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EnglandEnglish LanguageQuick questions
Component 02: Dimensions of linguistic variation
Quick questions on The language change question: method and technique - OCR A-Level English Language
6short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is evaluate, do not describe?Show answer
The command words ("compare", "analyse and evaluate") require judgement. Weigh the processes and causes, reach a conclusion about the nature and direction of the change, and, where attitudes are in play, assess how well-founded they are. Description of differences, however accurate, sits below an evaluated account of how and why the language has changed.
What is a model integrated paragraph?Show answer
"Spelling is the clearest axis of comparison: where the earlier text spells the same word two ways within a paragraph, the present-day text is uniformly regularised. This is orthographic change (AO2), and the difference is explained by the standardising influence of print, dictionaries and prescriptive grammar that postdates the earlier text (AO3). Read across the two texts, the change tracks a clear trajectory from pre-standard variation to fixed modern orthography (AO4), so a single feature carries analysis, process, cause and comparison at once."
What is a weak approach upgraded?Show answer
A blocked answer might analyse the older text's features, then list change processes, then describe context, then compare. Upgraded, it integrates: each comparative point analyses both texts, names the process, explains the cause, and tracks the trajectory, building to an evaluated judgement about how and why the language has changed.
What is q1?Show answer
Which four objectives does the language change question assess? [2 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Why does a text-by-text structure underperform in Section C? [2 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Compare two texts, analysing how language has changed over the period between them and why. [18 marks]
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