Reading a short passage
Class 2 English · Comprehension · 24 questions with answers
Class 2 is where reading turns from decoding into understanding. The questions below move deliberately from 'find the sentence' to 'work it out', because a child who can only do the first has not yet made that turn.
- Finds an answer stated directly in a passage
- Answers a question whose answer is implied rather than stated
- Writes an answer in a full sentence rather than one word
Exercise 1 of 3 · 9 questions
Read the passage, then answer. PASSAGE: Meera has a small garden behind her house. Every morning she waters the tulsi plant and the two rose bushes. On Sunday she found a new plant growing near the wall. She did not plant it. Her grandmother said a bird must have dropped the seed.
Write the answer · Guided
Here’s one done for you
Where is Meera's garden? → Meera's garden is behind her house. The answer is in the first sentence, so the skill here is finding it, not thinking about it. Notice the answer is written as a full sentence - 'behind her house' is correct but Class 2 is the year to start writing the whole thing.
- 1)Where is Meera's garden?
- 2)What does Meera water every morning?
- 3)On which day did she find the new plant?
- 4)Who told her how the seed got there?
- 5)Did Meera plant the new plant herself?
- 6)How many rose bushes are there in the garden?
- 7)Which plant does Meera water besides the roses?
- 8)Where near the wall did she find the plant?
- 9)Who does the garden belong to?
Answers
- 1) Meera's garden is behind her house.
- 2) She waters the tulsi plant and the two rose bushes.
- 3) She found it on Sunday.
- 4) Her grandmother told her.
- 5) No, she did not plant it.
- 6) There are two rose bushes.
- 7) She waters the tulsi plant.
- 8) She found the new plant growing near the wall.
- 9) The garden belongs to Meera.
Exercise 2 of 3 · 7 questions
These answers are not written in the passage. Work them out.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
Does Meera look after her garden carefully? → Yes. She waters the plants every morning, so she looks after them carefully. The passage never uses the word 'carefully' - the answer comes from 'every morning'. Answers like this need the evidence attached, which is why the sentence has two halves.
- 1)Does Meera look after her garden carefully? How do you know?
- 2)Why did the grandmother say a bird dropped the seed?
- 3)Was Meera surprised by the new plant?
- 4)Does Meera water her plants only when she remembers? How do you know?
- 5)Is the grandmother sure a bird dropped the seed? Which word tells you?
- 6)Do you think Meera will look after the new plant too? Why?
- 7)Is the garden a big one? Which word in the passage tells you?
Answers
- 1) Yes. She waters the plants every morning, so she looks after them carefully.
- 2) Because Meera did not plant it, so it must have come there some other way.
- 3) Yes, because she did not plant it and did not know it was there.
- 4) No. The passage says every morning, so she does it whether she remembers or not - it is a habit.
- 5) No. She says a bird must have dropped it. The word 'must' means she is guessing from what she knows.
- 6) Answers will differ. Yes is likely, because she already waters her other plants every morning.
- 7) No, it is small. The passage says 'a small garden'.
Exercise 3 of 3 · 8 questions
Read the second passage, then answer. PASSAGE: Arjun forgot his tiffin box at home on Wednesday. At lunch time he sat quietly at his desk. His friend Sameer opened his own box, broke his chapati in half, and put one half on Arjun's desk. Two other children shared their food too. By the end of lunch Arjun had more to eat than on any other day.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
How do you think Arjun felt at the start of lunch? -> Sad or worried, because he had nothing to eat. The passage never says 'sad'. It says he sat quietly, and that is the clue. Any feeling word with a reason from the passage is correct here.
- 1)What did Arjun forget?
- 2)On which day did this happen?
- 3)What did Sameer do?
- 4)How many children shared their food with Arjun?
- 5)Why did Arjun sit quietly at lunch time?
- 6)How do you think Arjun felt at the start of lunch?
- 7)How do you think he felt at the end?
- 8)What does this passage tell us about Sameer?
Answers
- 1) He forgot his tiffin box at home.
- 2) It happened on Wednesday.
- 3) He broke his chapati in half and gave one half to Arjun.
- 4) Three children shared their food - Sameer and two others.
- 5) Because he had no food and did not want to say so.
- 6) Sad or worried, because he had nothing to eat.
- 7) Happy, because his friends shared and he had more than usual.
- 8) That he is kind and notices when someone needs help.
While your child works
- Let your child read the passage twice before answering. The second reading is where most of the comprehension happens and children skip it unless told.
- In the second exercise, accept any answer that uses evidence from the passage, even if the wording differs from ours.
- If your child answers in one word, do not mark it wrong - ask them to say the whole sentence aloud, then write what they said.