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Improve your English Literature skills in this quiz.

A Christmas Carol - Illustrating and Supporting Points

Learn how to pick sharp quotations and use them to back up your ideas about A Christmas Carol, building stronger paragraphs and clearer exam answers.

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Fascinating Fact:

Vary evidence size. Mix brief quotes for language points with slightly longer snippets for structure or tone.

In GCSE English Literature, you are marked on how well you support your points with evidence. For A Christmas Carol, this means choosing precise quotations, blending them smoothly into sentences, and explaining exactly how they prove your ideas. Practising different ways of using evidence will help you write flexible paragraphs that can tackle character, theme and structure questions in the exam.

Key Terms

Evidence: A detail from the text, usually a quotation, used to support a point.
Embedded quote: A short quotation woven naturally into your own sentence.
PEE paragraph: Point, Evidence, Explanation – a common structure for literature answers.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How many quotations should I use in a GCSE literature paragraph?

There is no fixed number, but most strong GCSE paragraphs use at least one or two short quotations. What matters most is choosing precise evidence and explaining it clearly, not counting quotes.

What makes a good quotation for A Christmas Carol?

A good quotation is short, memorable and tightly linked to the question. Look for words that reveal character, mood or theme, such as Scrooge’s cold language or images of warmth and generosity.

How do I explain evidence instead of just repeating it?

After giving a quotation, pick out one or two key words and comment on them. Explain what they suggest about character or theme and link your explanation directly back to the exam question.

Try These Related Quizzes

Read the text from A Christmas Carol and then choose the answer which best uses evidence in support of a point. Remember that the answer will also need to be grammatically correct.

1 .

"Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!"

Bob is told to "make up the fires" before "he dots another i"

Scrooge tells Bob to "make up the fires" and "buy another coal-scuttle"

Bob knows that Scrooge has changed when he orders him to "make up the fires" before "he dots another i"

Scrooge's signals that his transformation is complete when he orders Bob to "make up the fires" before doing any more work

Remember that it is not sufficient to merely quote text; the quotation must support a point that you have made. Here the second answer uses quotations correctly, but does not make any point about the text

2 .

"I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father when he comes home, for the world."

Mrs Cratchit expresses her desire to protect her husband from further grief by adding an emphatic "for the world" to her explanation

Mrs Cratchit knows that Bob would feel further grief if he were to become aware of her failing eyesight

Mrs Cratchit knows her husband would feel further grief if she were to let him become aware of her "weak eyes"

All of the above

It is always useful to practise different ways of using evidence from the text, including by paraphrasing

3 .

"The Grocers'! oh the Grocers'! nearly closed, with perhaps two shutters down, or one; but through those gaps such glimpses! It was not alone that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended scents of tea and coffee were so grateful to the nose."

Dickens compares the "scenes" in the Grocers' to a performance "glimpsed" through the gaps in the shutters

Dickens compares the scenes at the Grocers' to a performance, emphasising exciting sights such as "canisters being rattled up and down like juggling tricks"

Dickens compares the scenes at the Grocers' to a performance, emphasising exciting sights such as containers being "rattled up and down like juggling tricks"

Dickens compares the scenes at the Grocers' to a performance "glimpsed" through the "gaps" between the shutters

Sometimes it is necessary to change a word to make your sentence grammatical (here "canisters" has been changed to "containers" in the correct answer). Be sure to use quotation marks only for the words which are identical to the text

4 .

"It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while listening to the moaning of the wind, and thinking what a solemn thing it was to move on through the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss, whose depths were secrets as profound as Death: it was a great surprise to Scrooge, while thus engaged, to hear a hearty laugh. It was a much greater surprise to Scrooge, to recognise it as his own nephew's."

