# English HL Grade 12 P1 NSC November Prediction 2026 QP > Grade 12 English HL Paper 1 question paper from the NSC November Prediction Exam 2026, 14 pages. Read online or download the free PDF. - Page: https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-12-english-hl-2026-nsc-november-prediction-exam-question-paper-paper-1-english/6b405c29-ef77-4fde-b1da-d5178a54d27f - Updated: 2026-10-29 - Subject: English HL - Grade: Grade 12 - Language: English - Document type: Question paper - Year: 2026 - Exam period: NSC November Prediction Exam - Paper: 1 - Publisher: Hlayiso - Curriculum: CAPS - Pages: 14 Breadcrumbs: [Home](https://www.hlayiso.com/) › [Library](https://www.hlayiso.com/library) › [Grade 12](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-12) › [English HL](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-12/english-hl) › [English HL Grade 12 P1 NSC November Prediction 2026 QP](https://www.hlayiso.com/library/grade-12-english-hl-2026-nsc-november-prediction-exam-question-paper-paper-1-english/6b405c29-ef77-4fde-b1da-d5178a54d27f) ## About this document English Hl · Grade 12 · NSC November Prediction Exam · 2026 · English. Question paper, 14 pages. Read online or download the PDF. Read it free online on the page above; download the PDF from there. ## Document text Text extracted from the PDF. Layout, diagrams and tables may not survive extraction. ### Page 1 Prediction hlayiso mock exams Practice Series: Grade 12 NSC Preparation WWW.HLAYISO.COM NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE GRADE 12 ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE P1 PREDICTION EXAMINATION 2026 MARKS: 70 TIME: 2 hours This question paper consists of 14 pages. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 2 English Home Language/P1 2 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION 1. This question paper consists of THREE sections: SECTION A: Comprehension (30) SECTION B: Summary (10) SECTION C: Language structures and conventions (30) 2. Read ALL the instructions carefully. 3. Answer ALL the questions. 4. Start EACH section on a NEW page. 5. Rule off after each section. 6. Number the answers correctly according to the numbering system used in this question paper. 7. Leave a line after each answer. 8. Pay special attention to spelling and sentence construction. 9. Suggested time allocation: SECTION A: 50 minutes SECTION B: 30 minutes SECTION C: 40 minutes 10. Write neatly and legibly. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 3 English Home Language/P1 3 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction SECTION A: COMPREHENSION QUESTION 1: READING FOR MEANING AND UNDERSTANDING Read TEXT A and TEXT B below and answer the questions set. TEXT A IN PRAISE OF BOREDOM We have conquered the dull moment. We may have lost something precious in the process. 1 Last Tuesday I spent forty minutes in a queue at my local bank. There were thirty-two people in the line, and I counted twenty-nine of them staring at their phones. Of the remaining three, one was a sleeping baby, one was a security guard and the third was an elderly man in a neatly pressed suit who was doing something truly radical: absolutely nothing. He studied the ceiling. He read the 5 faded posters about home loans. He watched the queue inch forward, and once or twice he smiled to himself, as if he had remembered a private joke. He looked, I thought, bored. Then a strange question occurred to me: when had I last been bored? 2 I could not remember. 10 3 Boredom, it seems, is becoming extinct. The smartphone has rescued us from every empty moment of the day. We scroll while the kettle boils, while the advertisements play, while we wait for the lift and, increasingly, while we walk across the road. Each tiny gap in our day is filled before it can open. But what exactly have we gained by banishing boredom? And who decided that an empty 15 minute was a problem that needed to be solved? 4 The answer may lie in how uncomfortable we have become with our own company. In one widely reported American study, volunteers were left alone in a bare room for fifteen minutes with nothing to do but think. Their only distraction was a button that delivered a mild electric shock – one that they had already 20 experienced and said they would rather avoid. Yet a surprising number of them pressed it anyway. Faced with a choice between their own thoughts and physical pain, many preferred the pain. 5 This is the great paradox of our age. We are the most entertained generation in human history, and yet we have never been more restless. The cure for boredom 25 has made us more easily bored. Like a sweet tooth that demands ever more sugar, a mind that is constantly stimulated soon finds the ordinary world unbearably bland. A sunset, a conversation, a chapter of a novel – none of it can compete with the bright, bottomless feed in our pockets. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 4 English Home Language/P1 4 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction 6 Why should this matter? Because boredom, for all its discomfort, is not an empty 30 room; it is a waiting room. When the mind is not being fed from the outside, it begins to feed itself. It wanders, wonders and connects ideas that would never meet in a busier head. Researchers in Britain found that people who had first been given a deliberately dull task – copying numbers out of a telephone directory – afterwards came up with more inventive ideas than those who had not. Boredom, 35 in other words, is where creativity clears its throat before it speaks. 