AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 3: The Language Question Returns

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Guys, welcome to another video. You've got Mr. Everything English. And today we are looking at paper two, question number three. It is a blast from the past. It is paper one, question two with slight differences, with slight changes, but a lot of it is the same. In this video, guys, I'm going to give you everything you need. We're going to go over the question, how to approach it, how to plan it, how to answer it, everything you need to make sure you can get as close as possible to 12 out of 12. Now guys, before we switch over to the board, should you ever require classes for English, maths, or science, do head over to everything education.co.uk and sign up for whatever you need. Our new academic year begins in a couple of weeks. And finally, guys, do check out the app at everythingucationapp.co.uk.

[00:00:48]UK. All right guys, let's switch over to everything education.

[00:00:53]Tuition for maths, English and science.

[00:00:57]>> So when we are looking at question number three, this question is worth 12 marks. And for this question, we are looking to write anywhere between two to three paragraphs. But hold tight, guys.

[00:01:09]I'm going to explain exactly how we do those paragraphs in a second. Really, we're aiming for two and a half, but I'll explain how in a second. And time wise guys, we're given 13 minutes. Now, when it comes to this question guys, they're going to give you a part of the source. So here guys, it's saying look at source A from lines 27 to 40. And then they're going to give you a question. They're going to say, how does the writer use language to describe the cultics cult? So here guys, I'm looking at how does the writer use language. Now we should hopefully be aware of this guys but when they say language they always mean two things. What do they mean guys? They mean language devices and they mean words and phrases. There are many many language devices out there that you can use but let's go over these 10 for your exams. Similarly guys is when you compare two nouns using like or as. For example this pen is like my wand. A metaphor is when you compare two nouns without like or as. For example, this pen is my wand. Number three, guys, siblance. Siblance is when you repeat the S letter or the S sound over and over. For example, the snake slowly and silently slithered through the sand. SS.

[00:02:27]Number four, guys, personification.

[00:02:29]Sonification, guys, is when a non-human is given a human feature. This pen is laying on my hand. Number five guys, rule of three, power of three, triplets, it's all the same thing. Thunder, lightning, rain, ready, steady, go.

[00:02:42]These are all examples of rule of three.

[00:02:45]Next one guys, just position.

[00:02:48]Juiposition guys is taught typically as two opposing ideas. But sometimes as a year 11, that can be very difficult to understand. The way I want you guys to understand just position is understand it as when something is strange. when something is not normal. So when something is strange, when something is not normal, call it juxtaposition. For example, in McBth, McBth killed Duncan, but he was supposed to be protecting Duncan. So that is justosition because it's not normal for someone to kill the king when they're supposed to be protecting the king. It's not normal for the witches to have so much power in a patriarchal world. So guys, josition is is when things that are happening are not completely normal. Then we have pathetic fallacy. Pathetic fallacy is when the weather reflects the mood. When it's raining, everyone's sad. Where it's sunshine, everyone is happy. On a machair, guys, a sound bang, boom, crash. Hyperbole is when things are over the top. This pen is the best pen in the world. That is hyperbole. And finally, guys, oxymoron. This is when you have two opposite words side by side. The slow cheater, the fat footballer, the silly teacher. These are all opposites.

[00:04:01]These are two words side by side. So in this question it says how does the writer use language meaning how does the writer use all of this to do something but at the same time we are also looking to pick on this side words and phrases a noun a noun is the name of something yes there's many many different types of nouns but for the sake of your exam all I need you to know is that a noun is the name of something this pen is a noun jumper is a noun my name is a noun Now a word that describes a noun is called an adjective. The pen is white. White is the adjective. Pen is the noun. Number four. Number three guys is verb. A verb is an action. A verb is a doing word.

[00:04:46]Right now I am talking. Now number four an adverb. An adverb describes the verb.

[00:04:51]I am talking slowly. I am talking fast.

