eng5-R3· Reading· ~15 min

Reading: Families & Daily Routines

Practice texts about families and daily routines, on the themes of Units 4 and 5.

Reading comprehension means understanding a text: finding the main idea (what it is mostly about), picking out specific details (facts, names, numbers and times), and working out the meaning of a new word from the words around it. This topic gives you short texts on families and daily routines, the subject of Unit 4 (Family Matters) and Unit 5 (A Day in the Life), and asks all three kinds of question about them.

The passages in this topic were written for this study bank, on the themes your coursebook covers. They are NOT extracts from book 850: the reading pages in the units print their texts as artwork, so they cannot be reproduced here. Two topics in this strand DO work on the book's own texts — the Unit 2 infographic (p28-29) and Extra Reading 2, "My Home is a Cave" (p101).

Key terms

main idea — the most important point of a text — what it is mostly about
detail — a small, specific piece of information in the text, such as a name, number, or time
inference — a conclusion you make from clues in the text, even if it is not said directly
vocabulary in context — understanding what a word means by looking at the words and sentences around it
skim — reading quickly to understand the main idea of a text
scan — looking quickly through a text to find specific information
Question Types and Reading Strategies
Question TypeWhat It TestsStrategy
Main IdeaThe most important point of the textRead the whole text and ask: What is it mostly about?
DetailA specific fact from the textFind keywords in the question, then scan the text for them.
ReferenceWhat a word (he, she, it, they) points toLook at the sentence before to find who or what is named.
Vocabulary in ContextThe meaning of a word as used in the textRead the sentence and the ones around it for clues.

Four common question types and how to approach each one.

✎How to Answer a Detail Question
  1. 1Step 1: Read the question: Read the question carefully: 'How old is Leyla's father?'
  2. 2Step 2: Find the keyword: Find the keyword 'father' in the text.
  3. 3Step 3: Look at the sentence: Find the sentence: 'My father is a doctor. He is 38 years old.'
  4. 4Step 4: Choose the answer: The answer is 38. Choose '38' from the choices.
💡Note

The passages in this topic were written for this study bank, on the themes your coursebook covers. They are NOT extracts from book 850: the reading pages in the units print their texts as artwork, so they cannot be reproduced here. Two topics in this strand DO work on the book's own texts — the Unit 2 infographic (p28-29) and Extra Reading 2, "My Home is a Cave" (p101).

🚫Common mistake

Don't choose an answer just because it uses words from the text. Wrong choices often repeat words but mean something different.

💡Note

Read the whole passage first before looking at the questions. This helps you understand the main idea.

⚠️Caution

For vocabulary questions, always check how the word is used in the sentence. A word can have different meanings in different contexts.

Rules

  1. 1Read the whole text first before answering any questions.
  2. 2Look for key words in the question to help you find the answer in the text.
  3. 3For detail questions, scan the text for names, numbers, and times.
  4. 4For vocabulary questions, read the sentence before and after the word to find clues.
  5. 5Check all four choices before picking your answer.
  6. 6The correct answer is always supported by something in the text.

Practice

4 easy · 4 medium · 4 hard

Up to 10 random questions per test

EasyMediumHardMixed