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Year 6 English — Reading a factual passage

Answer questions about a factual passage by finding what it actually says, including the order of what happens and what it leaves out.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Which would make the best title for the banyan passage?

    • a) The tree that looks like a forest
    • b) Birds of the forest
    • c) Meeting places in hot countries
    • d) How to plant a seed

  2. 2.Which of these does the salt passage NOT tell you?

    • a) Where the pans are dug
    • b) How the salt is gathered up
    • c) How much salt one pan makes
    • d) What makes the water rise

  3. 3.Match each thing in the salt passage to the part it plays.

    • the shallow pans
    • the sun and the wind
    • the workers
    • the white crust
    • what is left when the water has gone
    • turn the water to vapour
    • hold the sea water
    • rake the salt into heaps

  4. 4.Put the stages of a banyan's growth in the order the passage gives them.

    • One tree comes to look like a small forest.
    • A bird drops a seed high up on another tree.
    • The roots reach the ground and thicken into trunks.
    • Roots come down from the branches like thin ropes.

  5. 5.From the salt passage: why can the same pans be used year after year? "Nothing is added and no fire is used, which is why the same pans can be used year after year."

    • a) Because they are scrubbed clean every night
    • b) Because nothing is added to them and no fire is used
    • c) Because they are cut out of solid stone
    • d) Because the sea is close by

  6. 6.Read this passage. "Salt has been taken from the sea for thousands of years, and the method has hardly changed. Sea water is let into shallow pans dug near the shore. The sun and the wind do the rest of the work: the water slowly turns to vapour and rises, leaving the salt behind as a white crust. Workers rake the crust into heaps and leave it to drain. Nothing is added and no fire is used, which is why the same pans can be used year after year." What makes the water leave the pans?

    • a) Workers pour it away
    • b) Pumps built under the pans
    • c) Rain washes it out
    • d) The sun and the wind

  7. 7.Sort each statement by whether the banyan passage says it. "A banyan tree does not grow the way most trees do. It begins life high up on another tree, where a bird has dropped its seed. Roots come down from its branches like thin ropes, and when they reach the ground they thicken into new trunks. In time a single banyan can look like a small forest, with dozens of trunks holding up one enormous crown. In many hot countries the shade of an old banyan is used as a meeting place."

    Groups: The passage says this · The passage does not say this

    • A bird brings the seed to where it starts growing.
    • Banyan wood is used for building boats.
    • One banyan can have many trunks.
    • Banyan leaves are cooked and eaten.
    • People meet in the shade of an old banyan.
    • A banyan grows faster than any other tree.

  8. 8.From the banyan passage: what happens to the roots when they reach the ground? "A banyan tree does not grow the way most trees do. It begins life high up on another tree, where a bird has dropped its seed. Roots come down from its branches like thin ropes, and when they reach the ground they thicken into new trunks. In time a single banyan can look like a small forest, with dozens of trunks holding up one enormous crown."

    • a) They turn back into branches
    • b) They thicken into new trunks
    • c) They are carried away by birds
    • d) They dry up and fall off

Answer key — Year 6 English — Reading a factual passage

  1. 1. a) The tree that looks like a forest
  2. 2. c) How much salt one pan makes
  3. 3. the shallow pans → hold the sea water; the sun and the wind → turn the water to vapour; the workers → rake the salt into heaps; the white crust → what is left when the water has gone
  4. 4. 1. A bird drops a seed high up on another tree. 2. Roots come down from the branches like thin ropes. 3. The roots reach the ground and thicken into trunks. 4. One tree comes to look like a small forest.
  5. 5. b) Because nothing is added to them and no fire is used
  6. 6. d) The sun and the wind
  7. 7. One banyan can have many trunks. → The passage says this; A bird brings the seed to where it starts growing. → The passage says this; People meet in the shade of an old banyan. → The passage says this; Banyan wood is used for building boats. → The passage does not say this; A banyan grows faster than any other tree. → The passage does not say this; Banyan leaves are cooked and eaten. → The passage does not say this
  8. 8. b) They thicken into new trunks