Several specifications require comparison: of known texts, of known with unseen texts, or of all unseen texts.  These may be literary or linguistic comparisons, or there may be a requirement to combine both techniques.  The activities here include ways of developing comparative skills that will benefit all of these kinds of exam and coursework tasks.  Each activity has a short introduction in italics to indicate the kind of task that it is most suited as preparation and practice for.  The majority of these activities are about allowing...

William Golding wrote his second novel entitled “The Inheritors” one year after “Lord of the Flies”. The action covers the extinction of the last remaining tribe of Neanderthal Men at the hands of the more sophisticated and malevolent Homo sapiens. What does “malevolent” mean?

The novel is written in such a way that the reader might assume the group to be modern humans as they gesture and speak simply among themselves and bury their dead with heartfelt, solemn rituals.

The plot follows the fate of one Neanderthal called Lok when...

The Monkey’s Paw - Version B

W.W. Jacobs

Two versions of the same story…

• One was written for children who find reading difficult.
• What has changed?
• Why?

The Monkey’s Paw

W.W. Jacobs (Version B)

The year was 1876. A fire burned brightly in the front room of Laburnum Villa. Outside, the weather was cold and wet. It was night time and Mr and Mrs White had drawn the curtains to try and keep out the draught.

“Just listen to that wind,” said Mr White to his son opposite. Father and son were enjoying a game of chess.

“I’m listening,”...

The Monkey’s Paw - Version A

W.W. Jacobs

Two versions of the same story…

• One was written for children who find reading difficult.
• What has changed?
• Why?

The Monkey’s Paw

W. W. Jacobs (Version A)

Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnum Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess; the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old...

To undertake a comparative analysis of the two texts, you can concentrate on a number of areas. I have made general comments here and this ‘model’ could be used with other texts.

Essentially, one of these versions of “The Monkey’s Paw” (Text B) has a lower reading age than the other (Text A). I study this story with a number of classes. It is VERY popular and we often do drama based on the action in the tale.

I use Text B because some of my students cannot understand what is happening when I read Text A to them.

How? Read on…

We...