Reading practice
Reading skills
Pick a skill to see how to do it and the passages that practise it.
- Author's purposeAsk why the writer included this part: to explain, to persuade, to entertain or to show something.
- Cause and effectLook for why something happened (the cause) and what happened because of it (the effect). Words like because, so and which can signal it.
- Central idea
- Character feelingsLook at what the character says and does, and at clues like body language, to tell how they feel at that moment.
- Character traitsA trait is what a character is like. Look at what they do and say, not just how they feel for a moment.
- CharactersKeep track of who is who and what each character does.
- Compare and contrastFind what two things share and how they differ. Check each choice against both texts.
- DataRead the numbers carefully, then add, subtract or compare them to answer the question.
- DetailsGo back to the passage and find the sentence that answers the question. The answer is stated, not guessed.
- EvaluateJudge which answer the passage supports best, using the passage, not your own opinion.
- EvidencePick the sentence that proves the idea. Good evidence connects directly to the claim, not just to the same topic.
- Figurative languageSimiles compare with like or as; phrases like "as if" describe how something seems, not what is literally true.
- InferencePut a clue from the passage together with what you already know. The answer is not written word for word, but the passage supports it.
- Main ideaAsk what the whole passage, or the whole paragraph, is mostly about. The main idea covers every part; a detail covers only one.
- PlotFind the problem, the turning point and how it ends.
- Point of viewWho is telling the story? "I" means first person; "he", "she" or "they" means a narrator outside the story.
- Read a scheduleFind the row for the place and the column for the bus or train, then read where they meet. Subtract times to find how long a trip takes.
- Read a tableFind the right row, then read across to the right column.
- Read a timelineTimelines go in time order. Find the year, then read its event, or find the event, then read its year.
- SequencePut events in time order. Look for dates and words like first, then, later and finally.
- Text featuresHeadings, captions, tables and timelines organise information so you can find it fast.
- Text structureNotice how the passage is built: time order, problem and solution, compare and contrast, or cause and effect.
- ThemeThe theme is the lesson or big idea the story shows. It applies beyond this one story.
- Timeline mathSubtract the earlier year from the later year to find how many years passed.
- Tone
- VocabularyRead the sentences around the word. Writers often explain a hard word right after it, or the sentence gives a clue.