Year 8 Autumn Term 2: Prose Study
Week Five
Learning Objective: effect of vocabulary choices
Everyone must: consider the words missing from the extract and make appropriate
choices.
Most should: complete task two.
Some will: consider how tension is created in this extract.
Task 1
Read this passage and try to replace the missing words.
Renowned curator Jaques Sauniere _________________ through the vaulted archway
of the museum’s Grand Gallery. He _______________ for the nearest painting he could
see, a Carravaggio.
_____________________ the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old man
___________________ the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and
Sauniere _______________________ backward in a heap beneath the canvas.
As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to
the suite. The floor shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.
The curator _______________ a moment, _______________ for breath, taking stock. I
am still alive. He ________________ out from under the canvas and _______________
the cavernous space for somewhere to hide.
A voice spoke, _______________________ close. “Do not move.”
On his hands and knees, the curator _________________, turning his head
____________.
Only fifteen feet away, outside the sealed gate, the mountainous silhouette of his
attacker ________________ through the iron bars. He was broad and tall, with ghostpale skin and thinning white hair. His irises were pink with dark red pupils. The albino
drew a pistol from his coat and aimed the barrel directly at the curator. “You should not
have run.” His accent was not easy to place. “Now tell me where it is.”
Task 2
Think about the impact these words would create.
1. Why do you think the writer chose to use these words?
Task 3
How does the writer build tension in this passage through his use of vocabulary,
sentence structure and sentence variety? (approx 100 words)