CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: WORKSHEET 2B

Name Date

Worksheet 2B
1 Which of the following are conventions of a typical detective story?
Place a  next to your answers. One has been done for you.
a There is an intelligent detective. 
b There are creatures from other planets.
c Characters sing and perform dance routines.
d A detective character usually has a less intelligent companion.
e Bad characters wear black and good characters wear white.
f There is a mystery or crime to solve.
g The two main characters fall in love.
h There are clues to the mystery that the reader can enjoy as a puzzle.
i There are spacecraft or time travel.
j A mystery is solved at the end.

Conventions can be described as the ways in which something is usually done. In fiction,
conventions are the ‘rules’ of how certain kinds of stories or texts are normally set out and grouped
together – for example, into genres such as science fiction or detective fiction. Some conventions
are textual – that is, they are present in the text itself, such as a romance having two characters who
fall in love or a sonnet having 14 lines. However, some things you might think are conventions are
really just assumptions that readers make, such as thinking that poems have to rhyme. It is useful to
analyse stories to identify their textual conventions, and to see how writers sometimes try to
overturn readers’ assumptions about a genre.

2 Read this extract from the detective story ‘The Purloined Letter’ by Edgar Allan Poe.
An important letter has been stolen and the police speak with master detective Dupin
about the search for it.

‘We opened every package and parcel; we not only opened every book, but we turned
over every leaf in each volume, not contenting ourselves with a mere shake, according to
the fashion of some of our police officers. We also measured the thickness of every book-
cover, with the most accurate measurement, and applied to each the most jealous scrutiny
of the microscope. Had any of the bindings been recently meddled with, it would have
been utterly impossible that the fact should have escaped observation. Some five or six
volumes, just from

1
Cambridge Lower Secondary English 9 – Creamer, Clare & Rees-Bidder © Cambridge University Press 2021
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: WORKSHEET 2B

the hands of the binder, we carefully probed, longitudinally, with the needles.’
‘You explored the floors beneath the carpets?’
‘Beyond doubt. We removed every carpet, and examined the boards with
the microscope.’
‘And the paper on the walls?’
‘Yes.’
‘You looked into the cellars?’
‘We did.’
‘Then,’ I said, ‘you have been making a miscalculation, and the letter is not upon the
premises, as you suppose.’
‘I fear you are right there,’ said the Prefect. ‘And now, Dupin, what would you advise me
to do?’
‘To make a thorough re-search of the premises.’

Examine the list of conventions. Based on the text extract, decide whether each convention is a textual
convention or an assumption by the reader. Draw lines to indicate your answers. One has been done
for you.
a Characters attempt to solve a mystery.
b There is dialogue/direct speech between characters.
Textual
convention c The villain gets caught at the end.
d The detective is male.
e The crime will be serious, not trivial.

Assumption f The detective has superior intelligence.

by the reader g It is set out in paragraphs with punctuated sentences.
h Less intelligent characters will look foolish next to
the detective.
i The detective will examine the scene where the
mystery began.
j The story is set on planet Earth.

2
Cambridge Lower Secondary English 9 – Creamer, Clare & Rees-Bidder © Cambridge University Press 2021
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY ENGLISH 9: WORKSHEET 2B

3 Check the answers you have indicated in Activity 2. Now, write a paragraph explaining
your answers.

3
Cambridge Lower Secondary English 9 – Creamer, Clare & Rees-Bidder © Cambridge University Press 2021