This GCSE English Literature quiz asks questions on illustrating and supporting points in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black. When you write essays for English literature, you are expected to support your points with convincing evidence. This evidence can be provided either by making specific reference to moments in the text, or it can appear in the form of direct quotations. Using the text to back up your argument is what makes your writing persuasive. Quoting and paraphrasing are techniques which also show how well you understand the text. While these skills are essential, they are by no means easy! You can, however, improve with practice. As well as choosing the most effective evidence, you will also need to pay attention to detail and punctuate accurately. Taking this challenging quiz will help you practise these important literary skills.
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See whether you can identify the answers which have managed to use evidence correctly. In your own writing, don’t forget to follow up your quotation with explanation and analysis, too!
How to use evidence to support a point:
You should know these three key methods of using evidence from a text: paraphrasing, quoting single words or short phrases, and quoting longer sections of text. It takes some practice to master each of these methods. Paraphrasing is one of the easiest ways to use evidence from a text, since it involves rephrasing short sections in your own words. This is an essential skill for all kinds of writing, and, rather handily, also demonstrates your knowledge of the text. This skill is especially useful for closed-book exams.
The second method is to quote individual words or short phrases from the text. Memorising short, relevant quotations can be impressive. When you use these memorised quotations in an essay, be sure to show how they are related to your point. This is an especially effective method to use when you wish to discuss the details of language choice. It does take some practice to incorporate quotations well. As you improve this skill, you should consider combining methods. For example, your writing becomes more flexible when you can mix paraphrase with short quotations in the same sentence. Practising combinations of methods will ensure that you avoid writing awkward sentences cluttered with multiple quotations.
The third method is to quote a full sentence or more. If quoting a short phrase does not make sense in the way that you wish, or is difficult to include in the sentence grammatically, this might be the best method to use. Longer quotations can be a good choice when you would like to write about the quotation in close detail.
Here is a useful tip for writing well: try not to quote single, ordinary words in the hopes of showing that you have actually read the text. This habit really only demonstrates that a word has been copied from one place to another. On certain occasions an ordinary word might be used in a significant way, in which case it should have quotation marks. In all other instances, exact phrases or sentences from the text should be enclosed in quotation marks.
Try this quiz on the best way to use evidence from The Woman in Black. 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!
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1.
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"It was nine-thirty on Christmas Eve. As I crossed the long entrance hall of Monk's Piece on my way from the dining room, where we had just enjoyed the first of the happy, festive meals, towards the drawing room and the fire around which my family were now assembled, I paused and then, as I often do in the course of an evening, went to the front door, opened it and stepped outside" |
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| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his family: he walks "towards the drawing room" where his family is gathered, but instead finds himself outside, alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his "family": he walks "towards the drawing room" where his "family" is gathered, but instead finds himself outside, alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his family: he walks towards the drawing room where his "family is gathered", but instead finds himself "outside", alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat "separate" from his family: he walks towards the "drawing room" where his family is gathered, but instead finds himself "outside", alone |
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2.
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"It would be easy to look back and to believe that all that day I had had a sense of foreboding about my journey to come, that some sixth sense, some telepathic intuition that may lie dormant and submerged in most men, had stirred and become alert within me. But I was, in those days of my youth, a sturdy, commonsensical fellow, and I felt no uneasiness or apprehension whatsoever" |
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| [ ] |
The narrator says that he was a commonsensical "fellow" who didn't believe in telepathic "intuition" or some "sixth" sense, nor trust in his "sense" of foreboding |
| [ ] |
The narrator says that he was a "commonsensical" fellow who didn't believe in telepathic intuition or some sixth sense, nor trust in his "sense" of foreboding |
| [ ] |
By speaking of his youth, when he was "a sturdy, commonsensical fellow", the narrator implies that he has matured and would now be less dismissive of warning signs |
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By speaking of his youth, when he was a sturdy, commonsensical "fellow", the narrator implies that he has matured and would now be less dismissive of warning signs |
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3.
