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Improve your English literature skills in this enjoyable quiz.

DNA - Illustrating and Supporting Points

Use key moments from DNA to back up your ideas. Practise selecting sharp quotations and comments that clearly show character, tension, and responsibility in the play.

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Fascinating Fact:

Cathy’s excitement over cruelty, like wanting to “get on the telly,” illustrates desensitisation and a craving for attention.

In GCSE English Literature, you must use short, well-chosen quotations from Dennis Kelly’s DNA to support your points. Focusing on characters like Cathy helps you explore cruelty, guilt, and peer pressure in depth.

Key Terms

Quotation: A short piece of evidence taken directly from the text to support a point.
Embedded evidence: A quotation smoothly built into your sentence so it reads naturally.
Analytical comment: Your explanation of how a quotation proves or develops your main idea.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

How do I use quotations from DNA to support my GCSE answers?

Select short, precise quotations and embed them in your sentences. After the quote, explain how the words show character, theme, or tension, and link back to the question.

What makes a good example paragraph about Cathy in DNA?

A strong paragraph has a clear point about Cathy, a focused quotation, and detailed analysis of her language and behaviour. It should also connect to wider themes such as power or cruelty.

How can I show analysis instead of just retelling the plot in DNA?

Stay close to specific words and phrases, comment on their effects, and explain what they suggest about characters or themes. Avoid long summaries and keep returning to the question focus.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

LEAH: So. Adam. How's ... how's ... how's things?
ADAM: I know my name.
LEAH: Yes, you do.
ADAM: Adam, it's Adam, my name's Adam.

By stating "I know my name" as if it is a remarkable piece of information, Adam demonstrates how badly injured he is

Adam's repetition of his name demonstrates how badly injured he is

Adam's repetitions hint that he might have just been reminded of his name by Leah using it to address him: "Adam, it's Adam, my name is Adam"

All of the above

Remember to try out a variety of methods of presenting evidence from the text

2 .

PHIL: I'm in charge. Everyone is happier. What's more important: one person or everyone?

Phil sets out the moral question of the play, asking whether the "happiness" of one person or everyone is more important

Phil sets out the moral question of the play, asking whether the "happiness" of "one person" or "everyone" is more important

Phil sets out the moral question of the play, asking whether the "happiness" of one person or everyone is more important

Phil sets out the moral question of the play, asking whether the happiness of "one person or everyone" is more important

It would also be acceptable not to use quotation marks in this example because the comparison of one person and everyone is not especially striking for its unique phrasing and is a common comparison (it can be reassuring to use quotation marks for accuracy, however)

3 .

LOU: Because he's dead, John, he's dead, dead is what he is so we have to use that word to -
JOHN TATE: Alright. New rule; that word is banned.

John Tate tries to exert control over the group by banning the use of the word dead

John Tate tries to exert control over the group by banning the use of the word "dead"

John Tate tries to exert control over the group by "banning" the use of the word dead

John Tate tries to exert "control" over the group by "banning" the use of the word "dead"

Overuse of "scare" quotes is a substitute for careful and accurate writing. Rather than drawing attention to the idea of banning language by using a scare quote, why not write a sentence about the idea that a character might try to prohibit others from saying a particular word?

4 .

RICHARD: Phil, Phil, watch this! Phil, watch me, watch me, Phil!
He walks on his hands.
See? See what I'm doing? Can you see, Phil?

Richard behaves like a jester, trying to win Phil's approval with his "handstands" and his repeated request "watch this! Phil, watch me, watch me, Phil!"

Richard behaves like a jester, trying to win Phil's approval with his handstands and his repeated request: "watch this! Phil, watch me, watch me, Phil!"

Richard behaves like a jester, trying to win Phil's approval with his handstands and his repeated request watch this! Phil, watch me, watch me, Phil!

Richard behaves like a "jester", trying to win Phil's "approval" with his handstands and his repeated request: "watch this!" Phil, "watch me, watch me", Phil!

One efficient method of supporting a point with a quotation is to place the quotation after the point. This usually requires a colon

5 .

