Lucy
Ask the AI Tutor
Need help with A Christmas Carol - Dialogue? Ask our AI Tutor!
Lucy AI Tutor - Lucy
Connecting with Tutor...
Please wait while we establish connection
Lucy
Hi! I'm Lucy, your AI tutor. How can I help you with A Christmas Carol - Dialogue today?
now
0/50 words
  1. Home
  2. GCSE
  3. English Literature
  4. A Christmas Carol - Dialogue
Logo

English Literature Quiz - A Christmas Carol - Dialogue (Questions)

Explore how Dickens uses dialogue in A Christmas Carol, from persuasive ghosts to Scrooge's changing voice, to reveal character, theme and moral messages across the staves.

Explore the Topic →
(quiz starts below)

Fascinating Fact:

Ghosts speak with purpose. Past is calm and probing, Present is hearty and moral, Yet to Come is silent so Scrooge must speak.

In GCSE English Literature, you study how dialogue in A Christmas Carol shapes character and theme. The ghosts question, praise or warn Scrooge, while his shifting speech patterns show his journey from miserly businessman to generous friend. Analysing who speaks, how they speak and when they fall silent helps you explain Dickens' moral message about responsibility and redemption.

Key Terms

  • Dialogue: Spoken words between characters that reveal personality, relationships and conflict.
  • Stave: The name Dickens uses for each chapter of the novella, like verses in a song.
  • Characterisation: The methods a writer uses to build a character, including dialogue, actions and description.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How is dialogue used in A Christmas Carol for GCSE?

Dialogue in A Christmas Carol shows attitudes to poverty, charity and change. The ghosts challenge Scrooge through conversation, and his replies move from cold business language to warm, generous speech by the end.

What does Scrooge's dialogue show about his character?

Early on, Scrooge's dialogue is brief, rude and focused on money. As he learns from the ghosts, his speech becomes apologetic, thankful and kind, which proves that he has genuinely changed.

How can I revise dialogue in A Christmas Carol for exams?

Choose key exchanges, such as Scrooge with Marley or the Cratchits, and learn short quotations. Link each quotation to context, theme and character change to build strong exam paragraphs.

Try These Related Quizzes

1. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there"
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] One of the two "portly" gentlemen
[ ] Jacob Marley
[ ] Scrooge
2. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"It should be Christmas Day, I am sure, on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge"
[ ] Belle
[ ] Mrs Cratchit
[ ] Fred
[ ] Peter Cratchit
3. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Lead on! Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know"
[ ] Scrooge
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] Tiny Tim
[ ] Jacob Marley
4. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Or would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago"
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Past
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Present
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
[ ] Jacob Marley
5. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"You may — the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will — have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke"
[ ] Fan
[ ] Mrs Fezziwig
[ ] Belle
[ ] Fred
6. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"What's today, my fine fellow?"
[ ] Scrooge
[ ] Fred
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] Mr Fezziwig
7. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"The consequence of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm"
[ ] Mrs Cratchit
[ ] Fred's wife
[ ] Fred
[ ] Bob Cratchit
8. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"It's only once a year, sir. It shall not be repeated"
[ ] Fred
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] The boy in "Sunday clothes"
[ ] Martha Cratchit
9. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"I have no patience with him"
[ ] Topper
[ ] Jacob Marley
[ ] Mrs Cratchit
[ ] Fred's wife
10. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"There are some upon this earth of yours, who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived"
[ ] One of the two "portly" gentlemen
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Past
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Present
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - A Christmas Carol

© Education Quizzes. Please visit www.educationquizzes.com to subscribe
Logo
English Literature Quiz - A Christmas Carol - Dialogue (Answers)
1. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there"
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] One of the two "portly" gentlemen
[ ] Jacob Marley
[x] Scrooge
Scrooge suggests that poor people contribute to overpopulation and that the only charity for which they might hope is a place in the workhouses
2. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"It should be Christmas Day, I am sure, on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge"
[ ] Belle
[x] Mrs Cratchit
[ ] Fred
[ ] Peter Cratchit
Mrs Cratchit is indignant that the Christmas toast should be dedicated to Scrooge
3. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Lead on! Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know"
[x] Scrooge
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] Tiny Tim
[ ] Jacob Marley
Scrooge begins to feel the pressure of time once he is faced with the final Spirit
4. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"Or would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago"
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Past
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Present
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
[x] Jacob Marley
Jacob Marley's chain, impressive and terrifying, cannot compare to the great weight of Scrooge's own invisible chain
5. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"You may — the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will — have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke"
[ ] Fan
[ ] Mrs Fezziwig
[x] Belle
[ ] Fred
Scrooge is so distressed by the sight of his past self agreeing to break off his engagement that he accuses the Spirit of torturing him
6. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"What's today, my fine fellow?"
[x] Scrooge
[ ] Fred
[ ] Bob Cratchit
[ ] Mr Fezziwig
Scrooge is so disorientated by the visits of the three Spirits, supposedly on three consecutive nights, that he does not know what day it is when he wakes up on Christmas morning
7. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"The consequence of his taking a dislike to us, and not making merry with us, is, as I think, that he loses some pleasant moments, which could do him no harm"
[ ] Mrs Cratchit
[ ] Fred's wife
[x] Fred
[ ] Bob Cratchit
Fred understands that the person who is most harmed by Scrooge's cold and miserly nature is Scrooge himself
8. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"It's only once a year, sir. It shall not be repeated"
[ ] Fred
[x] Bob Cratchit
[ ] The boy in "Sunday clothes"
[ ] Martha Cratchit
Bob Cratchit apologises sincerely for being eighteen minutes (and a half) late to work on the day after Christmas. Boxing Day became a bank holiday in 1871
9. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"I have no patience with him"
[ ] Topper
[ ] Jacob Marley
[ ] Mrs Cratchit
[x] Fred's wife
Fred's wife, like Mrs Cratchit, is not inclined to be tolerant, nor forgiving, of Scrooge's unpleasantness towards her husband
10. Match the dialogue to the correct speaker.

"There are some upon this earth of yours, who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived"
[ ] One of the two "portly" gentlemen
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Past
[x] The Ghost of Christmas Present
[ ] The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
The Spirit condemns hypocrites who put their principles before the needs of human beings
© Education Quizzes. Please visit www.educationquizzes.com to subscribe