1.“She wasn’t really sure” if she wanted to live there.

2.She felt like ‘she would be under inspection.

3.She felt she was being “assessed for suitability.”

4.She wondered if “she would get on anyone’s nerves.”

5.She thought the door was “rather shabby.”

6.She would be “weighed up” to see if she would play loud music.

7.She had “anxiety” over the thought of climbing the stairs every day.

• THE WRITER USES THE VERB ‘ENCOURAGED’ TO SHOW PAT IS PLEASED TO MEET BRUCE.

• SHE USES DIALOGUE TO SAY SHE LIKES ‘THE STREET’, ‘THE PART OF TOWN’ AND THAT IT ‘SEEMS QUIET.’ THIS SUGGESTS SHE LIKES A LOT ABOUT THE FLAT BEFORE SHE HAS EVEN SEEN IT.

• HOWEVER, SHE USES THE ADJECTIVE ‘RICKETY’ TO DESCRIBE THE BOOKCASE WHICH SUGGESTS SHE THINK IT’S OLD.

• SHE USES THE NOUN ‘DISTASTE’ TO SHOW SHE THINKS THE SOFA IS HORRIBLE.

• SHE ALSO THINKS THE SOFA HAS BEEN ‘BATTERED AND HUMILIATED.’ THESE VERBS SUGGESTS THE SOFA HAS SUFFERED YEARS OF ABUSE.

• SHE THINKS THE SOFA CONTAINS LOTS OF HIDDEN THINGS FROM PREVIOUS PREOPLE, ‘OTHER BITS AND PIECES.’

WHAT IMPRESSIONS DO YOU GET OF ANNA IN THESE LINES [10]

One impression I get of Anna is that she is untrustworthy. She was asked to clean her room ‘at least twice’ and ‘assured’ Bruce it will be done. This verb suggests she had made it clear to Bruce she would clean the room.One impression I get of Anna is that she is messy. Bruce calls her ‘messy and lazy’ and the verb ‘collapsed is used to describe the magazines. The verb ‘collapsed’ suggests there are a great number of magazines that are all over the floor.We are also told her room has a ‘musty odour.’ The adjective ‘musty’ suggests a stale, mouldy smell and ‘odour’ makes it seem a negative aroma. Her presence also ‘lingered’ which suggests she is negative presence that Bruce cannot remove entirely from the room.One impression I get of Anna is that she is selfish. She left ‘lipstick stains’ on a glass in her room. Even though she was moving out, she didn’t even bother to clear the room and even the stuff inside was unclean. A simile is used to describe her as immature ‘like a child really.’ This suggests Bruce felt like he had to look after her as if she was his daughter.

One impression I get of Anna is that she is not liked by Bruce. ‘He had always hated going in there.’ The aggressive verb ‘hated’ makes it sound Bruce had a violent dislike for being around Anna and her room.‘I encouraged her.’ The verb ‘encouraged’ suggests Bruce actively persuaded Anna to leave as he wanted her to go which makes us think she must have been a rotten flatmate. This also makes Anna seem naïve as she moved out just because someone said she should.

• THE WRITER USES SAYS THE ROOM IS ‘NOT CHEAP’ TO SUGGEST SHE THINKS BRUCE IS CHARGING HER TOO MUCH FOR THE ROOM.

• THE WRITER USES THE ADVERB ‘TENTATIVELY’ TO SUGGEST BRUCE FEELS ANXIOUS ABOUT ASKING PAT FOR THE RENT.

• THE WRITER USES THE VERB ‘RELAXED’ TO SHOW BRUCE FEELS AT EASE ONCE PAT SAYS SHE WILL ‘PAY IN ADVANCE.’

• THEY BOTH ‘SMILE’ WHICH SUGGESTS THEY ARE COMFORTABLE WITH EACH OTHER.

• THE WRITER TELLS US THAT PAT THINKS ‘BRUCE SEEMED FINE’ AND REMINDED HER OF AN ‘UNTHREATENING’ COUSIN. THIS ADJECTIVE SUGGESTS SHE DOESN’T FEEL INTIMIDATED BY BRUCE.

• PAT DESCRIBES HIM AS ‘GOOD LOOKING’ AND THE READER FEELS SHE IS ATTRACTED TO HIM DESPITE HER SAYING SHE WOULDN’T BECOME INVOLVED WITH ‘SOMEONE LIKE THAT.’

• THE WRITER USES THE NOUN ‘GIRL’ TO SUGGEST BRUCE SEES HER AS IMMUATE AND THAT HE IS IN CONTROL.

• BRUCE SAYS THE AGE GAP MIGHT BE ‘A PROBLEM’ AND ‘CRUCIAL.’ THIS ADJECTIVE SUGGESTS BRUCE THINKS THE AGE GAP MIGHT BE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN A SUCCESSFUL STAY IN THE FLAT FOR PAT. ALTHOUGH HE COULD MEAN ROMANTICALLY TOO.

• THE WRITER USES SHORT SENTENCES WITH ADJECTIVES TO SHOW BRUCE DOESN’T THINK PAT IS SPECIAL ENOUGH FOR HIS ATTENTION, ‘COMFORTABLE...UNDISTURBING. AVERAGE.’ THE USES THE VERB ‘REFLECTED’ TO SHOW BRUCE IS REALLY MULLING OVER PAT HAS A POTENTIAL PARTNER.

I completely agree that the writer encourages the reader to dislike Bruce in this extract.From the beginning I think Bruce comes across as disrespectful towards women as we are told he is ‘between girlfriends.’ I feel this makes him an unappealing serial dater who is looking for his next conquest.At first his excuses for his relationship ending seem valid ‘unable to find the time’ but he quickly blames it all on his ex ‘she had been most unreasonable.’ I think this makes him seem petty and small.I feel the hyperbolic language used by the writer ‘appalled’, ‘unfairness’ and ‘attack’ portray him as melodramatic and makes me think his ex is better off without him.I think that the ‘expense’ being one of the reasons he didn’t go to London makes him seem cheap and ungenerous while not missing the ‘rugby international’ makes me think he is selfish. The veiled threat of ‘she was going to have to think again’ makes me think he is old-fashioned and chauvinistic. However, ‘which she did’ makes me warm to the character as it seems his ex was responsible for ending the relationship and all this may be insecurity and bluster from Bruce.

I think he is arrogant when he looked at himself in the ‘full length…favourite’ mirror and ‘smiled’, while he comes across as hugely vain when he unbuttons his rugby shirt and states aloud he looks ‘terrific’ even though he is on his own. However, I think this is a little unfair as looking at yourself in the mirror is a fairly natural thing and I feel the writer deliberately makes Pat seem narcissistic and a figure of fun.When we first meet him he comes across as polite and welcoming ‘he smiled at her’. However, it gets more negative as the extract develops. Halfway through I think he is manipulative by persuading Anna to move out, ‘a real opportunity’ and cruel when it’s revealed he had no knowledge of the job and just wanted her to go ‘Bruce shrugged.’ By the end of the whole extract Bruce is a very different person in my eyes. He is evolves from pleasant and charming, to arrogant, selfish, and totally unlikable.