Comparative Eng-any pointers?

Holly91

Hey im really struggling to write a comparative Qst. Our teacher is never in and she cant teach for the life of her...ino its no excuse tbh. But i was wondering if anyone could help give me pointers for it? i am that clueless would be much appricitated

Violafy

Which texts are you doing? Whatever they are and whatever the mode, it should be structured roughly like this:



Intro - state texts, define mode and how it affected texts (brief). Introduce which aspects of texts influence the mode - society, characters, plot etc.

P2 - opening/plot development of texts - make lots of developed comparasions between the texts as you do this - both similarities and differences.

P3 - Societies in which the texts are set - it would depend on the mode how you dealt with this. Poverty, politics, role of men/women, conflict etc.

P4 - Characters and their relationships

P5 - Conclusions of the texts - positive or negative? how did they leave you feeling? Has the society/outlook of text changed from start? etc

P6 - Talk about any language/imagery which contributes to the texts if relevant - may not be needed for all questions.

Conclusion - sum up points, give a personal response etc.



Make sure you refer back to the question all the time, without being repetitive, or you could lose marks for clarity of purpose.
Include a few quotes, but you don't need nearly as many as for poetry/single text. Hope that helped!

Holly91

thanks alot for that
im goin to have to try and answer it now...knowing my standard of english it will be a big F

Holly91

And the texts that were doing are dancing at lugnasa,billy elliot and ny sister keeper...there ok but don't really get how dancing at lughnasa ties in with the other two...

Violafy

Ahh we're doing Billy Elliot too, but I know nothing about your other ones! I presume you've written the essay by now, how did it go? I'm quite sure you got more than an F.

LilMissCiara

Holly91 wrote: »

And the texts that were doing are dancing at lugnasa,billy elliot and ny sister keeper...there ok but don't really get how dancing at lughnasa ties in with the other two...

We're doing Dancing at Lughnasa, Billy Elliot and Purple Hibiscus so I see how Dancing at Lughnasa and Billy Elliot go together but My Sister's Keeper is a bit of an odd one?

Holly91

Violafy wrote: »

Ahh we're doing Billy Elliot too, but I know nothing about your other ones! I presume you've written the essay by now, how did it go? I'm quite sure you got more than an F.

i like billy elliot its a nice one yah surprisingly i didnt fail she actually said it was quite good thanks

Holly91

LilMissCiara wrote: »

We're doing Dancing at Lughnasa, Billy Elliot and Purple Hibiscus so I see how Dancing at Lughnasa and Billy Elliot go together but My Sister's Keeper is a bit of an odd one?

i dont really see how dancing at lughnasa ties in with billy elliot?but i hate that text anyways which doesnt help:p and my sisters keeper is relevent to billy elliot quiet alot surprisingly....:) family and disobeying parents ect...:cool:

LilMissCiara

Holly91 wrote: »

i dont really see how dancing at lughnasa ties in with billy elliot?but i hate that text anyways which doesnt help:p and my sisters keeper is relevent to billy elliot quiet alot surprisingly....:) family and disobeying parents ect...:cool:

-Matriarchal vs Patriarchal household [cultural context
-Poverty [cultural context]
-Dance as a means of escape [theme.. our theme was escape though]
-One starts good ends bad (D@L) the other starts bad ends good (BL) [general vision and viewpoint]
-Treatment/opinion of women [cultural context]

Holly91

oh there really good points actually!! thanks our teacher hasnt given us a theme yet or anything....:( completely stuck!! thats great help though for those two texts! thanks

joshrogan

We're doing Il Postino, Dancing At Lughnasa and Lies Of Silence.

The Comparitive is probably my favourite part of paper 2 with perscribed poetry coming in last

Muggwoffin

Is much quotation required for the comparative?

Violafy

Muggwoffin wrote: »

Is much quotation required for the comparative?

You need a few, but nowhere near as many as for Hamlet and poetry. I've gotten As in comparative essays by just incorporating a one liner or two into every paragraph - no long quotes. It's more important to write about key moments I think.

Violafy

Holly91 wrote: »

oh there really good points actually!! thanks our teacher hasnt given us a theme yet or anything....:( completely stuck!! thats great help though for those two texts! thanks

No theme?! :eek: Your teacher sounds useless (no offence ). Well done on the essay though! Our theme is fulflilment (Billy Elliot, Sive, Lamb). Do you know anyone else doing the same texts as you? As you really should try to get a theme soon...

Holly91

joshrogan wrote: »

We're doing Il Postino, Dancing At Lughnasa and Lies Of Silence.

The Comparitive is probably my favourite part of paper 2 with perscribed poetry coming in last

i would have to say Hamlet would come in last for me

Holly91

Violafy wrote: »

No theme?! :eek: Your teacher sounds useless (no offence ). Well done on the essay though! Our theme is fulflilment (Billy Elliot, Sive, Lamb). Do you know anyone else doing the same texts as you? As you really should try to get a theme soon...

no none :mad:
i think she might have mentioned one about family love but is that a bit vague? nope know noone well the other class have two similar texts so i think i might just use there notes and tie in billy elliot into it then
i really struggle with english would have to be my WORST subject
your help with comparative has been great tho

seriouslysweet

If you get someone passionate teaching you Hamlet it's graet, if not, not so much! Loads of day courses on it that might see ye right?

Holly91

seriouslysweet wrote: »

If you get someone passionate teaching you Hamlet it's graet, if not, not so much! Loads of day courses on it that might see ye right?