[00:04:54]Words that describe the action are known as adverbs. So in your exam, we have to pick out language devices and words and phrases in whatever lines they've given us and then we explain the effect. Now before we go over the paragraph structure, let's look at very clearly what you are marked when it comes to this question.

[00:05:17]You are marked upon three things. So if you want to get top band 10 to 12 out of 12, you are marked upon three things.

[00:05:26]Now what are the three things you're marked upon? You're marked upon your textual detail. You're marked upon your subject terminology and you're marked upon your effect. Now, for those of you who've done paper one, which is all of you guys, this is the exact same mark scheme as paper one question two. Exact same mark scheme. So, for this exam, you are marked upon three things. You are marked upon your reference, meaning you are marked upon your quote. Now after you give your quote, you find a technique and that is what they mean by subject terminology. Subject terminology is looking at words that can only be found in English. Simile, metaphor, verb, adjective. You're not going to use these words in Spanish. You're not going to use these words in geography or history unless you want to fail. These are Englishspecific words. So we've got reference, we've got technique and after we give a technique, we always explain the effect. So we are marked upon three things guys. You are marked upon your quote, you are marked upon your technique and you are marked upon your effect. And then guys they tell us very clearly that our writing has to be detailed and our writing has to be perceptive. Now what do these two words mean? I've covered it in the past but let's go over it very quickly. detailed is that you must write a lot.

[00:06:50]Perspective guys looks at the quality of what you are writing. So the example is saying to us that when you are doing your work, make sure you write a lot but don't write a lot of waffle. Don't be that year 11 who say sir I wrote three pages but I'm still getting one out of eight or one out of 12. Sir I wrote 12 pages. Guys, yes, the exam would say that you got to write a lot, but the exam would also say make sure what you write is of a good quality. Now, because of that, we extend the paragraph. What do I mean by that? Because of that, guys, we always make sure we zoom in.

[00:07:28]Now, when we zoom in, guys, we go back and refer to the text again and we pick out another core. Now, you guys have used pretzel before. Nothing new. I'm just showing you guys how pretzel links to the exam board mark scheme and after we zoomed in. So for example here the writer has used a verb we then explain the effect and that is always coming from the top over here. So if you look at this guys reference technique effect zoom effect if you follow this structure so far you are hitting the mark scheme twice. You're doing effect there and there. You've got textual detail meaning quotations there and there. And you got technique there and there. Now you guys know the paragraph structure that we do is pretzel. So we add point at the top and link at the bottom. So we do point and link. Now, as we can see guys, when it comes to this paragraph, you are not marked upon your point. You are marked upon your quote. You are marked upon your technique. You are marked upon your effect. You are marked upon your zoom double marks because when you zoom, you're doing quotation and technique.

[00:08:47]You are marked upon your effect. And you are not marked upon your link. This is pretzel for English language.

[00:08:56]This is pretzel, guys, for English language. We still do pretzel, but I can't stand here and lie to you and say to you that you are marked upon your point and you are marked upon your link because you're not. Now, every paragraph, Pretzel, PL, Peter, they all start with a P. They all start with a point. Now, why do I keep the point in there? If it's not getting me marks, why don't I just completely remove the point, guys? The reason we keep the point in there is because the point does two does two things. It helps you and it helps the examiner. Firstly, how does it help you? It gives your paragraph focus. It gives your paragraph direction. In source A, the writer describes the cold tips as being dangerous. That's your point. Now you know that the entire paragraph is all about danger. It gives you focus and the examiner now knows what it is you're trying to talk about in the paragraph. Now, two things.

[00:10:00]Number one, when we do a point in English language, we don't do it the way we did it for English literature. In English literature, your point came under A1 and it was worth a lot of marks. In English language, your point is worth absolutely nothing. Absolutely zero. So that being said, we do simple basic points. In source A, the writer presents the cold tip as dangerous.

[00:10:27]Done. It does the job. But if you're stressing, if your butt cheeks are clenching, if you're worried and you can't think of a point, leave it. Start with the quote. In source A, the writer describes the cold tips as and give you a quotation. There are model answers up on the exam board's website that have no point.