7 Boredom also gives us something even more valuable: time to think about our lives. In quiet, unstructured moments, uncomfortable but important questions tend to surface. Am I happy? Is this what I want to do with my life? Have I been unkind to someone I love? These are not questions that anyone enjoys asking. Our phones 40 make sure that we never have to answer them. 8 Of course, not all boredom is a gift. The grinding boredom of a learner in an overcrowded classroom without textbooks, or of a young graduate who has spent two years searching for work, is not a creative luxury; it is a symptom of a much deeper injustice. Nobody should romanticise that. The boredom I am defending 45 is a far smaller and humbler thing: the five minutes in a queue, the long taxi ride home, the slow Sunday afternoon. 9 So the next time you find yourself waiting, resist the twitch of your thumb. Let the minutes stretch, sag and yawn. Stare out of the window. Count the ceiling tiles. Allow your mind to slip off its leash and wander wherever it likes. It may sulk at 50 first, like a child who has been denied sweets. Give it time. Somewhere in that drifting, an idea, a memory or a decision may be quietly waiting for you. 10 As for the elderly man at the bank, he reached the teller just before I did. On his way out, he glanced at me and at the phone in my hand, and nodded, as if he knew a secret. Perhaps he did. He had spent forty minutes doing what most of us 55 have forgotten how to do: simply being. [Examiner's own text] AND Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 5 English Home Language/P1 5 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction TEXT B 1 2 TWENTY MINUTES LATER … 3 TWO HOURS LATER … NO POWER. NO DATA. NO BATTERY. THE POWER IS BACK, WHAT AM I THABO! YOU CAN SUPPOSED TO DO?! CHARGE YOUR PHONE! 1% … SHH! NOT TICK … TOCK … NOW, MA – I'M BUSY! 0% [Examiner's own cartoon] CHARACTERS: TEENAGE BOY: Thabo WOMAN: Thabo's mother DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAMES: FRAME 1: During a power failure, Thabo stands in the lounge with his arms in the air. His phone shows a battery level of 1%. The Wi-Fi router next to him is switched off. FRAME 2: Thabo sits slumped on a chair with his head resting on his hand. A clock ticks on the wall and his phone lies on the floor with a flat battery. FRAME 3: Thabo sits on the floor, smiling, surrounded by his own drawings and a home-made kite. The light is back on and his mother stands in the doorway. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 6 English Home Language/P1 6 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction QUESTIONS: TEXT A 1.1 Refer to paragraph 1. Why does the writer describe the elderly man's behaviour as 'truly radical' (line 5)? (1) 1.2 Explain why the writer begins the article with the anecdote about the queue at the bank (paragraph 1). (2) 1.3 Refer to paragraph 2. Account for the single-sentence paragraph. (2) 1.4 Refer to lines 14–16: 'But what exactly … to be solved?' Explain the purpose of the rhetorical questions in these lines. (2) 1.5 Refer to paragraph 4. What point is the writer making by referring to the American study? Answer in your own words. (2) 1.6 Refer to lines 24–26: 'We are the … more easily bored.' Discuss the paradox in these lines. (3) 1.7 Refer to lines 30–31: 'Why should this … a waiting room.' Choose the appropriate response from the list of options below. The writer's attitude towards boredom in these lines is … A dismissive. B appreciative. C resentful. D indifferent. (1) 1.8 Refer to paragraph 7. Critically discuss the validity of the writer's claim that our phones 'make sure that we never have to answer' (line 41) such questions. (3) 1.9 Refer to paragraph 9. Comment on how the diction in this paragraph encourages the reader to embrace boredom. Include TWO examples of diction in your response. (3) 1.10 Is paragraph 10 an appropriate conclusion to the article? Justify your response. (3) Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 7 English Home Language/P1 7 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction QUESTIONS: TEXT B 1.11 Refer to FRAMES 1 and 2. Explain how the cartoonist uses visual cues to convey Thabo's state of mind. (2) 1.12 Refer to FRAME 3. Critically discuss the irony of Thabo's response, 'SHH! NOT NOW, MA – I'M BUSY!' (3) QUESTION: TEXTS A AND B 1.13 Refer to TEXT B and paragraph 6 of TEXT A. To what extent does TEXT B illustrate the writer's view that boredom 'is not an empty room; it is a waiting room' (lines 30–31)? Justify your response. (3) TOTAL SECTION A: 30 Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 8 English Home Language/P1 8 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction SECTION B: SUMMARY QUESTION 2: SUMMARISING IN YOUR OWN WORDS TEXT C offers advice on how to listen well. Summarise, in your own words, how a person can become a better listener. NOTE: 1. Your summary should include SEVEN points and NOT exceed 90 words. 