Sutton SET English Mock Paper 9

Choose the correct spelling.

The goose became ____ when anyone approached its nest.The goose became ____ when anyone approached its nest.

1. Aagressive
2. Baggresive
3. Caggresssive
4. Daggressive
5. Eaggressiv

Choose the correct spelling.

Although he was an ____, Luis completed the race confidently.Although he was an ____, Luis completed the race confidently.

1. Aamatuer
2. Bamateur
3. Camature
4. Dameteur
5. Eamatteur

Choose the correct spelling.

An ____ oak tree marks the entrance to the wood.An ____ oak tree marks the entrance to the wood.

1. Aancient
2. Banceint
3. Canciet
4. Danciant
5. Eanncient

Choose the correct spelling.

It soon became ____ that the gate was locked.It soon became ____ that the gate was locked.

1. Aaparrent
2. Bapparant
3. Caparent
4. Dapparrent
5. Eapparent

Choose the correct spelling.

The ____ rainfall for April is shown on the chart.The ____ rainfall for April is shown on the chart.

1. Aavarage
2. Baverge
3. Cavverage
4. Daverage
5. Eaverrage

Choose the correct spelling.

The whole ____ helped to clear litter from the park.The whole ____ helped to clear litter from the park.

1. Acomunity
2. Bcommmunity
3. Ccommunity
4. Dcommunitty
5. Ecommiunity

Choose the correct spelling.

The proposal caused ____ among local residents.The proposal caused ____ among local residents.

1. Acontroversey
2. Bcontraversy
3. Ccontroversie
4. Dcontroversy
5. Econtoversy

Choose the correct spelling.

The seedlings will ____ stronger roots in a larger pot.The seedlings will ____ stronger roots in a larger pot.

1. Adevelope
2. Bdevellop
3. Cdevolop
4. Ddevelopp
5. Edevelop

Choose the correct spelling.

The tune sounded strangely ____ to Imogen.The tune sounded strangely ____ to Imogen.

1. Afamilliar
2. Bfamilier
3. Cfamilar
4. Dfamiliar
5. Efammiliar

Choose the correct spelling.

The local ____ published its plans for the new bridge.The local ____ published its plans for the new bridge.

1. Agoverment
2. Bgovernmant
3. Cgouvernment
4. Dgovenment
5. Egovernment

In the paragraph describing the drainage ditch, how many black stripes remain visible on the marker post?

1. Athree
2. Btwo
3. Cfour
4. Dfive
5. Esix

Which three tins does the narrator carry from the bottom cupboard?

1. Abeans, peaches and tomato soup
2. Bpeas, peaches and chicken soup
3. Cbeans, pears and tomato soup
4. Dbeans, peaches and rice pudding
5. Epeas, pears and vegetable soup

Which group of items is carried upstairs in the laundry basket?

1. Aphotograph albums, piano music, passports, a radio and a work folder
2. Bphotograph albums, the china bowl, passports, medicines and a laptop
3. Cschool books, Gran's letters, passports, an asthma pump and a toolbox
4. Dphotograph albums, Gran's letters, passports, an asthma pump and a work folder
5. Eblankets, saucepans, passports, an asthma pump and a work folder

Where and how does Mum record the electricity number?

1. Aon the narrator's wrist in blue pen
2. Bon her phone in a blue note
3. Con Dad's palm in black pen
4. Don the work folder in pencil
5. Eon Kit's wrist in black pen

Why does Dad carry the camping stove downstairs again?

1. AIt cannot be used safely indoors.
2. BIts fuel has run out.
3. CIt is too heavy for the landing.
4. DThe radio says to leave it behind.
5. EMum needs its space for the toolbox.

In the opening paragraph, Dad shuts the door 'as if the flood might not have noticed us'.

Which option best explains this description?

1. AHis care contrasts with the rain's repeated knocking and makes the kitchen suddenly tense.
2. BClosing the door is a practical attempt to keep some weather outside while the family decides what to do.
3. CHis quiet action prevents the children from seeing how urgently the adults are judging the water.
4. DThe personification makes the water seem capable of choosing which property to enter.
5. EHis careful movement briefly treats the flood like a visitor that might pass by, revealing controlled denial of a threat already at the house.

Mr Bell answers Dad's question about when help will arrive by saying, 'They know we're here.'