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"And then, not particularly wishing to discuss the nature of my business with him, I picked up my newspaper again and unfolded it with a certain ostentation, and so, for some little while, we rumbled on in the nasty train, in silence - save for the huffing of the engine, and the clanking of iron wheels upon iron rails, and the occasional whistle, and the bursts of rain, like sprays of light artillery fire, upon the windows" |
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| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing "enmity" to humankind when "bursts of rain" are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when "bursts" of rain are likened to "sprays" of artillery fire |
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when bursts of rain are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when "bursts of rain" are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
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4.
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"While I waited, I wrote a brief fond note to Stella, which I would post the next morning, and while I ate heartily, I mused about the type of small house we might afford to live in after our marriage, if Mr Bentley were to continue to give me so much responsibility in the firm, so that I might feel justified in asking for an increase in salary. All in all, and with the half-bottle of claret that accompanied my supper, I prepared to go up to bed in a warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
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| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of "Stella" and his future "home, give Arthur a "warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a warm glow of well-being and contentment |
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a "warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a "warm" "glow" of "well-being" and "contentment" |
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5.
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"The ground sloped a little down to the estuary shore and, as I passed under one of the old arches, I startled a bird, which rose up and away over my head with loudly beating wings and a harsh croaking cry that echoed all around the old walls and was taken up by another, some distance away. It was an ugly, satanic-looking thing, like some species of sea-vulture - if such a thing existed - and I could not suppress a shudder as its shadow passed over me, and I watched its ungainly flight away towards the sea with relief" |
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| [ ] |
By using "demonic" imagery to describe the startled "bird", Arthur demonstrates that he is already on edge before seeing the Woman in Black in the island "burial ground" |
| [ ] |
By using demonic imagery to describe the startled bird, Arthur demonstrates that he is already on edge before seeing the Woman in Black in the island burial ground |
| [ ] |
By referring to the vulture as "ugly" and satanic-looking, Arthur demonstrates that he is already thinking about the supernatural before he sees the Woman in Black for the second time |
| [ ] |
By referring to the "vulture" as ugly and "satanic-looking", Arthur demonstrates that he is already thinking about the "supernatural" before he sees the Woman in Black for the second time |
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6.
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"The noise of the pony trap grew fainter and then stopped abruptly and away on the marsh was a curious draining, sucking, churning sound, which went on, together with the shrill neighing and whinnying of a horse in panic, and then I heard another cry, a shout, a terrified sobbing - it was hard to decipher - but with horror I realised that it came from a child, a young child" |
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| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur hears the sounds of "draining", "sucking" and "churning" |
| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur "hears" the sounds of "draining", "sucking" and "churning" |
| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur hears a "curious draining, sucking, churning sound" |
| [ ] |
All of the above |
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7.
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"'I must face it out, Mr Jerome. Such things one must face.' and even as I spoke I felt a new determination arise within me.
"'So I said.' Mr Jerome was looking at me pityingly. 'So I said ... once.'
"But his fear was only serving to strengthen my resolve. He had been weakened and broken, by what? A woman? A few noises?" |
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| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened and broken" by something as insignificant as a "woman" or a "few noises" |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being weakened and broken by something as insignificant as a woman or a few noises |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened" and "broken" by something as insignificant as a woman or a few noises |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened and broken" by something as insignificant as a "woman" or a few noises |
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8.
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"And my manner that day must have indicated clearly that I would brook no opposition, heed no warning, even from within myself. I was by now almost pigheadedly bent upon following my course" |
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| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost" pigheadedly sticking to the plan |
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as almost pigheadedly sticking to the plan |
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost pigheadedly" sticking to the plan |
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost pigheadedly bent upon following my course" |
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9.
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"And then, from somewhere within the depths of the house - but somewhere not very far from the room in which I was - I heard a noise. It was a faint noise, and, strain my ears as I might, I could not make out exactly what it was. It was a sound like a regular yet intermittent bump or rumble. Nothing else happened" |
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| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is faint, but also not "very" far from the room where he is |
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is "faint", but also "not very far from the room" where he is |
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is a regular yet intermittent bump or rumble |
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is a "regular yet intermittent" bump or rumble |
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10.
