WORKSHEET
Subject / Topic: NON-FICTION (PAPER1) Duration: 30 minutes Date: 26/01/2021
COMPREHENSION
Name: Year 9/ Section:
Mark / Grade: 20
MY CONFIDENCE RATE (√)
MY SKILLS’ REVIEW
Novice Learner Expert
I can select from a range of strategies and use the most
1. appropriate ways t o locate, retrieve and compare
information and ideas from a variety of texts
I can recognize ways in which writers
2. use different registers and other
methods to communicate with their
audience.
I can analyze how meaning, including
3. attitude, can be conveyed in different
ways according to structural and
organizational choices.
I can analyse and respond to the range
4. of ideas and differing viewpoints,
purposes and themes in a variety of
related texts.
5. I can make notes using a range of different note-
making formats and approaches
Area of improvement:
Signature of the teacher
My improvement plan:
Signature of Student
Section A: Reading
Spend 30 minutes on this section.
Passage: A French professor tells of how he and his friend, and a sailor called Ned, fell into
the Pacific Ocean in1850 when they ship was hit by a huge creature. They at first believed it
to be the legendary whale they were searching for on behalf of the International Marine
Society.
The Monster of the Deep
My first concern was to look for the ship. I glimpsed a black mass disappearing eastward, its’s
lights fading in the distance. I shouted for help, swimming desperately toward the ship. My
clothes were weighing me down. I was sinking! Then I found and seized the arm of my loyal
friend.
‘What about the ship?’ I asked.
‘As I jumped overboard, I heard the helmsman shout, “Our propeller and rudder are smashed
by the monster’s tusk!”
‘Then the ship can no longer steer, and we are done for!’
Having concluded that our sole chance for salvation lay in being picked up by the ship’s
longboats, we had to take steps to wait for them as long as possible. I decided to divide our
energies so we wouldn’t both be worn out at the same time: while one of us lay on his back,
the other would swim and propel his partner forward.
The monster had rammed us at 11 in the evening. I therefore calculated on eight hours of
swimming until sunrise. The dense gloom was broken only by the phosphorescent flickers
coming from our movements. I stared at the luminous ripples breaking over my hands,
shimmering sheets spattered with blotches of bluish grey. It seemed as if we had plunged into
a pool of quicksilver.
An hour later, I was overcome with tremendous exhaustion. My limbs stiffened in the grip of
intense cramps and paralysing cold. I tried to call out. My swollen lip wouldn’t let a single
sound through. I heard my friend cry ‘Help!’. Ceasing all movement for an instant, we listened.
His shout had received an answer. I could barely hear it. I was at the end of my strength; my
fingers gave out; my mouth opened convulsively, filling with brime…
Just then something hard banged against me. I clung to it and was pulled back to the surface.
I fainted… Then someone was shaking me vigorously.
‘Ned!’ I exclaimed. ‘Were you thrown overboard by the collision?’
‘Yes, professor, but I was luckier than you and immediately able to set foot on the gigantic
whale as it surfaced. I soon realised why my harpoon got blunted and couldn’t puncture its
hid. This beast is made of plated steel!’
I hoisted myself to the summit of this half-submerged creature that was serving as our refuge.
I tested it with my foot. Obviously it was some hard, impenetrable substance; not the soft
matter that makes up the bodies of our big marine mammals but a bony carapace, like those
that covered some prehistoric animals. The blackish back supporting me was smooth and
polished with no overlapping scales. On impact, it gave off a metallic resonance and,
incredibly, it seemed to be made of riveted plates. No doubts were possible! This animal, this
monster, this ‘natural phenomenon’ that had puzzled the whole scientific world, that had
muddled and misled the minds of sailors, was an even more astonishing one – made by the
hand of man! There was no question now. We were stretched out on the back of some kind of
underwater boat that took the form of an immense steel fish.
Answer the questions given below:
1. Explain how the first paragraph of the text grabs the reader’s attention? [2]
Ans. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. In your own words, explain why the men are in the water. [2]
Ans. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Explain how the men aim to conserve energy. [2]
Ans. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
4. What does the phrase, ‘shaking my vigorously’ mean? (paragraph 2) [1]
Ans. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
5. What is the meaning of the following word/phrase?
a) black mass: (Paragraph 1) ……………………………….. [1]
b) dense gloom: (Paragraph 2) ……………………………….. [1]
c) immense steel fish: (final para) ……………………………….. [1]
6. Write out the following sentences with the correct punctuation.
what do you think it is ned i have no idea he said looking perplexed but i cannot simply
believe it is not man made [2]
Ans. …………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. Re-write this sentence adding a relative clause with further information from the
passage: The men stood on it. It seemed to be a whale. [1]
Ans. …………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. Combine these 3 sentences into one complex sentence. Do no use ‘and’ or ‘but’. [1]
The men in the story are thrown into the water. The ship was wrecked by a ‘monster’
under water. They don’t realise it is a submarine.
Ans. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
9. In paragraph 4, that begins ‘The monster rammed us…’, the writer describes what the
men see whilst in the water. Explain why these descriptions are effective. [3]
Ans. …………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
10. Summarise, in your own words, what the monster looked like and the way it moved.[3]
Ans. ………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