What does his answer most precisely suggest?

1. AHe trusts that the engineers have been told which homes are affected.
2. BHe offers the only reassurance he can without pretending to know when the replacement engine will arrive.
3. CHe avoids giving a time because the invisible fields make travel difficult to judge.
4. DHe reminds Dad that the neighbours have not been forgotten during the wider emergency.
5. EHe wants Dad to focus on help being organised rather than on the failed station.

The narrator takes three tins upstairs, then returns for the tin opener only after Mum calls them back.

What does this detail best show?

1. AMum is keeping track of whether the food will actually be usable upstairs.
2. BThe narrator obeys quickly once a missing item is pointed out.
3. CIn the rush, the narrator first notices the obvious supplies but overlooks the small tool that makes them useful.
4. DThe family is choosing food that does not depend on the electricity staying on.
5. EThe bottom cupboard contains both emergency food and the equipment needed to open it.

Where the family chooses what to save, Dad presses one piano key and closes the lid.

Which option best explains this action?

1. AHe confirms that the piano is still working before leaving it downstairs.
2. BThe single note gives him a private farewell to something too large to rescue, while closing the lid accepts that it must stay.
3. CHe avoids discussing the piano because the family needs to use its time on smaller objects.
4. DTouching the key shows that the piano has emotional value even though practical choices come first.
5. EClosing the lid offers the instrument a little protection from dirt and splashing water.

Mum puts Gran's china bowl back and says, 'Second trip,' although the narrator says there will be no second trip.

Why does Mum say this?

1. AShe wants to keep the basket available for documents and medicine that matter immediately.
2. BShe uses a practical phrase so the children can continue working without pausing over the loss.
3. CShe still hopes the water may rise slowly enough for the family to return downstairs.
4. DShe postpones admitting aloud that an object connected with Gran must be abandoned.
5. EShe has not yet finished deciding which treasured objects deserve the limited space.

When Kit asks about fish entering the kitchen, Dad replies, 'Not if they have any sense.'

What is the most precise purpose of his reply?

1. AHe answers Kit without making a firm promise that the kitchen will remain dry.
2. BHe turns the frightening possibility into a joke, briefly helping Kit while revealing that he cannot offer real reassurance.
3. CHe suggests that the moving water would be an unsafe place even for fish.
4. DHe keeps Kit involved in the family's conversation rather than dismissing the question.
5. EHis humour contrasts with Mum's attention to the spreading water and electricity.

Mum writes the electricity number on the narrator's wrist rather than simply saying it aloud.

Which option best explains this choice?

1. AThe blue ink will remain visible when the house becomes dark.
2. BA wrist cannot be misplaced among the many objects being carried upstairs.
3. CShe creates a durable, immediately available record while preparing for power trouble without frightening the children with a speech.
4. DShe gives the narrator a useful responsibility during the move upstairs.
5. EThe phones may be needed for warnings, so she avoids relying on one device for the number.

In the paragraph beginning 'At half past nine', Mum counts people, phones, power banks and the radio.

Why are the numbers not comforting to the narrator?

1. AThe count confirms that four people are crowded into one upstairs room.
2. BSome useful equipment is present, but none of it shows how high the water will rise or when help will come.
3. CThe decreasing pattern from four to one makes their supplies sound limited.
4. DCounting is Mum's attempt to impose order after the lights have gone out.
5. EThe list reminds the narrator that communication and news now depend on batteries.

Mum says she 'always hated' the watering can as it floats away, but nobody smiles.

Which option best explains the moment?

1. AThe can is a minor possession compared with the valuable things the family has tried to save.
2. BMum attempts to make one small loss sound welcome, but the failed joke exposes how frightened everyone is by what the floating can proves.
3. CWatching the can leave confirms that water can now carry objects through the open gate.
4. DHer remark continues the adults' habit of using ordinary language instead of naming the likely damage.
5. ENobody wants to challenge Mum's claim while they are waiting for new instructions.

The water 'nudges' the dustbin in the opening paragraph.

Select the TWO phrases closest to nudges as it is used here.

Select TWO answers.

1. Apushes slightly
2. Bpresses gently
3. Cknocks over
4. Dflows around
5. Ecarries away

The towels 'drink quickly' when Mum rolls them against the door.