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"My story is almost done. There is only the last thing left to tell. And that I can scarcely bring myself to write about. I have sat here at my desk, day after day, night after night, a blank sheet of paper before me, unable to lift my pen, trembling and weeping too" |
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| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of "Arthur" sitting at his "desk" "trembling and weeping" |
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his "desk" "trembling" and "weeping" |
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his desk trembling and weeping |
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his desk "trembling and weeping" |
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1.
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"It was nine-thirty on Christmas Eve. As I crossed the long entrance hall of Monk's Piece on my way from the dining room, where we had just enjoyed the first of the happy, festive meals, towards the drawing room and the fire around which my family were now assembled, I paused and then, as I often do in the course of an evening, went to the front door, opened it and stepped outside" |
|
| [x] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his family: he walks "towards the drawing room" where his family is gathered, but instead finds himself outside, alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his "family": he walks "towards the drawing room" where his "family" is gathered, but instead finds himself outside, alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat separate from his family: he walks towards the drawing room where his "family is gathered", but instead finds himself "outside", alone |
| [ ] |
The opening of the novel shows Arthur to be somewhat "separate" from his family: he walks towards the "drawing room" where his family is gathered, but instead finds himself "outside", alone |
|
|
|
2.
|
"It would be easy to look back and to believe that all that day I had had a sense of foreboding about my journey to come, that some sixth sense, some telepathic intuition that may lie dormant and submerged in most men, had stirred and become alert within me. But I was, in those days of my youth, a sturdy, commonsensical fellow, and I felt no uneasiness or apprehension whatsoever" |
|
| [ ] |
The narrator says that he was a commonsensical "fellow" who didn't believe in telepathic "intuition" or some "sixth" sense, nor trust in his "sense" of foreboding |
| [ ] |
The narrator says that he was a "commonsensical" fellow who didn't believe in telepathic intuition or some sixth sense, nor trust in his "sense" of foreboding |
| [x] |
By speaking of his youth, when he was "a sturdy, commonsensical fellow", the narrator implies that he has matured and would now be less dismissive of warning signs |
| [ ] |
By speaking of his youth, when he was a sturdy, commonsensical "fellow", the narrator implies that he has matured and would now be less dismissive of warning signs |
|
|
|
3.
|
"And then, not particularly wishing to discuss the nature of my business with him, I picked up my newspaper again and unfolded it with a certain ostentation, and so, for some little while, we rumbled on in the nasty train, in silence - save for the huffing of the engine, and the clanking of iron wheels upon iron rails, and the occasional whistle, and the bursts of rain, like sprays of light artillery fire, upon the windows" |
|
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing "enmity" to humankind when "bursts of rain" are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when "bursts" of rain are likened to "sprays" of artillery fire |
| [ ] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when bursts of rain are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
| [x] |
Nature is presented as bearing enmity to humankind when "bursts of rain" are likened to "sprays of artillery fire" |
|
|
|
4.
|
"While I waited, I wrote a brief fond note to Stella, which I would post the next morning, and while I ate heartily, I mused about the type of small house we might afford to live in after our marriage, if Mr Bentley were to continue to give me so much responsibility in the firm, so that I might feel justified in asking for an increase in salary. All in all, and with the half-bottle of claret that accompanied my supper, I prepared to go up to bed in a warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
|
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of "Stella" and his future "home, give Arthur a "warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a warm glow of well-being and contentment |
| [x] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a "warm glow of well-being and contentment" |
| [ ] |
Good food and drink, combined with thoughts of Stella and his future home, give Arthur a "warm" "glow" of "well-being" and "contentment" |
|
|
|
5.