Fred's laugh is powerful enough to break through to the "lonely darkness over an unknown abyss" where Scrooge wanders

Fred's laugh is powerful enough to break through to the lonely darkness over an unknown abyss where Scrooge wanders

Fred's "laugh" is powerful enough to break through to the "lonely darkness over an unknown abyss" where Scrooge wanders

Fred's "laugh" is powerful enough to break through to the "lonely darkness" over "an unknown abyss" where Scrooge wanders

Remember not just to quote the text, but also to use the quotation to support your own point. This sentence could follow another point about the juxtaposition of the lonely abyss with the hearty, unexpected laugh

5 .

"'I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.'"

Jacob Marley "forged" his own "chain" "link by link" and "yard by yard" when he committed bad deeds "in life"

Jacob Marley willingly chose his "chain" by forging it "link by link" and yard by yard

The bad deeds which Jacob Marley committed in life have become a metaphoric chain chosen by "my own free will"

The bad deeds which Jacob Marley committed in life have become a metaphoric chain chosen by his "own free will"

Quoting "my own free will" makes the sentence ungrammatical when the rest of the sentence refers to Jacob Marley in the third person

6 .

"The scaling him with chairs for ladders to dive into his pockets, despoil him of brown-paper parcels, hold on tight by his cravat, hug him round the neck, pommel his back and kick his legs in irrepressible affection."

The children's love for their father is conveyed ironically through violent imagery as they scale, "despoil", "pommel" and "kick" him in their search for presents

The children's "affection" for their father is conveyed ironically through violent imagery as they "scale", "despoil", "pommel" and "kick" him in their search for presents

The children love their father, even though they are almost "violent" as they besiege him for their presents

The children love their father, even though they are almost "violent" as they "despoil" and ransack him for their presents

Sometimes it is necessary to quote several separate words when making a point about the use of language. Try to keep these words together in a list, rather than scattering them throughout the sentence

7 .

"'Spirit!' said Scrooge, shuddering from head to foot. 'I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way now.'"

Scrooge demonstrates that he has not yet understood the message of Christmas Yet to Come when he acknowledges that the example set by the un-mourned man "might be my own"

Scrooge demonstrates that he has not yet understood the message of Christmas Yet to Come when he acknowledges that the example set by the un-mourned man "might" be his own

Scrooge demonstrates that he has not yet understood the message of Christmas Yet to Come when he acknowledges that the "case of this unhappy man might be my own"

All of the above

It is very important to use quotations grammatically. If your sentence talks about Scrooge in the third-person, a quotation using the first-person pronouns "I" or "me" for Scrooge will be jarring

8 .

"It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil."

Scrooge praises Mr Fezziwig while forgetting that he makes "work" "burdensome" and a "toil" for his own employee, Bob

Scrooge praises Mr Fezziwig while forgetting that he makes work "burdensome" and a "toil" for his own employee, Bob

Scrooge praises Mr Fezziwig while forgetting that he makes work burdensome and a toil for his own employee, Bob

Scrooge praises Mr Fezziwig while forgetting that he makes work "burdensome" and "toilsome" for his own employee, Bob

When you use the exact words that appear in the text, these must be enclosed in quotation marks. Similar words, here such as "toilsome", are not exact quotes

9 .

"It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour."

The narrator balances the infectious nature of "disease and sorrow" with the "irresistibly contagious" nature of joy

The narrator presents laughter as infectious, comparing its ability to spread to a contagion

The narrator presents the easy spread of joy as a "noble adjustment" to the equally easy spread of sorrow

All of the above

Developing a variety of ways of using quotations will make your essays and answers to exam questions more interesting

10 .

"Really, for a man who had been out of practice for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs!"

Scrooge's laugh welcomes Christmas Day like the pealing bells. Their sound is echoed in the alliteration of the "l" in the phrase, "long, long line of brilliant laughs"

"Long, long line of brilliant laughs" contains alliteration

The "l" sound is alliterated in "long, long line of brilliant laughs"

The phrase "long, long line of brilliant laughs" contains alliteration of the "l" sound

Remember that it is not enough just to point out alliteration or any other literary device. You need to explain what effect it has and how it relates to your point

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

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)