown just like I wanted.’

He went directly to his bunk and lay down and turned his face to the wall and drew up his knees.

George put down his cards very deliberately.

‘Lennie!’ George said sharply.

‘Huh? What you want, George ?’

‘I told you not to bring that pup in here.’  

In the GCSE exam you will have 20 minutes to complete a task. That means, to plan it and to write it.

Here is an example that I completed as my students completed theirs in class. It took me 20 minutes and hopefully, gives you a clue as to what you could do….or even do better than this mere teacher. I did not put my name to it as such, so changed the name in the title.

All About David

20 minutes of writing [331 words]

NB. No planning! Eek!

I am what some folk would call unconventional in that I do not necessarily do things the way other people expect me to.

I hail from Doncaster you see, where men are men; real and absolute, different in every conceivable fashion. I was born there and raised there by a dominant father and a subservient mother and it has caused me to be the person that I am now, along with all my learnt behaviour in the meantime.

I like to describe myself as an optimist, but in truth, there is so much of me that is pessimistic; my glass is more or less half empty for most of the time. I love to meet new people. I love their sense of individuality and freedom, but I also get extremely nervous when meeting someone new for the first time. You would think that a grown man of my ability and size would not worry too much about what people would think, but I do worry immensely. This fear of rejection, or failure, is a major part of my life.

In truth, this is one of the things that define me. It shapes my thinking. It colours my attitude and at times, colours my language when someone decides to throw insult and ingratitude before my path. I suppose you could say, and it has been said of me by my wife and others, that I do not suffer fools gladly. When insulted or offended, my classic defence mechanism is usually a verbal tirade of classic four letter words, especially when behind the wheel of my car!

But the true David, the one I believe in, the one I want to aspire to, is the one that stands up on a Sunday and leads worship in church. Then, I can be kind, caring and considerate of others. My aim in the future is therefore for that David to be more prevalent in my life. With God’s help, I will get there, I hope!