[00:10:51]So, I can't stand here and say to you, you have to do a point because you don't. A point is good to do because it gives you focus, but if if it's going to cause you stress, leave it. Chop it off.

[00:11:03]Now, we are following the pretzel paragraph structure. Now, why do we keep the link at the end of the paragraph?

[00:11:10]The link, guys, is simply your waffle check. Your link is there to make sure that you haven't gone off task, that you haven't started saying things that are incorrect. So at the end, you link everything back to your point.

[00:11:24]Therefore, as you can see, the code tips are very, very dangerous. So we link it all the way back to the point. Now, when it comes to this question, guys, try your best to do the following. Try your best guys to find your first technique from this list over here. So in your quotation, try to find one of these devices. And when you zoom in, guys, simply zoom in to a word from your quote. Zoom into a noun, zoom into an adjective, zoom into a verb, and so on.

[00:11:59]But this is why guys, pretzel works so well for this question. So this question guys looks at a certain amount of lines and it's asking you to look at how does the writer use language and language means language devices and words and phrases and the structure that we're going to use with pretzel because pretzel ticks off the entire mark scheme. Now at the beginning guys I said to you guys that we're doing maybe two and a half paragraphs. Why? Why? What do I mean by that guys? In English language paper one question two it is an eight mark question and you are given 10 minutes. So in 10 minutes we do two pretzel paragraphs. In this question you have 13 minutes. So this is what we are aiming for. So we're going to aim for three paragraphs. Paragraph one will be our normal pretzel that we've done many many times before. Paragraph two will also be pretzel that we've done many many times before. Paragraph number two though we are aiming for P R T. No zooming in. Paragraph one. We are spending 5 minutes on this paragraph as we did in paper one, question two.

[00:13:19]Paragraph number three, we are spending 5 minutes on this paragraph as we have previously. Paragraph number two, we are spending 3 minutes and that is how we are making up our 13 minutes. I see the crazy Tik Toks, right? Saying I spoke to an examiner. I spoke to an examiner.

[00:13:38]Guys, you probably spoke to your friend in the chicken and chip shop.

[00:13:41]How many examiners do you find guys?

[00:13:44]Examiners are normal people. So when examiners mark your work, I used to be an examiner. When examiners mark your work, they put emphasis on the beginning and the end. So we want to put our shorter paragraph in the middle.

[00:13:59]Disguise it. Cover it. So we want them to start with a good impression and we want them to end with a good impression.

[00:14:06]That doesn't mean the paragraph in the middle is poop. All it means is that the shorter paragraph we disguise it around two detailed paragraph. So pretzel pretty pretzel 5 35 and that is how we spend our 30 minutes of this exam. And I'm going to say it again. If you can do zel that's fine go for three pretzels but I would question how you're doing that in the time conditions. I would question the detail. So guys, try to follow this structure because it works perfectly. Now over here guys, you will find a model answer that was published by the exam board. Here's the mark scheme. Here's the answer. Now again, as the years go on, I'm convinced that these are people that watch my videos.

[00:14:53]This student, guys, he literally followed pretzel to a tea. He's got pretzel pretzel.

[00:14:59]Paragraph one, he speaks about adjective. Paragraph two, he just speaks about the adjective. Paragraph three, he's got a verb and adverb. Two techniques, one technique, two techniques. I believe his answer got 11 out of 12 or 12 out of 12. This structure, guys, it works perfectly.

[00:15:17]There is no need to to reinvent the wheel because it works perfectly every single time. Now, in your exam, how would I approach this question?

[00:15:27]So you read it and it says look at the source A from lines 27 to 40. So I would go to whatever lines it's talking about and I would put a box around these lines. So we're looking at lines 27 to line 40. These are then the lines that we are working with. Now what are we doing with lines 27 to line 40? It says how does the writer use language?