|
"The ground sloped a little down to the estuary shore and, as I passed under one of the old arches, I startled a bird, which rose up and away over my head with loudly beating wings and a harsh croaking cry that echoed all around the old walls and was taken up by another, some distance away. It was an ugly, satanic-looking thing, like some species of sea-vulture - if such a thing existed - and I could not suppress a shudder as its shadow passed over me, and I watched its ungainly flight away towards the sea with relief" |
|
| [ ] |
By using "demonic" imagery to describe the startled "bird", Arthur demonstrates that he is already on edge before seeing the Woman in Black in the island "burial ground" |
| [x] |
By using demonic imagery to describe the startled bird, Arthur demonstrates that he is already on edge before seeing the Woman in Black in the island burial ground |
| [ ] |
By referring to the vulture as "ugly" and satanic-looking, Arthur demonstrates that he is already thinking about the supernatural before he sees the Woman in Black for the second time |
| [ ] |
By referring to the "vulture" as ugly and "satanic-looking", Arthur demonstrates that he is already thinking about the "supernatural" before he sees the Woman in Black for the second time |
|
|
|
6.
|
"The noise of the pony trap grew fainter and then stopped abruptly and away on the marsh was a curious draining, sucking, churning sound, which went on, together with the shrill neighing and whinnying of a horse in panic, and then I heard another cry, a shout, a terrified sobbing - it was hard to decipher - but with horror I realised that it came from a child, a young child" |
|
| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur hears the sounds of "draining", "sucking" and "churning" |
| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur "hears" the sounds of "draining", "sucking" and "churning" |
| [ ] |
The distinction between the world of the senses and the supernatural is blurred by the use of onomatopoeia when Arthur hears a "curious draining, sucking, churning sound" |
| [x] |
All of the above |
|
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|
7.
|
"'I must face it out, Mr Jerome. Such things one must face.' and even as I spoke I felt a new determination arise within me.
"'So I said.' Mr Jerome was looking at me pityingly. 'So I said ... once.'
"But his fear was only serving to strengthen my resolve. He had been weakened and broken, by what? A woman? A few noises?" |
|
| [x] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened and broken" by something as insignificant as a "woman" or a "few noises" |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being weakened and broken by something as insignificant as a woman or a few noises |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened" and "broken" by something as insignificant as a woman or a few noises |
| [ ] |
Arthur takes a condescending view of Mr Jerome, pitying him for being "weakened and broken" by something as insignificant as a "woman" or a few noises |
|
|
|
8.
|
"And my manner that day must have indicated clearly that I would brook no opposition, heed no warning, even from within myself. I was by now almost pigheadedly bent upon following my course" |
|
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost" pigheadedly sticking to the plan |
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as almost pigheadedly sticking to the plan |
| [x] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost pigheadedly" sticking to the plan |
| [ ] |
It is only in retrospect that Arthur can see how stubbornly he held to his plan to stay overnight in Eel Marsh House: he remembers himself as "almost pigheadedly bent upon following my course" |
|
|
|
9.
|
"And then, from somewhere within the depths of the house - but somewhere not very far from the room in which I was - I heard a noise. It was a faint noise, and, strain my ears as I might, I could not make out exactly what it was. It was a sound like a regular yet intermittent bump or rumble. Nothing else happened" |
|
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is faint, but also not "very" far from the room where he is |
| [x] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is "faint", but also "not very far from the room" where he is |
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is a regular yet intermittent bump or rumble |
| [ ] |
Suspense is heightened by Arthur's lack of knowledge as he struggles to identify the source of the noise, which is a "regular yet intermittent" bump or rumble |
|
|
|
10.
|
"My story is almost done. There is only the last thing left to tell. And that I can scarcely bring myself to write about. I have sat here at my desk, day after day, night after night, a blank sheet of paper before me, unable to lift my pen, trembling and weeping too" |
|
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of "Arthur" sitting at his "desk" "trembling and weeping" |
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his "desk" "trembling" and "weeping" |
| [ ] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his desk trembling and weeping |
| [x] |
The reader is reminded that the narrator still suffers from the events he is recalling when we have a sudden vision of Arthur sitting at his desk "trembling and weeping" |
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