Analysing Connections in Informational Texts · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

How Ideas, People and Events Connect

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 12-14
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. An article says, 'Rain fell all night, so the river rose.' Which part is the effect?

    • The rain falling all night
    • The river rising
    • The word 'so'

  2. An article says: 'As a child, Zaha filled notebooks with sketches of buildings. She studied architecture for years, and she eventually designed a famous museum.' What did Zaha do before her years of studying?

    • She designed a famous museum
    • She studied architecture for years
    • She filled notebooks with sketches of buildings

  3. When a writer splits 'early inventors' from 'later engineers,' the split can show how thinking changed over time.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Calling the internet 'a highway for information' is an example of what?

    • A comparison (analogy)
    • A cause with no idea behind it
    • A category

  5. A comparison like 'the internet is a highway for information' is only decoration and adds nothing to a reader's understanding.

    Circle one:   True   False

  6. Which of these is a category, not a comparison?

    • Splitting memory into short-term and long-term
    • Saying a missed bus caused the lateness
    • Calling a bad memory 'a sieve'

  7. A writer says, 'A cell is like a tiny factory, with parts that each do a different job.' What is this an example of?

    • An event that caused another event
    • A category that separates people
    • A comparison that explains an idea

  8. An article says, 'A new bridge opened, so more shops opened near the river, and the town grew.' What set the whole chain in motion?

    • The town growing
    • More shops opening
    • The new bridge opening

  9. A writer calls a coral reef 'an underwater city.' A student says this means fish in the reef pay rent. What has the student misunderstood?

    • The student is right, cities always have rent
    • The writer was making a category
    • An analogy points to one shared idea, not literal facts

  10. An article says a mayor built a park because she loved trees as a child, and also because voters wanted green space. A headline says she built it only for votes. What does the article itself suggest?

    • Only the voters mattered
    • Both her love of trees and the voters' wishes played a part
    • Her childhood had nothing to do with it
LightMySky · lightmysky.comW1-mt_1F3cnUHjMb-s1

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

How Ideas, People and Events Connect W1-mt_1F3cnUHjMb-s1

  1. The river rising · The effect is what happens because of the cause. The rain is the cause, and the river rising is the effect.
  2. She filled notebooks with sketches of buildings · The order is: childhood sketching, then years of study, then the museum. The step before the studying is the sketching.
  3. True · The lesson says a category itself carries meaning, like showing how thinking changed between early inventors and later engineers.
  4. A comparison (analogy) · The writer compares the internet to a highway to help readers picture how information moves.
  5. False · The lesson says the comparison helps readers picture how information travels. It explains an idea, so it is not just decoration.
  6. Splitting memory into short-term and long-term · Splitting memory into short-term and long-term sorts one idea into groups. That is a category, not a comparison.
  7. A comparison that explains an idea · The writer compares a cell to a factory to make a complex idea easier to picture.
  8. The new bridge opening · The bridge opened first, and everything else followed from it. The first event sets the chain in motion.
  9. An analogy points to one shared idea, not literal facts · The comparison means the reef is busy and full of life like a city. It is not a literal claim about rent.
  10. Both her love of trees and the voters' wishes played a part · The article names two influences working together: a personal idea and public pressure. The headline wrongly keeps only one.
Worksheet · LightMySky