Question 1 Skills: Explicit and Implicit Meanings (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE English Language): Revision Note

Question 1 Skills: Explicit and Implicit Meanings

Paper 1: Reading is the compulsory exam for the Cambridge IGCSE First Language English, and examiners recommend that you complete the questions in the order they are set.

Question 1 is a series of compulsory short-answer questions based on Text A in your reading insert.

Two of the AO1 Reading skills you are tested on in these questions are:

• R1: demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings

• R2: demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes

The sections below will explain the difference between explicit and implicit meanings and how to recognise them.

Explicit versus implicit meanings

• Explicit information is clear and directly expressed

• Implicit refers to something that is understood, but not described or stated clearly or directly:

  • Something stated implicitly uses implication, assumption and inference to generate meaning.

For example:

Something that is implicit is inferred; this means you need to make a logical inference based on the evidence you are presented with.

In the above example, the fact that the corridor seems to be a frightening place is a logical inference to make, based on the fact that even the shadows “quake and shudder”.

Analysing explicit and implicit meanings

When identifying and analysing the explicit and implicit meanings in a text, it is important that you explain your ideas clearly, based on the context of the text.

This means that you should:

• Develop your ideas and analysis based on the information you have been given in the text (rather than jumping to illogical conclusions)

• For example, in the sentence “The man stumbled into the house on his return from a night out, tripping and cursing his way up the stairs,” a logical inference would be that the man is drunk:

  • This is because of the writer’s use of the words “stumbled”, “tripping” and “cursing”

  • Jumping too far would be to suggest that the man is an alcoholic; there is no evidence in this sentence to support this

• Zoom in on particular words that support the inference you are making:

  • Explain why the writer may have chosen those particular words to use

For example, consider the following text:

The explicit information in this text is:

• Lyuba is a one-month-old baby mammoth who lived about 40,000 years ago

• Scientists do not know how she died ("died mysteriously")

• She was discovered on a riverbank in Siberia

• She is the most perfectly preserved woolly mammoth ever discovered

What is implied in the text is:

• This is an amazing, unusual and rare scientific discovery (“Only a handful have ever been found before”/”none like her”/”most perfectly preserved woolly mammoth ever discovered”)

• Scientists around the world are astounded and excited by her discovery (“Lyuba has mesmerised the scientific world”)

• Her discovery is big news (“creating headlines across the globe”)

What’s most important is that you have evidence for all of your implied meanings (as in each of the examples above).

Critical Reading Tools

Think of critical reading as a bit like an autopsy: you have a piece of text laid out in front of you and you need to dissect it. To do that, you need to learn what tools there are, how to use them, and when to select the right one. These reading tools are going to help you to better interrogate the texts you’re given in the exam. The 4 tools are:

• Question

• Clarify

• Evidence

• Infer

Question

As you read a text, ask yourself:

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why?

This helps you understand the text.

Clarify

Identify any gaps in your understanding:

• Break a word down to its root:

  • Strip it of its prefix and/or suffix

• Look at the word in the context of the rest of the sentence:

  • Think about what word could replace the difficult word for the sentence to still make sense

Evidence

Scan the text for the evidence you need:

• This may be explicit, or more implied

Infer

Make informed judgements about the text, based on what you have read:

• Look for clues, hints or patterns