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Year 9 English — Reading across paragraphs

Answer a question whose evidence is split between two paragraphs, and follow a reference back across the break.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Paragraph 1: "Sunita had never once left the district." Paragraph 3: "She stepped off the train and stood quite still, looking up." What does the third paragraph gain from the first?

    • a) It tells you that she had bought a ticket.
    • b) It tells you that everything she is looking at is new to her.
    • c) It tells you how long the journey took.
    • d) It tells you what the weather was like.

  2. 2.Paragraph 1: "The bus to the hill station leaves at six. Nobody in the hostel owns an alarm clock." Paragraph 2: "Meena was on the bus. She had sat up all night with a book." Why was Meena on the bus?

    • a) Somebody in the hostel woke her.
    • b) She never went to sleep, so nothing had to wake her.
    • c) She owned an alarm clock.
    • d) The bus left later than six that day.

  3. 3.Paragraph 1: "The committee met the villagers and the engineers on Monday. It had asked the engineers to bring the plans." Paragraph 2: "They had brought drawings of the new bridge." Who does "They" mean?

    • a) the committee
    • b) the villagers
    • c) the drawings
    • d) the engineers

  4. 4.Read: "Anil arrived at the ground in his school shoes. The other boys were already lacing their boots. He watched from the bench all afternoon." Sort each statement by what the passage does with it.

    Groups: Stated in the passage · Not stated — you worked it out

    • The other boys were lacing their boots.
    • Anil watched from the bench.
    • Anil had no boots with him.
    • Anil did not play that afternoon.
    • Anil would rather have been playing.
    • Anil wore school shoes.

  5. 5.Which of these questions could only be answered by reading more than one paragraph?

    • a) What colour was the door?
    • b) What is the name of the town?
    • c) How old was the narrator when the story begins?
    • d) Why did the narrator refuse the invitation, given what had happened the year before?

  6. 6.Read: "The council promised a new library, a bus route and a clinic. The first was opened last year. The second is still being argued over. The last has not been mentioned again." Match each phrase to what it points back to.

    • the first
    • the second
    • the last
    • the council
    • the body that made the promise
    • the clinic
    • the bus route
    • the library

  7. 7.A passage runs in three paragraphs: the first describes the village before the flood, the second the night of the flood, the third the rebuilding. Sort each question by the paragraph that answers it.

    Groups: Paragraph 1 · Paragraph 2 · Paragraph 3

    • What crops were grown there?
    • How long did the repairs take?
    • Who paid for the new bridge?
    • How many houses stood in the village?
    • How did the families get out?
    • At what hour did the water reach the road?

  8. 8.Read: "The old cinema closed in 1998. For twenty years the building stood empty. In 2018 a bookshop opened in it, and the owner kept the red velvet seats up in the balcony." Match each question to its answer.

    • How long did the building stand empty?
    • What is in the building now?
    • What was kept from the cinema?
    • Where in the building were they kept?
    • the red velvet seats
    • twenty years
    • in the balcony
    • a bookshop

Answer key — Year 9 English — Reading across paragraphs

  1. 1. b) It tells you that everything she is looking at is new to her.
  2. 2. b) She never went to sleep, so nothing had to wake her.
  3. 3. d) the engineers
  4. 4. Anil wore school shoes. → Stated in the passage; The other boys were lacing their boots. → Stated in the passage; Anil watched from the bench. → Stated in the passage; Anil had no boots with him. → Not stated — you worked it out; Anil did not play that afternoon. → Not stated — you worked it out; Anil would rather have been playing. → Not stated — you worked it out
  5. 5. d) Why did the narrator refuse the invitation, given what had happened the year before?
  6. 6. the first → the library; the second → the bus route; the last → the clinic; the council → the body that made the promise
  7. 7. How many houses stood in the village? → Paragraph 1; At what hour did the water reach the road? → Paragraph 2; Who paid for the new bridge? → Paragraph 3; What crops were grown there? → Paragraph 1; How did the families get out? → Paragraph 2; How long did the repairs take? → Paragraph 3
  8. 8. How long did the building stand empty? → twenty years; What is in the building now? → a bookshop; What was kept from the cinema? → the red velvet seats; Where in the building were they kept? → in the balcony