Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The true statement is that she lived in a small and shabby house.

The passage says that the house was small, and that the sun had blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, so the house was as dull and gray as everything else. That is a small, shabby house.

Option 1 is the opposite, since the house had lost its paint. Option 2 is not stated: Uncle Henry was a farmer, and nothing says the family was rich. Option 3 is not stated either, as the passage says nothing of the size of his farm.

Answer: B

A and B are right and C is wrong: option 2.

A is right: the passage says that nothing, not a tree nor a house, broke the flat country, so the farmhouse stood alone in the grassland. B is right: the sun had baked the land and burned the grass gray. C is wrong: the prairie was gray on every side, with no green field.

Options 1, 3 and 4 each make C right or A or B wrong, which the passage does not allow.

Answer: C

B is right and A is wrong: option 3.

B is right: the lumber to build the house had to be carried by wagon from many miles afar. A is wrong because the passage says the lumber came by wagon and mentions no tractor trolley.

Options 1 and 2 call B wrong, and option 4 calls A right, so none can stand.

Answer: A

The key gives T F T F, option 1.

A is true: the family kept a cyclone cellar in case of great whirlwinds, which shows how real the danger was. C is true: no tree or house broke the flat land around, so nothing reduced the force of a storm. D is false: the house was a single room with a stove, a cupboard, a table, three or four chairs and the beds, and no separate drawing room.

B is the weak point. The key marks it false, reading the statement as a built shelter against wind and rain, which the passage does not describe: the only shelter mentioned is the cellar for cyclones, and the house itself had lost its paint to the sun and rain. Option 3 differs from the key only in B, so this item turns on that reading. Options 2 and 4 make C false or D true, which the passage does not allow.

Answer: D

The underlined clause is an adjective clause.

'Who was a farmer' is a relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun 'who'. It describes the noun before it, Uncle Henry, telling us what kind of person he was. A clause that qualifies a noun or pronoun does the work of an adjective, so it is an adjective clause.

It cannot stand alone, so it is not a principal clause; it does not act as the subject or object of a verb, so it is not a noun clause; and it does not modify a verb, so it is not an adverb clause.

Answer: C

'For' is a preposition.

In 'a cupboard for the dishes', the word 'for' links the noun phrase 'the dishes' to 'cupboard' and shows their relationship, the purpose of the cupboard. A word placed before a noun or pronoun to show its relation to another word is a preposition.

'For' can be a conjunction when it joins two clauses in the sense of 'because' ('He left, for it was late'), but here it is followed only by a noun phrase. It is not an article (a, an, the) or an adverb.

Answer: A

The key gives that Father dressed carefully as he wanted to follow the proper dress code.

The passage describes in detail his court dress: a dhoti, a white shirt, a turban and a neat black coat. That is the formal wear expected of an advocate in court, so the key reads the care as following the proper dress code. The passage itself does not state the reason, so this is the inference the key makes.

The other options give motives that are not in the text. Nothing says he wished to impress the judges or his family, and there is no mention of wealth or of buying good clothes.

Answer: D

The key gives C and A as true and B as false: option 4.

C is true: his papers were in a cloth bundle. B is false: the basket held hot coffee, not tea. A is accepted as true by the key: he took coffee and tiffin from home, which the key reads as his not eating in the court canteen. The passage does not say outright that he avoided the canteen, so A is an inference, and it is the statement that the key rests on.

Options 1 and 2 call A false, and options 2 and 3 call B true, which the coffee contradicts.

Answer: C

The wrong statement is that only a few were jealous of his popularity.

The passage says nothing of jealousy. It says that clients wanted him, that younger advocates admired him and listened with rapt attention, and that his arguments were forceful and coherent. A statement about the jealousy of others therefore has no basis in the text.

The other three are supported: one client insisted that Father alone argue his case, young advocates admired him, and his arguments are called forceful, coherent and cogent, which means logical and persuasive.

Answer: D

Both statements are true: option 4.

A is true: even the English judge used to take down notes of his points, which shows the judges valued his legal skill. B is true: on the day his wife died he went on arguing the case without any show of emotion and went home only after it ended, so he put his duty to the court before the family's grief.

Options 1, 2 and 3 each make at least one of the two false, which the text does not allow.