Year 11 ICAS English 5-Question Sample

Question 1 of 5 Comprehension

The inherited word temporary finally suggests that Nella...

Personal essay

Only Temporary

The landlord called the courtyard garden temporary before the first pot arrived. Renovation, he said, would eventually require an empty concrete square, so nobody should mistake permission for permanence. Nella, who later wrote about the building, says his opinion never mattered to her. Yet she records his word before she records the planting. The tenants carried soil up three flights, painted each pot with a flat number and tied tomatoes to a railing that received only four hours of sun. Nella organised the watering roster. At two inspections she argued that the pots were furniture, not fixtures: movable things belonging to residents, not alterations belonging to the building.

The garden changed the scale of ordinary favours. A missed watering shift became a knock on a stranger's door; a bowl of basil on the landing became an invitation to cook. Meera from Flat 12 later joked that the residents had made a neighbourhood before they had made a garden, because the first seedlings failed but the roster survived. Nella quotes that sentence and then disputes it. The plants mattered, she insists. A disagreement over one pot makes her point: three households claimed its chillies, yet all three repaired its broken wheel. Ownership became less precise as responsibility became more exact. During a hailstorm, neighbours held flattened cardboard over the smaller pots while the largest planter split. We saved every temporary rosemary cutting we could, she writes, using the landlord's adjective at the moment of greatest collective care.

Nine years after the first planting, the landlord sold the block without beginning the renovation. The buyer kept the pots, installed a tap and called the garden an established feature in the sales report. Nella had already moved away. On a return visit, she noticed that several painted numbers were hidden beneath newer coats, while the cracked planter had been repaired with a metal band. She praises the permanent tap but wonders whether current tenants know which pots came first. Her closing claim is confident: the garden outlasted every plan made for its disappearance. Even there, however, she calls it the temporary garden. The prediction has failed; the category remains.

A accepts that the garden lacked lasting value B uses temporary only to contrast the new tap C rejects the forecast but retains its frame D forgets where the description first originated

Question 2 of 5 Vocabulary

In Nella's property argument, fixtures most nearly means...

Personal essay

Only Temporary

The landlord called the courtyard garden temporary before the first pot arrived. Renovation, he said, would eventually require an empty concrete square, so nobody should mistake permission for permanence. Nella, who later wrote about the building, says his opinion never mattered to her. Yet she records his word before she records the planting. The tenants carried soil up three flights, painted each pot with a flat number and tied tomatoes to a railing that received only four hours of sun. Nella organised the watering roster. At two inspections she argued that the pots were furniture, not fixtures: movable things belonging to residents, not alterations belonging to the building.

The garden changed the scale of ordinary favours. A missed watering shift became a knock on a stranger's door; a bowl of basil on the landing became an invitation to cook. Meera from Flat 12 later joked that the residents had made a neighbourhood before they had made a garden, because the first seedlings failed but the roster survived. Nella quotes that sentence and then disputes it. The plants mattered, she insists. A disagreement over one pot makes her point: three households claimed its chillies, yet all three repaired its broken wheel. Ownership became less precise as responsibility became more exact. During a hailstorm, neighbours held flattened cardboard over the smaller pots while the largest planter split. We saved every temporary rosemary cutting we could, she writes, using the landlord's adjective at the moment of greatest collective care.

Nine years after the first planting, the landlord sold the block without beginning the renovation. The buyer kept the pots, installed a tap and called the garden an established feature in the sales report. Nella had already moved away. On a return visit, she noticed that several painted numbers were hidden beneath newer coats, while the cracked planter had been repaired with a metal band. She praises the permanent tap but wonders whether current tenants know which pots came first. Her closing claim is confident: the garden outlasted every plan made for its disappearance. Even there, however, she calls it the temporary garden. The prediction has failed; the category remains.

A furniture B permissions C residents D attachments

Question 3 of 5 Structure

Placing temporary before the planting enables the essay to...

Personal essay

Only Temporary

The landlord called the courtyard garden temporary before the first pot arrived. Renovation, he said, would eventually require an empty concrete square, so nobody should mistake permission for permanence. Nella, who later wrote about the building, says his opinion never mattered to her. Yet she records his word before she records the planting. The tenants carried soil up three flights, painted each pot with a flat number and tied tomatoes to a railing that received only four hours of sun. Nella organised the watering roster. At two inspections she argued that the pots were furniture, not fixtures: movable things belonging to residents, not alterations belonging to the building.

The garden changed the scale of ordinary favours. A missed watering shift became a knock on a stranger's door; a bowl of basil on the landing became an invitation to cook. Meera from Flat 12 later joked that the residents had made a neighbourhood before they had made a garden, because the first seedlings failed but the roster survived. Nella quotes that sentence and then disputes it. The plants mattered, she insists. A disagreement over one pot makes her point: three households claimed its chillies, yet all three repaired its broken wheel. Ownership became less precise as responsibility became more exact. During a hailstorm, neighbours held flattened cardboard over the smaller pots while the largest planter split. We saved every temporary rosemary cutting we could, she writes, using the landlord's adjective at the moment of greatest collective care.