2. You must write a fluent paragraph. 3. You are NOT required to include a title for the summary. 4. Indicate your word count at the end of your summary. TEXT C LEND ME YOUR EARS: THE LOST ART OF LISTENING Most of us believe that we are good listeners. After all, we hear people talk all day long. But hearing and listening are not the same thing. Hearing is something your ears do automatically; listening is a skill and, like any skill, it can be learnt. The first step is surprisingly simple: put your phone away. A phone on the table, even one that is face down and silent, tells the speaker that they may be interrupted at any moment. Turn towards the person, make comfortable eye contact and give them your undivided attention. Next, resist the urge to interrupt. Many of us listen only until we find a gap in which to speak, and we spend the time while the other person is talking rehearsing our own reply. Let the speaker finish their thought, even if there is a pause. Silence is not an emergency; often the most important thing a person says comes after a moment of hesitation. Good listeners are curious. Instead of asking questions that can be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no', ask open questions such as 'How did that make you feel?' or 'What happened next?' These invite the speaker to explore their thoughts more deeply. It also helps to check that you have understood. Repeat what you have heard in your own words – 'So you feel that your manager ignored your idea?' – and give the speaker a chance to correct you. This simple habit prevents countless misunderstandings. Pay attention to what is not said. A person's tone of voice, facial expression and posture often reveal more than their words do. A friend who says 'I'm fine' with folded arms and a flat voice is probably not fine at all. Perhaps the hardest part of listening is keeping your opinions to yourself, at least for a while. When someone shares a problem, our instinct is to offer advice or to pass judgement. Yet many people do not want to be fixed; they want to be heard. Wait until you are asked for your opinion, and avoid steering the conversation towards your own experiences. Finally, show that you are engaged. A nod, a smile or a brief 'I see' encourages the speaker to continue. Listening well is one of the kindest things we can do for another person. In a noisy world, it is also one of the rarest. [Examiner's own text] TOTAL SECTION B: 10 Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 9 English Home Language/P1 9 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction SECTION C: LANGUAGE STRUCTURES AND CONVENTIONS QUESTION 3: ANALYSING ADVERTISING Study the advertisements (TEXT D and TEXT E) below and answer the set questions. TEXT D NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES. SOME WEAR PLASTERS. HOPEFLOW DONOR CLINIC One donation. Less than an hour. One small pinch and a cup of sweet tea. Yet the blood you give today could help to save up to three lives tomorrow: a mother after a difficult birth, a child injured in a car accident, a gran fighting cancer. You don't need superpowers. You just need to show up. Give the unforgettable gift. Book your donation at your nearest HopeFlow clinic. HopeFlow Give a little. Save a lot. BLOOD SERVICE [Examiner's own advertisement. HopeFlow Blood Service is a fictitious organisation.] NOTE: A young man walks out of a blood donor clinic, smiling, with a cup of tea in his hand. His sleeve is rolled up and a small plaster covers the inside of his elbow. On the wall behind him, his shadow is shaped like a superhero wearing a cape, with hands on hips. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 10 English Home Language/P1 10 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction The text in the advertisement reads as follows: NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES. SOME WEAR PLASTERS. One donation. Less than an hour. One small pinch and a cup of sweet tea. Yet the blood you give today could help to save up to three lives tomorrow: a mother after a difficult birth, a child injured in a car accident, a gran fighting cancer. You don't need superpowers. You just need to show up. Give the unforgettable gift. Book your donation at your nearest HopeFlow clinic. HopeFlow BLOOD SERVICE Give a little. Save a lot. QUESTIONS: TEXT D 3.1 Refer to the headline: 'NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES. SOME WEAR PLASTERS.' Explain how the headline challenges the reader's idea of a hero. (2) 3.2 Discuss ONE advertising technique used in the written text of TEXT D. Give ONE example to support your answer. (3) 3.3 Provide the root word of 'unforgettable'. (1) AND Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 11 English Home Language/P1 11 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction TEXT E YOUR HOUR. THEIR LIFETIME. 