Westwood Secondary School

How to Ace the Comprehension (Narrative)

Basic requirements
These are minimum, basic requirements that you have to fulfil when you attempt a comprehension exercise / test.

1. Answer your questions in complete sentences, with accurate spelling and punctuation! Incomplete
sentences, phrases or single word answers will not be accepted.

Note: Some questions may provide a table or blank for you to answer in a phrase or word. In such cases,
you should only provide the required phrase or word.

2. Do not copy wholesale from the text , unless you are asked to quote a word, phrase or sentence. Copying, or
lifting irrelevant parts of the text will result in inaccurate answers. Such answers will be labelled “ Excess
Denied”, and no marks will be awarded.

3. Always refer to the text when you are answering the questions. You should not make assumptions to answer
the questions.

Note: In the case of inference questions, you are expected to make use of your own knowledge to help
answer the question.

4. Marks awarded for the question indicate the number of points (or ideas) your answer must have. A 2-mark
question means you need two points or ideas in your answer.

Questions that ask for details or evidence

Such questions require you to identify a specific piece of information from the passage. You will be told which
paragraph the information can be found.

1. You must quote the exact piece of information found in the passage, verbatim.
2. You must use quotation marks.

For example,
Question: Which two pieces of evidence from Paragraph 6 show that the woman was furious?
Answer: The two pieces of evidence are “frothing from her mouth” and “went red in the face”.

3. For questions that ask for you support your answer with a piece of evidence from the text, you must
a. quote a piece of evidence from the text and
b. provide an explanation of the evidence.

For example,
Question: How can we tell that the woman was furious? Support your answer with evidence from
paragraph 6.
Answer: The woman “went red in the face”, showing that she was extremely angry.

WWSS English Language Department

1
 Westwood Secondary School

Questions that require you to answer in your own words

Such questions test your vocabulary and ability to retain the same meaning from the original text.

1. You must paraphrase key words. These words are usually adjectives or verbs.
2. You do not need to paraphrase words such as prepositions or pronouns / nouns.

Adjective Verbs Prepositions Pronoun Noun

Elated Jump Up Her Plan
Enormous Think On He Book
Satisfied Belong Above Themselves Tray
Disappointed Wander Underneath Our Happiness
Clean Believe Throughout We Memory

For example,
Question: Original text: Paraphrased text:

In your own words, explain the cat’s The cat was feeling The cat was showing love
attitude towards Mr Neo. affectionate towards Mr for Mr Neo.
Neo.
Note: There is no need to kill brain cells thinking about how to paraphrase “cat”.

Questions that require you to state the effect of a particular language style.
Such questions tests your ability to understand why the author chose to use a particular language style by
identifying what the author was trying to achieve.

1. Underline the style specified in the question. This can be any of the following:
a. Short paragraph
b. Short sentence
c. Use of particular punctuation (e.g., dash, hyphen, brackets etc.)
d. Change in font (e.g., italics, bold, underline, strikethrough etc.)
e. Diction (specific words, repeated words, etc).
f. Figurative language (e.g., personification, metaphor, simile etc.)
2. Most of the time, authors use any of these language styles with the intention of highlighting/drawing
attention to/emphasising an idea. Your job is to find out what idea the author is trying to highlight.

Questions that require you to match descriptions from given sentences

Such questions tests your ability to identify the most accurate paraphrase of a given word/phrase without
excessive/insufficient words/phrases.

1. Refer only to the given sentence(s), and not any other part of the text.
2. Answer in complete sentences.
3. You must quote the exact piece of information found in the given sentences, verbatim.

For example,

‘During lessons, which I always looked forward to, she sat straight-spined in an upholstered armchair,
tapping out the beat with one finger, her head cocked as she listened keenly for each mistake.’ (lines
10-12).
Identify the word or phrases from the sentence given above that correspond with the following phrases
WWSS English Language Department
2
 Westwood Secondary School

used to describe the piano teacher.

Piano teacher Matching description of the given sentence

parked herself upright The phrase is “she sat straight-spined”.
tilted The word is “cocked”.
took note attentively The phrase is “listened keenly”.

Questions that require you to select the quotes that best support an idea.
Such questions tests your ability to identify the best quotes that best conveys the idea stated in the question.
Note that all the options may convey the idea, however you need to select the best quotes that conveys that idea.

3. Underline the idea stated in the question.

4. Consider how the quotes are used in context of the paragraph they were from.
5. Select only the best quotes that support the idea.
6. Tick the specified number of options stated in the question.

For example

In Paragraph 2, which of the two following phrases show the hardship faced by the climber? [2]
(Tick two boxes only)

“Hoodoo cabin…where he could pass the night, was still five miles away” (lines 5 - 6) ✔

“It was downhill now though, downhill all the way” (lines 6 - 7)

“he had lifted upwards with him at every step his pack of food” (lines 9 - 10) ✔

“his blankets, axe and fifty pounds of fur for the market” (line 11)

Questions that require you to infer what a quote says about a given idea.
Such questions tests your ability to infer how a specific word/phrase affects the presentation of an idea.