Nine years after the first planting, the landlord sold the block without beginning the renovation. The buyer kept the pots, installed a tap and called the garden an established feature in the sales report. Nella had already moved away. On a return visit, she noticed that several painted numbers were hidden beneath newer coats, while the cracked planter had been repaired with a metal band. She praises the permanent tap but wonders whether current tenants know which pots came first. Her closing claim is confident: the garden outlasted every plan made for its disappearance. Even there, however, she calls it the temporary garden. The prediction has failed; the category remains.

A frame resistance in borrowed language B prove the landlord designed the garden C announce that renovation eventually occurs D hide who first judged the garden

Question 4 of 5 Voice

Why does the essay retain Meera's joke before Nella disputes it?

Personal essay

Only Temporary

The landlord called the courtyard garden temporary before the first pot arrived. Renovation, he said, would eventually require an empty concrete square, so nobody should mistake permission for permanence. Nella, who later wrote about the building, says his opinion never mattered to her. Yet she records his word before she records the planting. The tenants carried soil up three flights, painted each pot with a flat number and tied tomatoes to a railing that received only four hours of sun. Nella organised the watering roster. At two inspections she argued that the pots were furniture, not fixtures: movable things belonging to residents, not alterations belonging to the building.

The garden changed the scale of ordinary favours. A missed watering shift became a knock on a stranger's door; a bowl of basil on the landing became an invitation to cook. Meera from Flat 12 later joked that the residents had made a neighbourhood before they had made a garden, because the first seedlings failed but the roster survived. Nella quotes that sentence and then disputes it. The plants mattered, she insists. A disagreement over one pot makes her point: three households claimed its chillies, yet all three repaired its broken wheel. Ownership became less precise as responsibility became more exact. During a hailstorm, neighbours held flattened cardboard over the smaller pots while the largest planter split. We saved every temporary rosemary cutting we could, she writes, using the landlord's adjective at the moment of greatest collective care.

Nine years after the first planting, the landlord sold the block without beginning the renovation. The buyer kept the pots, installed a tap and called the garden an established feature in the sales report. Nella had already moved away. On a return visit, she noticed that several painted numbers were hidden beneath newer coats, while the cracked planter had been repaired with a metal band. She praises the permanent tap but wonders whether current tenants know which pots came first. Her closing claim is confident: the garden outlasted every plan made for its disappearance. Even there, however, she calls it the temporary garden. The prediction has failed; the category remains.

A It confirms that the first seedlings survived. B It preserves a rival account of what mattered. C It transfers the watering roster entirely to Meera. D It proves the residents opposed the garden.

Question 5 of 5 Comprehension

The disputed chilli pot chiefly demonstrates that the residents...

Personal essay

Only Temporary

The landlord called the courtyard garden temporary before the first pot arrived. Renovation, he said, would eventually require an empty concrete square, so nobody should mistake permission for permanence. Nella, who later wrote about the building, says his opinion never mattered to her. Yet she records his word before she records the planting. The tenants carried soil up three flights, painted each pot with a flat number and tied tomatoes to a railing that received only four hours of sun. Nella organised the watering roster. At two inspections she argued that the pots were furniture, not fixtures: movable things belonging to residents, not alterations belonging to the building.

The garden changed the scale of ordinary favours. A missed watering shift became a knock on a stranger's door; a bowl of basil on the landing became an invitation to cook. Meera from Flat 12 later joked that the residents had made a neighbourhood before they had made a garden, because the first seedlings failed but the roster survived. Nella quotes that sentence and then disputes it. The plants mattered, she insists. A disagreement over one pot makes her point: three households claimed its chillies, yet all three repaired its broken wheel. Ownership became less precise as responsibility became more exact. During a hailstorm, neighbours held flattened cardboard over the smaller pots while the largest planter split. We saved every temporary rosemary cutting we could, she writes, using the landlord's adjective at the moment of greatest collective care.

Nine years after the first planting, the landlord sold the block without beginning the renovation. The buyer kept the pots, installed a tap and called the garden an established feature in the sales report. Nella had already moved away. On a return visit, she noticed that several painted numbers were hidden beneath newer coats, while the cracked planter had been repaired with a metal band. She praises the permanent tap but wonders whether current tenants know which pots came first. Her closing claim is confident: the garden outlasted every plan made for its disappearance. Even there, however, she calls it the temporary garden. The prediction has failed; the category remains.

How the garden redistributes possession and care

episode	ownership	responsibility
chilli pot	three claims	three repairers
watering shift	one roster name	a neighbour knocks
hailstorm cuttings	original pot split	cuttings rescued together

A abandoned the pot once its wheel broke B assigned every plant to a single flat C valued produce but rejected maintenance D share care without settling ownership

Year 11 English sample

Answer the sample questions

The inherited word temporary finally suggests that Nella...

In Nella's property argument, fixtures most nearly means...

Placing temporary before the planting enables the essay to...

Why does the essay retain Meera's joke before Nella disputes it?

The disputed chilli pot chiefly demonstrates that the residents...