11+ Entrance Examination
English
Name:
……………………………………………………….
Time:
60 Minutes
Instructions:
 The marks available for individual questions should guide the length and
detail of your answers.
 You should spend about 20 minutes on each section.
 The accuracy of your spelling/punctuation/grammar will be assessed in
Section C.
Section A:
Section B:
Section C:
Understanding
Comment and Analysis
Expressive Writing
10 marks
10 marks
30 marks
Read the passage carefully, then answer all the questions in Sections A, B and C.
1
Now, at last, Kay felt that he was free to look at the Box of Delights. He went up to
2
his bedroom. He was very anxious not to be spied upon, and, remembering how
3
those three spies had been peering in at the window the night before, and how the
4
repulsive Rat had crept about in the secret passages finding out all sorts of things,
5
he was not sure that he could guard himself from being seen. His bedroom had two
6
doors in it opening on to different landings. He locked both doors and hung caps
7
over the keyholes: he looked under the beds. Then, as in the past, when he had
8
wished to hide from his governess, he crept under the valance¹ of his dressing-table:
9
no one could possibly see him there.
10
The Box was of some very hard wood of a dense grain. It had been covered
11 by shagreen² , but the shagreen was black with age and sometimes worn away so as
12 to show the wood beneath. Both wood and shagreen had been polished until they
13 were as smooth as a polished metal. On the side of it there was a little counter-sunk
14 groove, in the midst of which was a knob. ‘I press this to open,’ he repeated. ‘If I
15 push it to the right I can go small, whatever that may mean. If I push it to the left I
16 can go swift, and that’s what I’ve tried. I do want to see what’s inside it. I wonder,
17 is this wood that it’s made of lignum-vitae wood?’
18
‘It’s the wood the Phoenix builds in,’ the Box said.
19
‘Is it really?’ Kay said. ‘No wonder it smells like spice.’
20
Then he saw that the groove was inlaid with gold and that the golden knob
21 within the groove had been carven into the image of a rose-bud, which was
22 extraordinary fragrant. ‘I say,’ Kay said to himself, ‘this is a wonderful Box. Now
23 I’ll open it.’
24
He pressed the tiny, golden rose-bud and, at once, from within the box, there
25 came a tiny crying of birds. As he listened, he heard the stockdove brooding, the
26 cuckoo tolling, blackbirds, thrushes, and nightingale singing. Then a far-away cock
27 crowed thrice and the Box slowly opened. Inside he saw what he took to be a book,
28 the leaves of which were all chased and worked with multitudinous figures, and the
29 effect that it gave him was that of staring into an opening in a wood. It was lit from
30 within; multitudinous, tiny things were shifting there. Then he saw that the things
31 which were falling were petals of may-blossom from giant hawthorn trees covered
32 with flowers. The hawthorns stood on each side of the entrance to the forest, which
33 was dark from the great trees yet dappled with light. Now, as he looked into it, he
34 saw deer glide with alert ears, then a fox, motionless at his earth, a rabbit moving to
35 new pasture and nibbling at a dandelion, and the snouts of the moles breaking the
36 wet earth.
37 All the forest was full of life: all the birds were singing, insects were humming,
38 dragon-flies darting, butterflies wavering and settling. It was so clear that he could
39 see the flies on the leaves brushing their heads and wings with their legs. ‘It’s all
40 alive and it’s full of summer. There are all the birds singing: there’s a linnet;
41 bullfinch; a robin; that’s a little wren.’ Others were singing too: different kinds of
42 tits; the woodpecker was drilling; the chiffchaff repeating his name; the yellow43 hammer and garden-warbler were singing, and overhead, as the bird went swiftly
44 past, came the sad, laughing cry of the curlew. While he gazed into the heart of
45 summer and listened to the murmur and the singing, he heard another noise like the
46 tinkling of little bells. As he wondered what these bells could be he decided that
47 they were not bells, but a tinkling like the cry of many long-tailed birds together.
48 ‘Where did I hear that noise before quite recently?’ Kay said to himself.
¹A valance is a cloth or fabric used below a bed to conceal supports or clutter
²Shagreen is a type of leather
Section A: Understanding
10 marks
1. What is the name of the main character? (1 mark)
_____________________________________________________________________
2. How many doors does his bedroom possess? (1 mark)
_____________________________________________________________________
3. List two things Kay does to ensure he won’t be seen opening the box.
(2 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. What happens when Kay pushes the knob left and when he pushes it right?
(2 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Explain the meaning of “fragrant” in line 22. (1 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
6. In your own words, explain what you think “multitudinous” (line 30) might
mean. (1 mark)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
7. What do you think a “linnet” is? (line 40) Explain your answer. (2 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Section B: Comment and Analysis
10 marks
1. Look at lines 1 – 10 and explain how the writer shows how Kay is “very
anxious not to be spied upon”. Quote where necessary. (3 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Look at line 18. What is the effect of the Box being able to speak? (1 mark)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
3. How does the description of the box make it seem mysterious or magical? Use
short quotations to support your answer. (4 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
4. Explain one way in which the author shows the forest to be full of life. (2
marks)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Section C: Expressive Writing
30 marks
Please note the instructions
 Make your writing as descriptive and vivid as possible
 You should NOT write a story
 Description is far more important than narrative
 You should aim to write approximately 1 to 1½ sides
 Plan your writing before you start: the plan will NOT be marked
 The accuracy of your spelling, punctuation and grammar will form part of
the assessment in this section.
Answer ONE of the following:
Either
(a) Describe the scene at a beach during the winter
Or
(b) Describe backstage during a school play or concert.
Or
(c) Describe an inspiring view.
Write your question letter here
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________