Unit+2+Practice+Questions

ARGUE, PERSUADE, ADVISE
1. Your local council intends to allow a supermarket chain to build a superstore on a piece of land which has become available. Write an article for your local newspaper in which you try to persuade local people that this is unacceptable.

2. We live on an island surrounded by sea, beaches, harbours and coastal paths. Write a letter to a national newspaper in which you argue that Lottery money should be spent on preserving and improving our coastline.

3. Your school council has decided to raise awareness, both in the school and the community, of the importance of recycling waste. Write the text of a leaflet which is to be widely distributed, persuading people that recycling is a good thing for themselves, the community and the environment.

4. Some young people spend time doing voluntary work. Some do this work in the local communities while other go abroad. Write the text of a leaflet which is intended to persuade young people that voluntary work would be a valuable experience for them and for the community they served.

5. Your Saturday job coincides with the final of a Talent competition you have entered. Write them a letter in which you try to persuade them to let you have the day off.

6. You have been invited to contribute to a radio discussion called Issues for the 21st Century. The topic of your programme is: ‘We should refuse to buy goods from countries where workers are exploited.’ Decide on your point of view, then write out, in full, what you intend to say on the programme.

7. Write a speech to give to a Year 7 assembly in which you try to persuade students not to make the same mistakes you and your peers have made, and to learn from them instead as they progress through the school.


 * NEW**** 8. Write a letter to your teacher persuading me to give you lots of extra, private tuition for free, to help you boost your GCSE grade.


 * NEW**** 9. Write the text of a leaflet persuading people to give money to a specific charity (of your choice).


 * NEW**** 10. Write a speech to give to a Y11 assembly, in which you argue EITHER in favour of OR against the legalisation of guns for the public.

ANALYSE, REVIEW, COMMENT
11. There is a particular view that to come into money unexpectedly – such as through a lottery win, or similar – can solve many of the problems commonly faced in life. Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of suddenly becoming rich.

12. There is a view that young people, particularly of school age, eat too much ‘junk’ food. Write an article for your school magazine in which you analyse this view from your own experiences and perhaps from what you have read and seen. Comment on whether or not you think eating habits should be changed and how you think this might be achieved.

13. It has been suggested that having 169 TV channels and building motorways through the countryside is ‘progress’. Analyse this view of progress, commenting on why things are developing in this way and what reasons people might have to disagree.

14. Some people believe that people and animals can understand each other. Write an article for an animal lovers’ magazine which analyses this viewpoint and comment on the extent to which you believe human beings and animals can communicate.

15. Write an article for a travel magazine in which you analyse and comment on the advantages and disadvantages of travelling by train.

16. Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of setting students by ability in schools, commenting on what you think to be the best way to group children in school.

17. Why are teenagers so obsessed with fashion and labels? Write an article analysing the different reasons for this phenomenon, and commenting on whether or not it is a bad thing.

18. More and more people believe in alternative therapies (homeopathy, aromatherapy, osteopathy etc.) as the answer to illness. Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of non-conventional medicine, and comment on whether or not you would put faith in alternative remedies.

19. Currently, young people are able to vote when they turn 18 in the UK. Analyse the advantages and disadvantages or lowering the age to 16 (or even lower) and comment on when you think YOU would be ready to vote in the general election.


 * NEW**** 20. At George Mitchell, we are looking at more and more grouping of students in single-sex classes. Analyse the pros and cons of this arrangement, and comment on what you regard to be the best strategy.