My Mother Said I Never Should - Illustrating and Supporting Points

This high school English Literature quiz will challenge you on illustrating and supporting points in Charlotte Keatley's My Mother Said I Never Should. Being able to write a good essay about literature depends very much on how well you use evidence from the text. If you make a point but forget to back it up with a quotation or example from the text, your point will not be very persuasive. Using evidence will also show how well you know and understand the text. This essential skill does not come easily and will improve with practice over time. In addition to the ability to choose the most effective evidence, this skill also depends upon the ability to punctuate accurately and pay attention to detail.

This quiz is designed to test these important literary skills. Challenge yourself to identify the answers which have managed to use evidence correctly. Don’t forget, when you write your own essays, to follow up your quotation with an explanation, too!

How to use evidence to support a point:

There are three key methods of using evidence from a text: paraphrasing, quoting single words or short phrases, and quoting longer sections of text. Make sure that you are able to do each of these correctly. The easiest method is paraphrasing, which is to rephrase something in your own words. You should master the art of paraphrasing because it is an essential skill for good writing. By using your own words to paraphrase a section of text, you clearly demonstrate your knowledge. This skill also proves itself helpful in exam situations where you do not have the text available.

The second option is to use individual words or short phrases from the text to support the point you’ve made. Memorized short, relevant quotes from the text can be used this way to answer an exam question. If you wish to discuss language choice or minor details, this is the best method to use. Including quotations in essays takes some practice, and, as you improve, you can consider combining methods. For example, mixing paraphrase with short quotations in the same sentence is a flexible and effective technique to use. Practicing such a combination of methods will help you to avoid writing awkwardly long sentences which are cluttered with multiple short quotations.

Finally, quoting a full sentence or more is the practical choice when a short phrase does not make sense or you are finding it difficult to incorporate a short quote grammatically. This is also the perfect method to use if you want to discuss the quotation in great detail.

Here is a useful tip to write stylishly: avoid quoting single, ordinary words just because they are used in the text. Sometimes people do this just to prove that they have read the text, but it really only shows that a word has been copied from one place to another. If the word is significant, then it should have quotation marks. For example, in My Mother Said I Never Should, the word “Mother” is significant when pointing out how formally Doris expects to be addressed. Usually such an ordinary word would not need quotation marks. With these exceptions in mind, remember that you must otherwise always use quotation marks whenever you use an exact phrase or sentence from the text.

Try this quiz on the best way to use evidence from My Mother Said I Never Should. The aim of this quiz is to test your ability to quote and to paraphrase; your knowledge of the text is not being tested here. One helpful tip is that it might be easier to eliminate the incorrect answers first!