[00:15:56]meaning language devices, words, and phrases to describe the cold tips. The first thing I'm going to do is begin hunting for my quotes. Now, don't underestimate, guys, how important it is to get your quotes right. I've said this before, I'll say it again. So many year 11s complain, "Sir, I can't do the effect. Sir, I struggle with the effect.

[00:16:20]Sir, how do you explain the effect?"

[00:16:22]Guys, the issue normally doesn't lie in the effect.

[00:16:27]The issue normally is not in the effect.

[00:16:29]The issue normally is you've picked a rubbish quote. And because you've picked a rubbish quote, you don't know what to do with it. And because you picked a rubbish quote, your technique is rubbish. And therefore, you're going to struggle with the effect. Guys, you want to make sure that every part of the mark scheme is done correctly. So, the first part is getting your quote right. How do you know you've got a good quote? Does it have a technique? And can you talk about it? Not me, not your neighbor, not your friend. Don't copy them. They might do it perfectly, but can you, the student, in the exam, talk about whatever it is you picked? Because don't be that kid who picks out a quote. Sir, I got a quote, but I don't know what to do with it. Guys, that is suicide in the exam. Okay. The first thing I would do is I would find my three quotes. making sure they have a technique and making sure that I can talk about them. So guys, the three quotes that I think are good to use is it describes the tips as a killer with a rotten heart.

[00:17:34]It describes them as a moving a mountain of moving muck. I have instantly smothered more than a hundred of them. So these are the three quotes that I want to use when it comes to talking about how the code tips are described. Now by now hopefully unless you've been sleeping you know guys that the structure that we will be following for this question is what? P R T E Z E and L. Now we've got our three chords.

[00:18:12]So our referencing is done. We've got our three chords. Now, we got to figure out what are our points. What do you want to say about these three quotes?

[00:18:20]How do these three quotes present the cold tips? Now, remember, we're not marked upon our point, but our point gives us focus and gives us guidance.

[00:18:29]Okay, a killer with a rotten heart.

[00:18:32]Okay, here guys, I'm going to say how the cold tips have evil intentions.

[00:18:38]They're up to no good. A mountain of moving muk. Here guys, I'm going to say the cold tips are presented as ugly. And the last one, instantly smothered more than 100 of them. I'm going to say the cold tips are presented as dangerous.

[00:18:56]Okay, a killer with a rotten heart.

[00:18:57]Guys, you should know by now the technique that we're going to go for.

[00:19:01]This here is lovely personification.

[00:19:06]This technique here, guys, is lovely personification. And I think it's worth talking about the symbolism of the heart.

[00:19:16]It's as though the danger runs super super deep inside these quotes. Okay. A mountain of moving muk. That's our quote for our technique guys. I'm going to talk about the alliteration and the mountain of moving muk.

[00:19:37]And I'm going to talk about the symbolism of the phrase muk. And that is what I will be zooming into because it shows you how disgusting this place is. So, so far guys, we've got two points, we've got two techniques, and we've got two zooms for each of my courts. For the last paragraph, guys, I'm only going to pick out here the adverb. I'm only going to pick out the adverb and this is going to be my technique and I'm going to pick out the adverb instantly. So if I was to put these in order of how I would write them, I would do paragraph one, paragraph two, paragraph number three.

[00:20:18]So when it comes to the writing, guys, I've got three quotes, I've got three points, I've got three techniques, and I've got two zooms. I don't plan the effect. I don't plan the effect. I don't plan the link. And there you have it, guys. There you have a complete plan.

[00:20:31]Now remember guys, we're doing pretzel pretty pretzel. That's why paragraph one has a technique and a zoom. Paragraph 2 only has a technique and paragraph 3 has technique and a zoom. And that's it.

