36 exam-style questions on Language, culture and identity in texts — topic AE2.3 of Time and space in the IB English A: Language and Literature syllabus — with answers and explanations. Samples below; the full set is free with an account.
In image analysis, a subject who looks directly out at the camera creates
Answer: a 'demand' image that engages and appeals to the viewer
A direct gaze 'demands' a relationship with the viewer; an averted gaze 'offers' the subject as something to be looked at.
A bilingual speaker alternates between English and Tagalog within a single conversation, depending on topic and listener. Determine the term for this practice.
Answer: code-switching
Code-switching is the alternation between languages or varieties within one exchange; it often signals shifting identities, solidarity or shifts in topic and formality.
A report calls a male manager 'assertive' but a female manager showing identical behaviour 'bossy'. This wording is best analysed as
Answer: gendered language encoding double standards
The evaluative gap between the two labels attaches judgement to gender, not to behaviour. The error is describing this vaguely as 'connotation' without naming whose identity the word choice constructs and diminishes.
A public statement says, "Mistakes were made." The passive construction here mainly works to
Answer: remove the agent who made the mistakes
An agentless passive lets a speaker concede an event while deleting the person responsible for it; the active version would have to name someone. Formality is a side effect, and nothing in the wording says anything about scale or timing.
One newspaper calls an armed group 'rebels'; another calls the same group 'militants'. This difference is best analysed as
Answer: lexical choice framing the reader's sympathy
Both labels can denote the same people while carrying different connotations of legitimacy, so the choice positions the reader before any argument is made. Spelling and translation are not at issue, and neither label is a factual error.
A linguist records how speakers actually use the word 'literally' instead of ruling on whether that usage is correct. This approach is
Answer: descriptive
A descriptive account reports usage; a prescriptive one issues rules about it. The distinction matters in this course because judgements about 'bad English' are usually social judgements about speakers rather than linguistic ones about language.
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