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Class 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: "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 owned an alarm clock.
    • c) The bus left later than six that day.
    • d) She never went to sleep, so nothing had to wake her.

  2. 2.Put these paragraph openings in the order the passage runs.

    • Today nobody remembers that it was ever nameless.
    • At first the island had no name at all.
    • Then the fishermen began to call it the Rock.
    • Later the mapmakers wrote that name down, and it stuck.

  3. 3.Paragraph 1: "The train was due at nine." Paragraph 2: "By half past ten the platform was still empty." At the moment the second paragraph describes, how many minutes overdue was the train? Write the number.

  4. 4.Read: "Kamala keeps bees on her roof. Her neighbours' mango tree fruited heavily this year, for the first time in a decade." Sort each statement by what the passage does with it.

    Groups: Stated in the passage · Not stated — you joined the two facts yourself

    • Kamala keeps bees.
    • The mango tree fruited heavily this year.
    • The roof is close enough to the tree to matter.
    • The bees helped the tree to fruit.
    • The bees are on her roof.
    • The tree had not fruited well for ten years.

  5. 5.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

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

  6. 6.Paragraph 1: "Every winter the lake freezes and the ferry stops running." Paragraph 2: "In January the villagers simply walk across." Write the one word from the first paragraph that explains how walking across is possible.

  7. 7.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 library
    • the bus route

  8. 8.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 villagers
    • b) the committee
    • c) the engineers
    • d) the drawings

Answer key — Class 9 English — Reading across paragraphs

  1. 1. d) She never went to sleep, so nothing had to wake her.
  2. 2. 1. At first the island had no name at all. 2. Then the fishermen began to call it the Rock. 3. Later the mapmakers wrote that name down, and it stuck. 4. Today nobody remembers that it was ever nameless.
  3. 3. 90
  4. 4. Kamala keeps bees. → Stated in the passage; The bees are on her roof. → Stated in the passage; The mango tree fruited heavily this year. → Stated in the passage; The tree had not fruited well for ten years. → Not stated — you joined the two facts yourself; The bees helped the tree to fruit. → Not stated — you joined the two facts yourself; The roof is close enough to the tree to matter. → Not stated — you joined the two facts yourself
  5. 5. 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
  6. 6. freezes
  7. 7. the first → the library; the second → the bus route; the last → the clinic; the council → the body that made the promise
  8. 8. c) the engineers