Two Texts Compared

Two Texts Compared ⚖️

**Q4 (16 marks, AO3)** is Paper 2's big comparison. Two writers, one theme, and usually **opposite** opinions — your job is to **compare** them. And not just what they think: Q4 wants how each writer's **methods** make you feel their viewpoint. This module builds that double comparison.

Text A — a tech column, 2021 📱

Two writers on living with smartphones. First, an enthusiast (written for this module — your real sources will differ): *What a time to be alive. In my pocket sits a device that would have seemed pure sorcery to my grandmother — a camera, a map, a library, a link to everyone I love. My daughter video-calls her cousins in Lagos as easily as calling downstairs. We are, for the first time in history, never truly alone. People love to moan about screens, but I say: look up from your worrying and marvel. We have built magic, and we get to hold it.*

Text B — a magazine essay, 2022 📵

Now a very different view on the same subject: *We are the most connected generation in history, and the loneliest. Watch a train carriage: twenty people, twenty glowing rectangles, not one word exchanged. My own phone buzzes like a needy pet, and I obey — at dinner, in bed, mid-conversation with the people I claim to love. We were promised the world in our pockets. What we got was a leash. I do not want to look at another screen. I want to look at a face.*

A different kind of compare 🎯

Careful: Paper 2 asks you to compare **twice**, in different ways. • **Q2** compared the **information** in the texts (AO1) — the facts and ideas. • **Q4** compares the writers' **attitudes/viewpoints** AND the **methods** they use to convey them (AO3). Same texts, but now you weigh *how they feel* and *how the writing shows it*.

What to compare

For Q4 (AO3), what exactly must you compare between the two texts?

• The writers' different attitudes AND the methods they use to convey them
• Only the factual information in each text
• Only the language techniques in Text A
• Which of the two texts is better written

Name the viewpoints 🧭

Before comparing, pin down each writer's **attitude**: • **Writer A** is **enthusiastic** — technology is "magic", a source of wonder and connection. • **Writer B** is **cynical** — technology is "a leash", isolating us even as it connects us. Two clear, opposite viewpoints. Now the marks come from comparing them — and how each writer builds them.

Writer A's attitude

An interactive activity.

Writer B's attitude

An interactive activity.

Compare the methods too 🔀

A top Q4 doesn't just say the writers disagree — it shows **how** each conveys their view, side by side. Both reach for a **metaphor**, but in opposite directions: Writer A's "**magic**" fills the reader with wonder, whereas Writer B's "**leash**" makes technology feel like a trap. Comparing the *methods* is where the marks climb.

A strong comparison

Which sentence is a strong Q4 COMPARISON point — linking both writers' attitudes AND their methods?

• Writer A is celebratory, using the metaphor "magic", whereas Writer B is bitter, using "a leash" to show entrapment.
• Text A is about phones and Text B is also about phones.
• Writer A uses a list of three.
• Both texts are non-fiction and quite short.

Rank the comparisons

An interactive activity.

Why C is strongest

Why is response C the strongest Q4 answer?

• It compares both writers' attitudes AND their methods, with evidence and a connective
• It is simply the longest of the three
• It only discusses Writer A in detail
• It avoids taking any position

Write the comparison

An interactive activity.

In the exam 🎓

Comparison mastered. Grade-9 habits for Paper 2 Q4: • Compare the writers' **attitudes** AND their **methods** — never just what they say (that\'s Q2). • Weave **both** texts into each point with a **connective** (whereas / in contrast / similarly), backed by a quotation from each. • Always link a method to its **effect** on the reader — how the writing makes you share (or resist) the viewpoint.