This article investigates the potential of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) for exploring students' achievements in writing, thus moving beyond “deficit models” of grammar in school English. It considers the semantic features of successful interpretations of examination narratives, using what I call the “symbolic reading”. Halliday has suggested that we need to distinguish between grammar and grammatics, with the grammatics viewed as independent from but sensitive to language in use. In this article, I apply his notion of grammatics to analyze the linguistic basis of students' interpretive achievements. The article investigates three aspects of A-range interpretations of different narratives. These symbolic readings indicate a preference for relational transitivity of a synoptic kind, an ability to reformulate story significance through elaboration and rhetorical “spans” between material semiosis (in Theme) and abstract significance (in New). The analysis brings to light what often appears entirely intuitive on the part of successful English students but is nevertheless crucial to their success in examination English. The final section of the article considers some implications of the grammatics for teachers who want to prepare their students to read unfamiliar narratives symbolically.