1. Underline the idea stated in the question.

2. Infer what the word/phrase suggests about the idea.
3. Notice that the headers of each table column form part of a sentence. Therefore, your answer should
complete the sentence.

WWSS English Language Department

3
 Westwood Secondary School

For example

What do the following words in italics from Paragraph 8 suggest about the influence the writer’s
mother had on him?
Based on the following words in The writer thinks that his mother’s actions
italics, influenced and made him want to…
‘to do the magic that she did’ (lines cook fantastic dishes using simple
24-25) ingredients.

‘my brother and I found irresistible day produce dishes that would appeal
after day’ (line 26) tremendously to his customers.

Notice that the table is forming the sentence,

Based on the following words in italics, ‘to do the magic that she did’ (lines 24-25) the writer thinks that
his mother’s actions influenced and made him want to cook fantastic dishes using simple ingredients.
and
Based on the following words in italics, ‘my brother and I found irresistible day after day’ (line 26) the
writer thinks that his mother’s actions influenced and made him want to produce dishes that would
appeal tremendously to his customers.

Questions that require you to take a stand and support it with evidence.
Such questions tests your understanding of the whole passage and to select the best evidence to support these
ideas.
1. Analyse the opinions of both students by highlighting the key words/phrases that are significant to their
opinions.
2. Choose one student to agree with (take a stand).
3. Recall parts of the text that support the opinion you have selected to help narrow down quotes from
relevant and significant parts of the text.
4. Locate specific words/phrases that best illustrates the student’s opinion.
 Do not chunk your quotes – ensure that you choose only the relevant parts and not the whole sentence.
 Ensure your quotes clearly support the opinion you have agreed with and that it does not contradict it in
anyway.
5. Explain your quote. 1 mark is awarded for a quote WITH explanation.
 Note that explaining is not merely rephrasing. Explaining makes an idea clear by describing it in detail.
 Consider how your quote shows that the student’s opinion is true.
 For example, a student’s opinion is that: The main character enjoyed his childhood.
 A quote that supports this clearly is: “When he thought about his nightly feasts on the round
wooden table, he could not help but smile.”

WWSS English Language Department

4
 Westwood Secondary School

 Explain how the quote shows that the main character enjoyed his childhood: The quote shows
that the character considered his dinners to be feasts, which suggests that he was blessed with
plenty of delicious food as a child, hence suggesting that his childhood was pleasant one.
6. Phrase your answer.
 Do not write long essays, nor should you simply list down your quotes.
 Instead, structure your response clearly and methodically so it is easy for your marker to identify your
evidence and explanation.
 You may answer in the following format:

The “insert shows [insert

quote quote” that explanation].

*Repeat this for all four pieces of evidence.

WWSS English Language Department

5
 Westwood Secondary School

Examples of Questions According To Their Types

Question
’ve lost it.’ (line 21). What does ‘it’ refer to?
n Paragraph 1, the writer says “there was little other motion.” (line 3). How did it move?
How did the shark discover the woman?
Why was it easy for the author to find the middle C key?
Why did the writer decide to stay at the Birchfield? Give two reasons.
on Question
dentify the line from Paragraph 7 to show that the shark was very near to the woman.
rom Paragraph 2, identify a sentence which tells you that the author’s aunt had high expectations for all her students.
Which two pieces of evidence from Paragraph 6 show that the woman was near the shore?
n Paragraph 1, which two consecutive words show an effect of the freezing weather?
r own words Questions
cording to Paragraph 2, why was the beach visible? Explain in your own words.
hy does the climber wish that “he had waited another two weeks to come out” (line 19)? Answer in your own words.
hy did the climber wish that “he had waited another two weeks to come out” (line 19)? Answer in your own words.
ge Effect Questions
till, the worst was over.” (line 25) What is the effect of using this short sentence?
Paragraph 7 is very short. Why does the writer use such a short paragraph?
Why did the writer use his exact words in direct speech in Paragraph 7?
n Paragraph 3, what effect does the writer create by comparing animals in a zoo to people in a hotel?
What effect is achieved by the final short paragraph?
ce Questions
What does the phrase ‘a snot-nosed brat’ (line 37-38) suggest about the writer?
Why do you think the woman “backed up a few steps” (line 14)?
There she began to swim—with the jerky, head-above-water strokes of the untutored.” (lines 16-17). What do the words “head-above
and “untutored” suggest about the woman’s swimming?
What does the statement “I just wanted to go and demonstrate…what a gifted girl I was” (lines 5-6) suggest about the author’s charact
n paragraph 1, the writer asked herself: ‘Whatever was causing such a lengthy delay” (lines 11-12). What does this tell us about her fe
his point?
n Paragraph 3, the writer says that ‘it was as if the colour had been switched off’. Why do you think the colour has changed?

WWSS English Language Department

6