Yh our teacher just read it didn't explain anything that happened in it either...we'be never done qsr for her in it,or in poetry or the comparative.I to to grinds atm but I think it could be too late...really scared going to fail English that's an idea though thanks

implausible

Violafy wrote: »

No theme?! :eek: Your teacher sounds useless (no offence ).

You don't have to do theme. You can just do the other two modes.

Holly91 wrote: »

no none :mad:
i think she might have mentioned one about family love but is that a bit vague?

Are you sure you were listening?! Family love is your theme then. There is no such thing really as too vague. Just follow these steps for your essay paragraphs: 1. How & when is the theme introduced? 2. How is it developed? (how do we learn more about it?) 3. What obstacles/crisis occurs in the theme? 4. How is the theme resolved?

Holly91

deemark wrote: »

Are you sure you were listening?! Family love is your theme then. There is no such thing really as too vague. Just follow these steps for your essay paragraphs: 1. How & when is the theme introduced? 2. How is it developed? (how do we learn more about it?) 3. What obstacles/crisis occurs in the theme? 4. How is the theme resolved?

Yah I was listening but she just told us 'girls I think i might pick family love as your theme,don't take that for definative tho ill get back to Ye when i have decided fully' that was in 5th yr...and she hasn't mentioned our comparative since...she never really comes to class so we always have frees for eng....thanks though...having structure for qst is a great help

implausible

Holly91 wrote: »

Yah I was listening but she just told us 'girls I think i might pick family love as your theme,don't take that for definative tho ill get back to Ye when i have decided fully' that was in 5th yr...and she hasn't mentioned our comparative since...she never really comes to class so we always have frees for eng....thanks though...having structure for qst is a great help

Well, if she's being that vague, take 'family' as your theme then. It's v handy for those three texts - you could discuss the type of families and relationships in your intro, then discuss and compare how the theme of family is introduced (e.g. the theme of family love is apparent from the minute the curtain lifts on D@L as we see the Mundy sisters standing on the stage as Michael talks....). You then go on to compare how we learn more about the family (e.g. do we get flashbacks? We see key moments that show the relationship between father and son.....). Then, what tests the relationship or what obstacle is put in the way (v obvious for MSK, Fr Jack/poverty in D@L) and then, how the family relationships end up (tragic/happy/separated/destroyed/strengthened?).

For your CC, divide it into nice bite-size chunks e.g. the role of money, gender roles, social divisions, religion/morals/spirituality, conflict, marriage, family (you could recycle some notes from your Theme question). You can work away on this mode anyway; it's fairly straight-forward.

Holly91

deemark wrote: »

Well, if she's being that vague, take 'family' as your theme then. It's v handy for those three texts - you could discuss the type of families and relationships in your intro, then discuss and compare how the theme of family is introduced (e.g. the theme of family love is apparent from the minute the curtain lifts on D@L as we see the Mundy sisters standing on the stage as Michael talks....). You then go on to compare how we learn more about the family (e.g. do we get flashbacks? We see key moments that show the relationship between father and son.....). Then, what tests the relationship or what obstacle is put in the way (v obvious for MSK, Fr Jack/poverty in D@L) and then, how the family relationships end up (tragic/happy/separated/destroyed/strengthened?).

For your CC, divide it into nice bite-size chunks e.g. the role of money, gender roles, social divisions, religion/morals/spirituality, conflict, marriage, family (you could recycle some notes from your Theme question). You can work away on this mode anyway; it's fairly straight-forward.

wow thats great help tbh you should teach instead of our teacher! haha thanks that really helps me to get proper points together

johnmcdnl

ok this is going to sound really silly and basic but a lot of people don't do it...

compare the texts...

eg - poverty is a major feature of life in 1930s Ireland which is when blah blah blah blah is set blah de blah blah blah... similarly poverty affects the lives of the characters in blah blah blah... however in XYZ poverty is not an issue as the main character lives a luxurious life in a mansion blah blah blah...

just know all the main themes and stuff and make sure to actually compare...

once again I'll say I know it sounds basic but some people just write about textA then textB and then textC and actually never compare them and then wonder why they did badly..

if you make sure to keep comparing them all you'll be on the road to getting a pretty good mark.. once you actually answer what the question asks and actually compare your on your way to a C grade no bother as long as your content itself is good...

just make sure you know the themes/viewpoints and whatever else there is to talk about (sorry I'm completely after forgetting what you actually have to write about because I did the leaving last year and it's completely out of my head right now:P)

AND COMPARE THEM throughout the answer... 3-4 lines on textA compared to 3-4 lines on textB compared to textC next point..... and even go back to textA again if you want (once again I forget how much to write or whatever but I hope you get the idea)

then move onto your next topic to discuss and repeat throughout the entire answer...

and for your intro just basically say in the texts A B C the role of poverty, religion, matriarchal figures etc etc plays a huge role in the development of the characters... just basically list out what you intend to write about and use it as a guide to your whole answer

then it's just down to remembering a few quotes and getting them in where there needed and you've gotten yourself a great answer...

it's not difficult - just try to keep the answer well structured throughout - the more simple the structure the better basically


once your answer is logically layed out you'll find that it's not that hard once you know your texts pretty well... get notes from revision books if you have to or just use your teachers notes if there any good... just basically know the main headers/topics and keep it simple and compare compare compare and you'll do just fine

Holly91

johnmcdnl wrote: »

ok this is going to sound really silly and basic but a lot of people don't do it...

compare the texts...

dont think thats a silly thing to be saying at all
ino what you mean!! i was doing a pass paper for my grinds teacher and i was doing great at the begining comparing them all together but then towards the end i just wrote about the texts individually and thats where i lost all my marks!! great advice though so thanks