Select the TWO options that best express drink in this image.

Select TWO answers.

1. Aabsorb
2. Bsoak up
3. Crepel
4. Drelease
5. Edry

A pan falls downstairs with a 'bright clang'.

Select the TWO words that best describe bright in this sound image.

Select TWO answers.

1. Ashining
2. Bsharp
3. Cringing
4. Dmuffled
5. Econtinuous

Consider what the adults say and leave unsaid throughout the night.

Select the TWO most accurate words for their manner of speaking.

Select TWO answers.

1. Arestrained
2. Bevasive
3. Cpanicked
4. Dcertain
5. Echeerful

Several treasured or essential items are considered in the fourth paragraph. Which item is NOT carried upstairs?

1. Athe photograph albums
2. BGran's letters
3. Cthe passports
4. DKit's asthma pump
5. EGran's china bowl

Which statement about the water's progress through the home is NOT correct?

1. AIt lies across the yard before entering the house.
2. BIt passes beneath towels rolled at the back door.
3. CIt darkens the hall mat from one edge.
4. DIt reaches the electrical sockets before Dad turns off the power.
5. EIt later moves objects in the kitchen.

Dad performs many practical tasks during the evening. Which action does he NOT perform?

1. AHe carries the microwave upstairs.
2. BHe moves two dining chairs.
3. CHe turns off the electricity.
4. DHe watches the road from a bedroom window.
5. EHe restarts the failed pumping station.

Four statements accurately describe the family's arrangements upstairs. Which one does NOT?

1. AThe children sit on a mattress in their coats.
2. BA battery radio is available.
3. CTwo power banks have been counted.
4. DThe camping stove remains ready for use in the bedroom.
5. EThe narrator uses a torch after the lights go out.

Which items does the family move upstairs specifically because they contain information, memories or identity records?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. Athe photograph albums
2. BGran's letters
3. Cthe passports
4. DMum's blue work folder
5. Ethe microwave

The adults repeatedly avoid stating the full danger or loss. Which details show that pattern?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AMum says 'decisions later' without naming them.
2. BMr Bell replaces a requested arrival time with 'They know we're here.'
3. CMum promises a 'second trip' for the bowl.
4. DDad and Mum offer different guesses for the distant engine.
5. EThe radio gives a direct instruction to stay upstairs.

Which observations show that water has crossed or erased familiar boundaries around the home?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AThe weather comes indoors when Dad opens the back door.
2. BThe shine passes beneath the towels at the threshold.
3. CThe road disappears beneath water.
4. DThe watering can floats through the open gate.
5. EThe microwave plug trails behind Dad on the stairs.

Which actions directly prepare the family to remain safe or receive information while they wait upstairs?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. Ataking up the battery radio
2. Btaking Kit's asthma pump
3. Cturning off the electricity
4. Dcounting the phones and power banks
5. Ebalancing the sofa on food tins

By the time everyone settles in the bedroom, which belongings have definitely been left downstairs?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. Athe piano
2. BGran's china bowl
3. Cthe humming fridge
4. Done school shoe
5. Ethe photograph albums

Which sounds make the family aware of events they cannot fully see or identify?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. Aa small object knocking against a cupboard
2. Bthe distant engine thudding beyond the rain
3. Cthe pan clanging and rolling below
4. Dthe radio advising them to remain upstairs
5. Ethe watering can turning in the yard

In the opening paragraph, the river says, 'Water is expected to understand such instructions.'

Which option best explains the effect of this sentence?

1. AIt makes the measured channel sound like a message addressed to the river.
2. BIt questions the human confidence that drawing a straight route is enough to command how water will behave.
3. CIt contrasts the straight line seen from above with the bends that were cut away.
4. DIt suggests that engineers designed the banks for water to follow rather than for people to admire.
5. EIt gives the river a mind capable of considering what people demand from it.

The river observes that 'Human maps changed more quickly than the mud beneath them.'

What does this most precisely reveal?

1. APeople have redrawn the fen more often than its underlying hollows and levels have altered.
2. BMaps can record new fields and channels before the land has fully adjusted to them.
3. CThe river measures change by physical ground over long periods, making human plans seem brief and superficial.
4. DMud preserves evidence of earlier watercourses that modern maps may no longer show.
5. EThe river trusts the shape of the land more than the names and lines people place on it.

