IGCSE English 0500: Analysing Writer's Effects. A Street Violinist

Read the passage, then answer the questions that follow.

On the corner of Feltham Street, where the buses groaned to a halt and pigeons squabbled over crusts, an old violinist unpacked his case each morning at eight precisely. His fingers, gnarled as driftwood, found the strings without needing to look, and within seconds the ordinary noise of the street seemed to fold itself around a single thread of sound.

The music did not simply play; it climbed. It hauled itself over the roar of engines, slipped between the shouts of a coffee-cart vendor, and settled, finally, in the ears of anyone who paused to listen. A low note would tremble, almost drowning, before the bow dragged it back up into the light. Then came a run of high, bright notes, scattering like coins flung across the pavement, quick and glittering and gone before they could be caught.

Commuters who had not looked up from their phones in years found their steps slowing, just slightly, just long enough to notice. An office worker paused with her coffee cooling in her hand. A delivery boy freewheeling past on his bicycle drifted, for one bar, out of rhythm with his own pedalling. Nobody clapped. Nobody stayed. But for the length of one aching, rising phrase, Feltham Street was, for once, entirely still.

(a) Identify one simile used to describe the music or the violinist, and explain the effect it creates. [2]

(b) Identify one example of personification used to describe the music (not the phrase you used in part (a)), and explain what it suggests about the music's power over the street. [2]

(c) Explain the effect of the final short sentence: "But for the length of one aching, rising phrase, Feltham Street was, for once, entirely still." [2]

Assessment focus

This question tests figurative language used to describe an abstract thing (music) as well as the effect of a short sentence at a structural turning point, showing how word choice, imagery and sentence length work together to create effect.

Part (a): Simile

Two valid options, both containing “like”/“as”:

“notes, scattering like coins flung across the pavement”. High notes are compared to scattered coins: bright, valuable, plentiful, but also fleeting, since flung coins scatter and vanish quickly. This suggests the music’s brilliance is dazzling but momentary.
“fingers, gnarled as driftwood”. The violinist’s aged fingers are compared to driftwood, wood shaped and smoothed over years by water. This suggests his skill and hands have been shaped slowly by long experience (and perhaps hardship), despite an outwardly frail appearance.

Mark scheme, up to 2 marks: 1 mark for a genuine simile correctly quoted, 1 mark for an effect that engages with the specific connotations of the compared object (coins: bright/fleeting; driftwood: weathered/experienced), not a generic “it’s descriptive.”

Part (b): Personification of the music

Must be distinct from the phrase chosen in (a). Strong options:

“The music… climbed. It hauled itself over the roar of engines”, gives the music human/animal abilities of climbing and hauling, suggesting real, effortful struggle, as though the music is a determined living presence forcing its way above the surrounding noise.
“A low note would tremble, almost drowning”, gives the note the human quality of trembling and (figuratively) drowning, suggesting fragility and vulnerability, as though the music is at real risk of being overwhelmed before it recovers.

Mark scheme, up to 2 marks: 1 mark for correctly identified personification of the music, 1 mark for an effect specific to what it suggests about the music’s power or fragility relative to the noisy street.

Part (c): Effect of the final short sentence

Mark scheme, up to 2 marks, for points such as:

1 mark for recognising that the sentence’s brevity, after longer sentences describing individual reactions, creates a sense of a held pause, the sentence itself enacts the stillness it describes.
1 mark for linking this to the earlier contrast “Nobody clapped. Nobody stayed.”, showing the stillness is genuine but fragile and momentary, which the short, final, slightly formal phrasing (“for once”) reinforces before the moment presumably passes.

Common pitfalls specific to this text

“notes, scattering like coins flung across the pavement” is a simile, not personification, it compares notes to coins using “like” rather than giving the notes a human quality directly.
Candidates sometimes treat “Nobody clapped. Nobody stayed.” as the sentence to analyse in part (c) rather than the specified final sentence; it is useful context but not the tested quotation.