How a reading passage is built: a walkthrough for Grades 2 to 4

1 · Every passage has a shape

Before you answer "How does the author organize the passage?", think about what the author does from the first sentence to the last. Most short passages use one of these shapes:

Time order. Events in the order they happened: first, then, at noon, the next year.
Steps. How to do something: start with, next, finally.
Compare. Two things side by side: both, but, unlike, the opposite.
Cause and effect. One thing makes another happen: because, so, as a result.
Problem and solution. Something goes wrong, then someone fixes it.
Question and answer. The passage asks a question and spends the rest answering it.
Description. A place or thing, part by part: at the bottom, in the middle, at the top.

2 · Use the signal words

The small words tell you the shape. Circle them as you read.

Long ago, many villages in Japan had no clocks. A temple bell rang at certain hours instead. When the bell rang at dawn, farmers walked out to their fields. When it rang at noon, they stopped to eat. When it rang at sunset, they carried their tools home. The bell told the whole village when to work and when to rest.

How is the passage organized?

The signals are dawn, noon, sunset. Those are times of day, in order.

So the shape is time order: the passage follows one day in the village from morning to night.

A choice like "by comparing clocks and bells" sounds smart, but the passage never describes a clock. Pick the shape that fits the whole passage.

3 · "Why did the author include this?"

This question really asks: what job does this part do? Say the job in your own words before you look at the choices. Here are the jobs that come up most:

sets up a problem
gives an example of the main idea
shows that something changed
makes the reader curious
gives a warning
answers a worry the reader might have
shows how a character feels
sums up the passage

Theo was building a tower of playing cards on the kitchen table. His little sister wanted to play catch. She asked once. She asked twice. She asked a third time, louder, and tugged his sleeve. The tower slid sideways and fell flat.

Why does the author tell us she asked three times?

Job: it builds up the pressure, one ask at a time, until the tug that knocks the tower down.

It does not tell you she likes catch more than other games. That might be true, but it is not why the author repeated it.

4 · The trap: true, but not the reason

On a "why" question, the wrong choices are often true. They come straight from the passage. They are wrong because they answer a different question.

Every week, Ravi's grandmother mailed him a letter from India with a pressed flower inside. Ravi saved each flower in a thick book. When she visited in June, he opened the book and showed her every page. She wiped her eyes.

Why does the author include the book of flowers?

"To show that Ravi likes flowers" could be true. But the story is not about flowers. It is about Ravi and his grandmother.

He kept every single one and showed her each page. The job is to show how much her letters meant to him.

Test each choice by asking: does this explain why the author put it in?

5 · Beginnings and endings

Authors start and finish on purpose. A beginning often hooks you: a question, a surprise, or a picture of a place. An ending often does one of these jobs:

sums up the big idea in one sentence
shows how things turned out
gives a twist the reader did not expect
shows how a character changed

When a question asks about the last sentence, reread the first sentence too. The ending usually answers or finishes something the beginning started.

6 · Turning words

But, however, instead, yet, still, the opposite. These words turn the passage in a new direction. Whatever came before them is about to change.

Penguins are birds, and most birds fly. Penguins cannot. However, under the water they zoom after fish at almost twenty miles an hour.

What does the word "However" do?

Before it: penguins cannot fly, which sounds like bad news.

After it: they are fast in the water.

So "However" turns from what penguins cannot do to what they do very well.

7 · How paragraphs fit together

When a passage has two paragraphs, ask how the second one connects to the first. The usual answers:

the first gives an idea, the second gives an example of it
the first gives a problem, the second gives the solution
the first tells what happened before, the second tells what happened after
the first describes one thing, the second describes something different

A good trick: imagine the second paragraph is gone. What would be missing? That is its job.

8 · Which sentence fits the blank?

Some questions take a sentence out and ask which one belongs. The right sentence connects what comes before to what comes after. A sentence can be true and on the same topic and still not fit.

Snowshoe hares live where winters are snowy. ______ In spring, the white fur falls out and brown fur grows back, so the hare blends in with the dirt and leaves.

Which sentence fits best?

After the blank, the passage talks about white fur turning brown in spring. So the blank should tell you the fur is white in winter.

Best: "In the fall, their fur turns white to match the snow."

"Hares can run very fast" is true and it is about hares, but it does not lead into the fur at all.

9 · Your test-day checklist

Name the shape in your head before you read the choices.
For a "why" question, say the job in your own words first.
Cross out choices that are true but answer a different question.
Watch for turning words: something is about to change.
For a blank, read the sentence before and the sentence after.

Ready to practice?

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