In the paragraph beginning 'The banks do not offend me', the river compares engineering works with a fallen tree.

Why does it make this comparison?

1. ABoth a bank and a tree can interrupt the river's easiest route.
2. BThe river has carried natural and human-made materials during its long existence.
3. CIt treats the works as temporary physical conditions to test and pass, not as personal insults deserving anger.
4. DA fallen tree can redirect water just as gates and concrete can delay it.
5. EThe comparison places human construction inside the river's much wider experience of obstacles.

The river says it may 'revisit an old turning beneath a wheat field' but denies choosing revenge.

Which option best explains why the water returns there?

1. AA lasting hollow guides water towards its former bend, so the return follows depth rather than intention.
2. BThe wheat field now covers a route that belonged to the river before the field existed.
3. CMany wet days give the river enough water to spread beyond the straight channel.
4. DThe embankments can delay the river without removing every lower place beyond them.
5. EPeople may interpret renewed flooding as an answer to their attempt to contain the river.

At the end, the river allows people to call it 'contained' again and says, 'Let them.'

What does this response most precisely show?

1. AThe river does not argue with the words people use about it.
2. BPeople may feel secure again when the road is visible and the banks appear to work.
3. CIts long memory makes the claim seem temporary, so it can accept the word without believing it is final.
4. DThe river recognises that embankments can protect a family for many years.
5. EIt is patient enough to let later changes test whether containment lasts.

The river recalls the fen before modern fields. Which detail is NOT part of that memory?

1. AReeds joined shallow water and sky.
2. BWinter water spread across miles of silt.
3. CA pebble moved over a hundred seasons.
4. DThe sea advanced and withdrew.
5. EStone houses stood on the raised road.

Which human attempt to control or redirect the river is NOT mentioned in Text 2?

1. Acutting away bends
2. Bbuilding high banks
3. Cusing pumps
4. Dusing gates
5. Edraining the river into an underground pipe

Which statement about the river's attitude is NOT supported by its account?

1. AIt regards generations as a short interval.
2. BIt accepts interruptions without treating them as insults.
3. CIt believes physical hollows outlast some mapped changes.
4. DIt is furious with the people who straightened it.
5. EIt expects engineered lines to soften eventually.

Which details specifically establish the river's memory as far longer than a human lifetime?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AIt remembers the fen before fields.
2. BIt moves one pebble over a hundred seasons.
3. CIt remembers the sea repeatedly advancing and withdrawing.
4. DIt calls generations a brief pause.
5. EIt hears people listening for an engine during one night.

Which phrases present human engineering as an attempt to give water a fixed route or limit?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. A'measured a clean course'
2. B'cut away my bends'
3. C'pressed high banks against my sides'
4. D'gates delay it'
5. E'the sea came nearer'

The river insists that it is patient rather than vengeful. Which statements directly build that self-portrait?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AThe banks do not offend it.
2. BIt accepts interruptions.
3. CIt denies choosing revenge.
4. DIt says it is not hurrying.
5. EIt describes a road as a shining reach.

The river continues 'wherever the ground permits'.

Select the TWO options closest to permits in this context.

Select TWO answers.

1. Aallows
2. Bmakes possible
3. Cmeasures
4. Ddelays
5. Eforbids

The two accounts describe the same kind of fen flood from very different viewpoints. Which details are supported by BOTH texts?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AThe landscape is identified as fen.
2. BHuman-made equipment is meant to direct or remove water.
3. CFloodwater covers a road.
4. DPeople listen or wait for an engine.
5. EThe narrator expresses anger at the flood.

Which storytelling features create the immediate family emergency in Text 1, rather than the river's reflective account?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. Aclock times within a single evening
2. Bnamed relatives carrying assigned objects
3. Cdirect speech between neighbours and family members
4. Da first-person child experiencing events as they happen
5. Ememories of the sea moving across long ages

Text 2 compresses the family's crisis into a few images. Which events in its fourth paragraph have clear counterparts in Text 1?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AA road becomes covered with water.
2. BChairs are taken upstairs.
3. CPeople listen for an engine.
4. DThe emergency lasts through one night.
5. EA wheat field is harvested by torchlight.

