Quick questions on Approaching the unseen non-fiction text - OCR A-Level English Language and Literature

The unseen text is half of a comparison, and the comparison is where AO4 lives. The classic failure is to spend so long decoding the unseen text that little time remains to set it against the anthology text. Budget the hour so that, after a fast read for context and a focused selection of features, the bulk of the writing is integrated comparison with both texts live. The unseen text exists to be compared, not exhaustively explicated.

"Recognising the unseen text as a piece of campaign journalism for a sympathetic readership reframes its loaded lexis: the evaluative vocabulary ('reckless', 'betrayal') is not neutral reporting but the genre's licensed advocacy, and the audience's existing sympathy lets the writer assert rather than argue. Read against its mode and purpose, the text's stridency is a feature of its genre, not a lapse." Context framing the features.

"Asked about the writer's attitude, the efficient reading ignores the text's layout and zeroes in on its modality: the high-certainty declaratives ('this will fail', 'there is no doubt') construct an attitude of absolute conviction, and the absence of any hedging leaves no room for the reader's dissent. One well-chosen grammatical pattern, read to effect, answers the question better than a tour of every feature." The question driving selection.

What four things should you establish first in an unseen text? [2 marks]

Why should the question drive feature selection? [2 marks]

Analyse how an unseen text presents an attitude, and compare with the anthology text. [32 marks]