[00:20:46]That's how I would go about planning the paragraph. So guys, as you know, you're not marked upon your point. So our point doesn't have to be detailed. It has to be correct. Let's begin. In source A, the writer presents the cold tips as having extremely evil intentions. That's my point complete. Then we move on to our reference. This is clearly seen when the writer describes the cold tips as a killer with a rotten heart. Done. Point done. Reference done. Then we give our technique straight away. Here the writer uses personification. So, and as you can see, I've done point, reference, technique straight away. Now when it comes to your effect, we do the same method that we did in English literature. The effect of the effect of the effect. Let me example here. The writer useification to compare the cold tip to a killer. Therefore, it is very clear that the cold tips only want one thing and that is death, destruction, and complete damage. That's the first effect. Now, what's the effect of the coal tips wanting death, destruction, and complete damage? This results in the cold tips being a powerful force that people are somewhat helpless against.

[00:22:03]When the cult tip unleashed its onslaught upon the public, they are helpless and can simply sit and await their fate. So now, what's the effect?

[00:22:13]What's the effect of the cold tips being strong and powerful and people being unable to stop it?

[00:22:20]As a result, it is clear that the evil intentions of cold tips isn't to hurt the person, but it is ultimately to lead to their death. And as it currently stands, these people these people are helpless to stop it. Then we zoom in. So furthermore, through the symbolism of the noun heart, the reader realizes that the cold tip like an evil human is rotten to its core. First effect. Now what does it mean if it that is rotten to its core? Everything it does is done with an evil sinister intention with no good with no love with no affection coming from it. Full stop. Therefore as you can see and you link it back to the top. Now there you can see guys is a structured pretzel paragraph. The only part of your paragraph where you are looking to explore where you are looking to build detail is your effect. The point is easy. The reference is easy.

[00:23:17]The technique is easy. And the link should be easy. The only part of your paragraph where you are spending time, where you are thinking, where you are pausing, where you are reflecting, it is in your two effects. You can't make mistakes in the other parts of the paragraph. And you won't make mistakes.

[00:23:35]If you planned it properly, all of that is done. So guys, look, if we planned it properly, we've got our point done.

[00:23:42]We've got our reference done. We've got our technique done. We've got our zoom done. We're literally copying it down onto the page. The only part that requires thinking is breaking down the effect. And try it. Give a basic effect.

[00:23:55]And then ask yourself, okay, what's the effect of the effect that I just said?

[00:24:00]Dig under your legs. Go deep. Don't dig over there and don't dig over there.

[00:24:04]What do I mean? Don't waffle. Don't go off task. Think about what is the effect of what I've just said. What is the effect of me saying that the cold tips are dangerous? Hm. The effect is they're going to cause a lot of damage. What's the effect of that? People are going to die. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

[00:24:23]But that's how you improve your effect by zooming in, by digging into your work. Question yourself. What is the effect of what I've just said? And what is the effect of what I've just said now? And what is the effect of what I've just said now? And if you keep doing that, your effect will go from being one line to being five, six lines in length.

[00:24:44]Guys, this question, we've done it before. This question is all over English. It's a language question. Now, before we finish, guys, let's do a quick recap.

[00:24:53]13 minutes, three paragraphs. Two pretzel, one pre. Two pretzel, one pre.

[00:25:00]5 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes. For this question very clearly you are marked upon language techniques quotation and effect pretzel works beautifully when it comes to your technique. Talk about a language device. When it comes to zoom talk about a noun, adjective verb. But if in your exam they give you a terrible extract then just pick out nouns and adjectives. As you can see from this model, this model answer guys over here, this student got a top ban by speaking about personification, adjective, adjective, verb, adverb.

[00:25:43]And I hope you can see guys that it is not about what you pick, it's what you do with what you pick. In your extract guys, you got 4 minutes. Go to your extract and pick your quotes plan live on the sheet. And then you simply write out your response into two pretzel and one pretty paragraph. And that's it guys. That is aqa english language paper 2 question number three.

[00:26:08]All right guys, do check out everything education.co.uk. Click on past papers and you will find lots and lots of practice for you to be doing. Next video guys, we're going to be looking at paper two question number four. All right guys, it's been Mr. Everything English.

[00:26:23]Peace.