Reading between the lines
Class 4 English · Comprehension · 28 questions with answers
Class 4 is where comprehension questions stop asking what the passage says and start asking what it means. A child who reads accurately but literally begins losing marks here for the first time, and the fix is a habit rather than more reading.
- Finds a directly stated answer quickly and moves on
- Answers an inference question and gives the evidence for it
- Explains what a word means from the way it is used
Exercise 1 of 3 · 10 questions
Read the passage, then answer. PASSAGE: The last bus had gone. Karan looked at the empty road and then at his watch again, as if it might say something different. It was a long walk home and it had started to drizzle. He pulled his bag higher on his shoulder and set off. By the time he reached the corner shop, his shirt was sticking to his back, and the shopkeeper called out and offered him an umbrella he did not have to return.
Write the answer · Warm-up
Here’s one done for you
What had Karan missed? → Karan had missed the last bus. This one is stated in the first line, so it should take seconds. Class 4 answers should be full sentences - 'the bus' is right but will not get full marks by Class 5.
- 1)What had Karan missed?
- 2)What was the weather doing?
- 3)Who offered him an umbrella?
- 4)Where was he when the shopkeeper called out?
- 5)What did Karan look at twice?
- 6)What was Karan wearing that got wet?
- 7)What did the shopkeeper give him?
- 8)What did Karan do after he found the bus had gone?
- 9)How long had Karan been walking by then?
- 10)Which two things made Karan's walk uncomfortable?
Answers
- 1) Karan had missed the last bus.
- 2) It had started to drizzle.
- 3) The shopkeeper offered him an umbrella.
- 4) He was at the corner shop.
- 5) He looked at his watch.
- 6) His shirt, which was sticking to his back.
- 7) An umbrella.
- 8) He set off walking.
- 9) Long enough for his shirt to stick to his back - a fair while.
- 10) The drizzle and the long walk, which left his shirt wet and sticking to him.
Exercise 2 of 3 · 8 questions
None of these are written in the passage. Work them out, and say how you know.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
Why did Karan look at his watch a second time? → He was hoping the time was different, because he had missed the bus. The passage says 'as if it might say something different' - that phrase is the evidence. An inference answer needs two halves: what you think, and the words in the passage that made you think it.
- 1)Why did Karan look at his watch a second time?
- 2)How do we know the walk was not short?
- 3)Was the shopkeeper being kind? How can you tell?
- 4)How was Karan feeling at the start of the passage?
- 5)How do we know Karan did not expect the rain?
- 6)Do you think Karan and the shopkeeper knew each other? What makes you say so?
- 7)Would Karan have walked if another bus were coming? Why?
- 8)How do you think Karan felt after being given the umbrella?
Answers
- 1) He was hoping the time was different, because he had missed the bus.
- 2) Because his shirt was sticking to his back by the corner shop, so he had been walking a while.
- 3) Yes - he gave the umbrella without asking for it back, so he did not want anything in return.
- 4) Disappointed or worried, because the bus had gone and it was starting to rain.
- 5) Because he had no umbrella of his own and had to be given one.
- 6) Answers will differ. The shopkeeper called out to him and lent something without being asked, which suggests they at least recognised each other.
- 7) No. He set off walking only because the last bus had gone and there was no other way home.
- 8) Grateful and relieved, because the walk home was long and it was raining.
Exercise 3 of 3 · 10 questions
What does each word mean here? Use the sentence to work it out.
Write the answer · Challenge
Here’s one done for you
drizzle → light rain. Your child does not need to have met the word before. It appears with 'it had started to' and the rest of the passage has him getting wet slowly rather than suddenly, so it must be a small kind of rain. Working a word out from around it is the skill being practised here, not knowing it already.
- 1)drizzle
- 2)set off
- 3)sticking
- 4)empty (the empty road)
- 5)last (the last bus)
- 6)called out
- 7)corner (the corner shop)
- 8)offered
- 9)glanced
- 10)damp
Answers
- 1) Light rain.
- 2) Started walking or began his journey.
- 3) Clinging to his skin because he was wet with rain and sweat.
- 4) With nobody on it.
- 5) The final one, with no more to come.
- 6) Shouted to get his attention.
- 7) The shop at the place where two roads meet.
- 8) Held it out for him to take, without being asked.
- 9) Looked at something quickly.
- 10) Slightly wet.
While your child works
- For the inference questions, accept any answer that quotes or points at evidence in the passage, however differently worded.
- If your child answers inference questions with 'it doesn't say', they are reading literally. Ask 'what do you think, and which line made you think it?' - that phrasing usually unlocks it.
- Do not let them look up the vocabulary words. Working them out from context is the entire point of the last exercise.