This deep dive covers 📈 What to Do AFTER Naming the Evidence Type within Evidence Moves (Metaphor, Expert Citation, Statistics) for GCSE English Language. Revise Evidence Moves (Metaphor, Expert Citation, Statistics) in Writing — Persuasive Structure for GCSE English Language with 10 exam-style questions and 5 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 3 of 6 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
📈 What to Do AFTER Naming the Evidence Type
Naming the evidence type (“The writer uses a metaphor”) is L2. The L4 move is to explain the function — what the evidence achieves that a plain claim would not.
| ✗ L2 (names but does not explain) | ✓ L4 (names AND explains the function) |
|---|---|
| “The writer uses a metaphor to make it more interesting.” | “The writer compares the high street to a dying patient, perhaps to frame economic decline as a medical emergency — a crisis that requires intervention, not observation.” |
| “The writer uses a statistic to support their argument.” | “The writer deploys the statistic ‘one in three’ immediately after an anecdote, perhaps to shift the reader from individual sympathy to systemic anger.” |
| “The writer quotes an expert to prove their point.” | “By quoting Dr Eze of the British Heart Foundation, the writer borrows institutional authority, perhaps positioning their own argument as aligned with established medical consensus rather than personal opinion.” |
Practice questions for Evidence Moves (Metaphor, Expert Citation, Statistics)
Which of these sentences is an example of a metaphor used as persuasive evidence?
A writer includes: 'As Dr Priya Mehta of Imperial College London argues, the long-term effects of poor school lunches are indistinguishable from those of childhood poverty itself.' What type of evidence is this, and what is its main persuasive function?