Do your underarms start to sweat when faced with writing a short-answer response to a test question or an answer during an on-the-job training course?
Let me share with you an idea I came up with when I was a high school English teacher. I believe it’s a simple formula that may help you craft well-written short answer responses: SQSQC.
SQSQC = Statement, Quote, Statement, Quote, Conclusion.
For example, let’s say you have to write a short answer based upon reading the following passage from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens:
Once upon a time–of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve–old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them.
The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already– it had not been light all day–and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.
The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part.
Wherefore page the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed. “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.
“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!” He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
“Christmas a humbug, uncle!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “You don’t mean that, I am sure?”
“I do,” said Scrooge. “Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”
“Come, then,” returned the nephew gaily. “What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you page to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said, “Bah!” again; and followed it up with “Humbug.”
Question: Dickens used a variety of techniques to evoke the bleak mood of both the setting and of Scrooge. Describe two of them.
Now, don’t start sweating! Using the SQSQC method, we can easily craft a response. Ready?
First, let’s tackle the first S. We’ll make a STATEMENT to begin our answer. Something like:
One of the techniques Dickens used to evoke the bleak mood of this setting is his description of the city streets by using a simile.
Next, let’s write the first Q. We’ll pull a QUOTE from the passage to back up our first statement. (Quote, in this instance, refers to a section of the passage, and not necessarily something that one of the characters said.) Remember to put quote marks around anything you pull directly from the passage, like this:
“The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already– it had not been light all day–and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.”
Don’t you love Dickens’ simile of the flare of candles in the windows of offices? “. . .like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.” It tells us that the city is dark and dirty.
Next, let’s take a look at the second S. We’ll make another STATEMENT to begin our answer for Scrooge’s mood. Something like:
Dickens also uses dialogue to show Scrooge’s bleak mood after his nephew wishes him a Merry Christmas as shown in the following:
Now, we’ll pull a second Q. We’ll use another QUOTE from the passage to back up what we just stated. You can leave out parts of the passage, but use an ellipsis, if you do. I favor this part:
“Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug! . . .Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.”
Lastly, it’s time to write our C, the CONCLUSION, to our short answer. Tip: Don’t use the word conclusion in your conclusion, however. I might write the following:
With descriptive language to show how dark and dirty the city is (“. . .like ruddy smears upon the palpable air.”) and dialogue (“Bah! said Scrooge, “Humbug!”), Dickens shows not only the bleak mood of the setting, but also the bleak personality of Scrooge.
Now, let’s put it all together and read our answer.
One of the techniques Dickens used to evoke the bleak mood of this setting is his description of the city streets by using a simile. “The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already– it had not been light all day–and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.” Dickens also uses dialogue to show Scrooge’s bleak mood after his nephew wishes him a Merry Christmas as shown in the following: “Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug! . . .Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.” With descriptive language to show how dark and dirty the city is (“. . .like ruddy smears upon the palpable air.”) and dialogue (“Bah! said Scrooge, “Humbug!”), Dickens shows not only the bleak mood of the setting, but also the bleak personality of Scrooge.
Voila! There you have it. A well-crafted short answer response using the SQSQC method. I hope this will help you.
In Him,
Pamela
#pamelarobertshowell #writingprompts #AChristmasCarol