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English: Finding What the Passage Says

▶  Watch: how to find what the passage says5 min

Four steps in about five minutes — one real question, worked step by step, then the traps to watch out for.

In these questions, you get a passage, a question about something the passage says, and five answers. You choose the best one.

The answer is in the passage, so you can always look back. But the question usually doesn't say where to look, and the right answer is often in different words.

In GL's papers these questions follow the order of the passage, so the detail for the next question is usually a little further on. The video above and the worked example below work through the same question, with the options in the same order.

The method

Four steps: find the bit, say it in your own words, match the meaning, prove it from the text.

  1. Step 1 of 4

    Find the bit

    Pick a key word from the question, then scan the passage in order, line by line, until you reach it.
  2. Step 2 of 4

    Say it in your own words

    Read the sentence around it first. Then say what it tells you, in your own words.
  3. Step 3 of 4

    Match the meaning

    The right answer often says it differently, so look for your meaning, not the passage's words.
  4. Step 4 of 4

    Prove it from the text

    Find the words that prove your answer. Then check every other option: not there, the wrong part, or the opposite? Cross it off.

Worked example

In this story, Station Zero, Anya has just moved onto a space station with her mum and dad. The question gives no line number, so you have to find the part yourself. Here are the lines step 1 finds.

27 up to her chin. Behind the walls, fans whirred
28 and hummed. They never stopped, Dad had
29 explained, because without them, the air you
30 breathed out would hang around your face in
31 an invisible cloud.

According to Dad, why do the fans on the station never stop?

A. To stop breathed-out air staying around your face B. To make a sound like rain on a skylight C. To stop people floating off in the night D. To keep the station from getting too hot E. To push the station round the Earth

  1. Find the bit. Pick a key word from the question, then scan the passage in order. Dad comes up all over the story, so fans is the better word to look for. Scan from the top, line by line, until you reach it. There, in line 27: fans whirred and hummed.
  2. Say it in your own words. Read the sentence around it first. They never stopped, Dad had explained, because without them, the air you breathed out would hang around your face. So, in your own words: the fans move your breath away from your face.
  3. Match the meaning. Look for your meaning, not the passage's words. Option A says: to stop breathed-out air staying around your face. Breathed-out air is the air you breathed out. Staying around is hanging around. Different words, but the same meaning.
  4. Prove it from the text. The words that prove A are in lines 29 to 31. Now check every other option. Not there, the wrong part, or the opposite? Cross it off. Option B, to make a sound like rain on a skylight: the fans do sound like that, but at the very end of the story, and that isn't why they run. Wrong part, so B is out. Option C, to stop people floating off in the night: Dad does say those words, but about the zip on the sleeping bag. So C is out. Option D, to keep the station from getting too hot: nothing in the passage says that. So D is out. Option E, to push the station round the Earth: that isn't in the passage either. So E is out. Only A is proved by the text.

Answer: A — To stop breathed-out air staying around your face

Things to watch out for

  1. Look back — don't answer from memory. The likeliest-sounding answer is often made up. Fans often keep things cool, so D in the example, to keep the station from getting too hot, sounds likely. But look back at the passage: no words say the station gets too hot. It's made up, so it can't be the answer.
  2. Same words, wrong place. An option can copy the passage and still be wrong. This question asks how a small gap in a garden fence helps hedgehogs. Option B copies the passage: sheltered from the wind and rain. But those words are about the nest, in a different part. The gap lets hedgehogs travel between gardens. So B is wrong, even though its words are real.
  3. The right answer often uses different words. This question asks why a village library was going to close. The passage says it could no longer afford to stay open. The right answer says it could not pay its bills. Not the same words, but it means the same thing.
  4. Answer the question asked. This question asks what Ada saw when it was nearly dawn. The flame did shrink and splutter, but that was a little after midnight. True, but the wrong moment. Check the moment, the part and any number the question names.

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