How do the texts use different scales of time to shape the flood? Which comparisons are accurate?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AText 1 marks change in minutes and hours.
2. BText 2 measures change in seasons and generations.
3. CText 1 makes waiting feel long because the family lacks a firm arrival time for help.
4. DText 2 makes engineered control seem temporary beside the river's memory.
5. EBoth narrators treat one night as the longest period they can imagine.

Uncertainty appears in both accounts, but the speakers respond differently. Which statements accurately compare those responses?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AText 1's adults offer cautious possibilities about the distant engine.
2. BText 1's narrator admits that hearing does not provide knowledge.
3. CText 2 explains renewed flooding through ground level rather than guessing at a motive.
4. DText 2 accepts that time will test human claims of containment.
5. EBoth speakers demand an exact prediction of when the water will fall.

Both writers use boundaries to examine whether water can be kept in its assigned place. Which connections are supported?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AText 1 shows water passing a door despite towels at the gap.
2. BText 1 shows familiar divisions failing when the road vanishes and downstairs is surrendered.
3. CText 2 describes a straight channel and high banks as imposed limits.
4. DText 2 says old hollows can guide water beyond mapped lines.
5. EBoth texts show every barrier holding successfully throughout the night.

Sound links the family's anxious present to the river's calmer account. Which observations about sound are accurate?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AIn Text 1, rain, machinery and moving objects keep the danger audible.
2. BIn Text 1, uncertain sounds cause the family to guess what is happening out of sight.
3. CText 2 recalls people listening for engines as one brief event in a longer pattern.
4. DText 2's final short sentence creates a quiet, unhurried ending.
5. EBoth texts end with a loud crash that proves the banks have broken.

The texts distinguish useful preparation from complete control. Which details contribute to that shared distinction?

Select ALL that apply.

Select ALL the answers that are correct.

1. AThe family saves medicine, information and ways to receive warnings.
2. BTowels slow or absorb water without stopping its entry.
3. CText 2 accepts that banks and gates can interrupt or delay flow.
4. DText 2 denies that a straight channel can level land or stop rain.
5. EBoth texts claim that preparation is pointless because flooding cannot be prevented forever.

Text 1 measures the night with clock times, while Text 2 measures memory in seasons and generations. Which difference between the speakers does that choice reveal most clearly?

1. AThe child understands geological change, while the river knows only what happens during one night.
2. BThe child has forgotten when the flood began, while the river predicts the exact hour when it will end.
3. CThe child anxiously experiences each hour as urgent, while the ancient river calmly treats even long human periods as brief.
4. DThe child is calm because help is certain, while the river is impatient with every delay.
5. EThe child speaks from the distant future, while the river reports events only as they occur.

Which option best contrasts what one night means to each narrator?

1. AFor the child, it is already a distant memory; for the river, it is an urgent surprise.
2. BFor the child, it is an amusing break from school; for the river, it is the first flood it remembers.
3. CFor the child, it proves the pumping station is useless; for the river, it proves all embankments have vanished.
4. DFor the child, it is an immediate change to home and safety; for the river, it is a brief return to a pattern older than the fields.
5. EFor both, the night matters only because a road cannot be used.

Text 1's adults avoid saying what will happen next, while Text 2 says, 'Given time, every line softens.'

What is the most important contrast between these attitudes to the future?

1. AThe adults care only about possessions, while the river cares only about the sea.
2. BThe adults know exactly when help will arrive, while the river cannot remember what happened before fields.
3. CThe adults expect the house to be destroyed, while the river promises to destroy every bank deliberately.
4. DThe adults refuse all advice, while the river gives precise instructions for repairing the channel.
5. EThe adults face a future too close and uncertain to name, while the river speaks confidently because its long timescale makes eventual change ordinary.

Text 1 ends with the family listening because they cannot know what the water will do. How does the ending of Text 2 most importantly change our view of that moment?

1. AIt confirms that the sound they hear is definitely the replacement pump and that the kitchen will soon be dry.
2. BIt sets the family's urgent uncertainty beside a natural process so slow and old that one frightening night is only a brief part of it.
3. CIt suggests that the family should understand the river well enough to stop listening for official instructions.
4. DIt proves that the river deliberately entered the house to punish people for building embankments.
5. EIt makes the family's concern for medicine, documents and power seem foolish and unnecessary.