Use these examples after reviewing an answer. The methods support our original practice; they do not replace your school’s current familiarisation materials.
Read the question, then find the sentence or detail that supports the answer. Distinguish a fact stated in the passage from an inference supported by clues. Do not add information that the passage does not give.
If a character checks the clock repeatedly while waiting for a visitor, that can suggest impatience or worry. Use the surrounding sentences to decide which inference is best supported.
Check who or what the sentence is about, when the action happens, and how its parts connect. Match the verb to the subject and keep the tense consistent.
Each of the parcels has a label: the subject each is singular, so has fits, even though parcels is plural.
Ask what the punctuation is doing: ending a sentence, separating items, enclosing speech, indicating possession or marking omitted letters.
One dog’s bowl belongs to one dog; the dogs’ bowls belong to several dogs. In don’t, the apostrophe marks the missing o from do not.
Look for letter patterns and useful word parts. Say the word carefully, identify the part you find difficult, and check against a reliable spelling rather than just how the word sounds.
Necessary has one c and two s letters. Separate has a in the middle: s-e-p-a-r-a-t-e.
Use the whole sentence to choose the meaning that fits. Check whether you need a similar meaning, an opposite or the effect of a prefix or suffix.
A reluctant volunteer is hesitant or unwilling. An eager volunteer is keen to help, which gives an opposite meaning in this context.
Identify what the word does in this particular sentence. Nouns name things, verbs express actions or states, adjectives describe nouns, and adverbs often describe how, when or where.
In The bright lamp glowed softly, lamp is a noun, glowed is a verb, bright is an adjective and softly is an adverb.