1 HOUR Hospitals need blood urgently – every single day. Give an hour. Give a lifetime. HopeFlow BLOOD SERVICE [Examiner's own advertisement] NOTE: An hourglass is labelled '1 HOUR'. Instead of sand, drops of blood fall into the lower half, where they form a heart. A heartbeat line runs from the base of the hourglass. The text in the advertisement reads as follows: YOUR HOUR. THEIR LIFETIME. Hospitals need blood urgently – every single day. Give an hour. Give a lifetime. HopeFlow BLOOD SERVICE QUESTION: TEXT E 3.4 Identify the part of speech of 'urgently' in TEXT E. (1) QUESTION: TEXTS D AND E 3.5 Refer to both TEXT D and TEXT E. In your view, which visual image conveys the advertiser's message more effectively? Justify your choice. (3) [10] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 12 English Home Language/P1 12 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction QUESTION 4: UNDERSTANDING OTHER ASPECTS OF THE MEDIA Study the cartoon (TEXT F) below and answer the set questions. TEXT F: CARTOON 1 I HAVE JOINED 2 DAD … YOU IT IS CALLED 3 THE FAMILY CHAT SENT 'GOOD GOOD QUICK! I MUST GROUP! NOW I AM MORNING' WITH MANNERS, WARN EVERYONE! A MODERN MAN! SIX SUNFLOWERS. MY CHILD. GREAT. AT 4 A.M. URGENT!!! ! PIN FORWARD THIS P ING G! TO TEN PEOPLE OR YOUR PHONE WILL EXPLODE!!! PING! 4 5 THAT EVENING … 6 STOP! DAD, YOU CAN'T BELIEVE DID YOU CHECK THE OH NO! EVERYTHING YOU READ ONLINE. SOURCE, MY CHILD? SCIENTISTS ALWAYS CHECK THE SOURCE! SAY CHOCOLATE WILL RUN OUT BY FRIDAY! I MUST SEND THIS TO EVERYONE! [Examiner's own cartoon] CHARACTERS: TEENAGE GIRL: Naledi MAN: Naledi's father (Dad) DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAMES: FRAME 1: Dad proudly holds up his phone. Naledi stands with her arms folded and her eyes rolled upwards. FRAME 2: Naledi looks at her phone, which is pinging non-stop. Dad stands upright, smiling. FRAME 3: Dad holds his phone at arm's length and squints at a message on the screen. Drops of sweat fly from his head. FRAME 4: Naledi raises a finger as she speaks. Dad, looking down, stands with his shoulders hunched. FRAME 5: Naledi sits on the couch with her phone. Her eyes are wide and one hand is pressed to her cheek. FRAME 6: Dad sits in an armchair, reading a newspaper, with one eyebrow raised and a slight smile. Naledi stands frozen, her phone in her hand. Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 13 English Home Language/P1 13 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction QUESTIONS: TEXT F 4.1 Refer to FRAME 1. Describe Naledi's attitude towards her father's announcement. (1) 4.2 Refer to FRAME 3. Discuss how Dad's body language reveals his state of mind. (2) 4.3 Refer to FRAME 3. Account for the use of capital letters and multiple exclamation marks in the message on Dad's phone. (2) 4.4 Refer to FRAMES 4, 5 and 6. Critically discuss how the cartoonist uses irony to create humour. (3) 4.5 'Dad, you can't believe everything you read online.' (FRAME 4) Rewrite Naledi's words in reported speech. Begin with: Naledi told her father … (2) [10] QUESTION 5: USING LANGUAGE CORRECTLY Read TEXT G, which contains some deliberate errors, and answer the set questions. TEXT G SECOND-HAND, FIRST CLASS 1 Not long ago, buying second-hand clothes was something that many young South Africans did in secret. Today, the popularity of thrift shops have grown so rapidly that 'thrifting' has become a hobby, a business and even a fashion statement. On weekends, markets in cities across the country are packed with students who hope to score a designer jacket for the price of a sandwich. 5 2 My cousin is a devoted thrifter. Last winter, she finds a woollen coat for R60 – a coat that would have cost over R2 000 in a shopping mall. She told me proudly that it still had the original label on it. Every garment – whether a faded denim jacket or a pair of barely worn sneakers – has a story, and part of the fun is imagining who owned it before. A good find never fails to illicit compliments from friends. 10 3 The trend is not only about saving money. Charity shops sell donated clothing at a fraction of the original price, and the profits support local causes. The fashion industry is one of the world's largest polluters, and every item that is reused is one less item that ends up in a landfill site. Young shoppers who have grown up with climate change on the news feel that they can also make a small but real 15 difference as well. 4 Although the clothes have been worn before, they often look brand new. For a growing number of young people, thrifting has become a simple, stylish step towards a more sustainable future. [Examiner's own text] Copyright reserved Please turn over ### Page 14 English Home Language/P1 14 Hlayiso/Prediction 2026 NSC Prediction QUESTIONS: TEXT G 5.1 Provide a synonym for 'packed' (line 4), in context. (1) 5.2 Rewrite 'score' (line 5) in formal English. (1) 5.3 Correct the concord error in paragraph 1. (1) 5.4 Correct the error of tense in paragraph 2. (1) 5.5 State the function of the dashes in lines 8–9. (1) 5.6 Identify and correct the malapropism in paragraph 2. (1) 5.7 'Charity shops sell donated clothing at a fraction of the original price' (line 11). Rewrite the above clause in the passive voice. (1) 5.8 Remove the redundancy in paragraph 3. (1) 5.9 'Although the clothes have been worn before, they often look brand new.' (line 17) Choose the correct answer from the options below. The above sentence is a … A simple sentence. B compound sentence. C complex sentence. D compound-complex sentence. (1) 5.10 Provide the noun form of 'sustainable' (line 19). 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