RICHARD: And in that second, Phil I knew that there was life on other planets. I knew we weren't alone in the universe, I didn't just think it or feel it, I knew it, I know it, it was as if the universe was suddenly shifting and giving me a glimpse, this vision that could see everything, just for a fraction of a heartbeat of a second. But I couldn't see who they were or what they were doing or how they were living

Richard describes having a "vision" of extraterrestrial life, reassuring him that human beings are not alone in the universe

Richard describes having a vision of extraterrestrial life, reassuring him that human beings are not alone in the "universe"

Richard describes having a "vision" of extraterrestrial "life", reassuring him that "human beings" are not "alone in the universe"

Richard describes having a "vision" of extraterrestrial life, reassuring him that human beings are not "alone in the universe"

"Vision" does not necessarily need to be placed in quotation marks. It is a word taken from Richard's dialogue; this, and its importance as a description of his moment of insight, makes it a good idea to quote the word, however

6 .

BRIAN: That was great!
PHIL: You just do what Cathy says.
BRIAN: I am brilliant at doing what people say.

Broken by being forced to lie to the police, Brian accepts his new role with the group by agreeing that he is brilliant at "doing what people say"

Broken by being forced to lie to the police, Brian accepts his new role with the group by agreeing that he is brilliant at doing what people say

Broken by being forced to lie to the police, Brian accepts his new role with the group by agreeing that he is "brilliant at doing what people say"

Broken by being forced to lie to the police, Brian accepts his new role with the group by agreeing that "he is brilliant at doing what people say"

Remember to quote accurately

7 .

LEAH: What, like I talk too much? Is that it? That I talk too much, you, sitting there in absolute silence thinking "Leah talks too much, I wish she'd shut up once in a while" is that it, is that what you're because don't, you know, judge, you know, because alright, I do. There, I'm admitting, I am admitting, I talk too much, so shoot me.

Leah "accuses", "confesses" and "condemns" herself for talking "too much"

Leah accuses, confesses and condemns herself for talking "too much"

Leah accuses, confesses and condemns herself for talking "too" much

Leah accuses, confesses and condemns herself for talking "too" "much"

Although "too" and "much" are ordinary words, they should be quoted because it is this combination of words that Leah repeats three times in this short passage

8 .

MARK: So we're all peggin them. Laughing. And his face, it's making you laugh harder and harder, and they're getting nearer and nearer. And one hits his head. And the shock on his face is so ... funny. And we're all just...
just...
really chucking those stones into him, really hard and laughing and he slips.
And he drops.

Mark's account of what "happened" to Adam begins with laughter and ends with the shock of his fall

Mark's account of what happened to Adam begins with "laughter" and ends with the shock of his fall

Mark's account of what happened to "Adam" begins with laughter and ends with the "shock" of his "fall"

Mark's account of what happened to Adam begins with laughter and ends with the shock of his fall

Remember that paraphrase is a useful way to use the text in support of a point

9 .

CATHY: It took me half an hour to get him to come out.
BRIAN: D'you feel how wonderful this day is?
CATHY: I used violence.
BRIAN: She did.
CATHY: I threatened to gouge one of his eyes out.

When Cathy reports that she got Adam out of his hiding place by threatening "to gouge one of his eyes out", she speaks boastfully of her violence

When Cathy reports that she got Adam out of his hiding place by "threatening to gouge one of his eyes out", she speaks boastfully of her violence

When Cathy reports that she got Adam out of his hiding place by threatening to gouge "one of his eyes out", she speaks boastfully of her violence

When Cathy reports that she got Adam out of his hiding place by threatening to gouge one of his eyes out, she speaks boastfully of her violence

Sometimes it is necessary to change a word in order to write a sentence which makes sense. Here "threatened" must be altered to "threatening" for the sentence to be correct. The quotation therefore begins with "to gouge...."

10 .

RICHARD: Danny's doing work experience at a dentist's. He hates it. Can't stand the cavities, he says when they open their mouths sometimes it feels like you're going to fall in.

According to Richard, Danny "hates" his "work experience at the dentist's"

According to Richard, Danny "hates" his work "experience" at the "dentist's"

According to Richard, Danny "hates" his work experience at the dentist's

According to Richard, Danny hates his "work experience" at the dentist's

"Scare quotes" are when quotation marks are used to draw attention to the word or phrase quoted, often implying that there is something odd about the phrase or even that its use is incorrect. Quotation marks in literature essays are not often used in this way. An example above would be the use of scare quotes around the words "work experience", thus implying that the description is wrong or odd in itself. Placing quotation marks around the word "hates" is different, because doing so draws particular attention to Danny's surprisingly negative reaction to his dream occupation

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