KS2 SATs KS2 Reading Comprehension 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the purpose of a glossary in a non-fiction book?
- To list all the characters
- To explain the meanings of specialist words (Correct answer)
- To summarise each chapter
- To give the author's biography
Correct answer: To explain the meanings of specialist words
A glossary is an alphabetical list of specialist or technical words used in the text, along with their definitions. It helps readers understand subject-specific vocabulary without needing a separate dictionary.
Question 2: A text says: 'As quick as a flash, she sprinted across the field.' What technique is used?
- Personification
- Metaphor
- Simile (Correct answer)
- Alliteration
Correct answer: Simile
A simile compares one thing to another using 'like' or 'as'. Here, her speed is compared to a flash using 'as...as', making it a simile. Similes create vivid images in the reader's mind.
Question 3: What does 'author's viewpoint' mean?
- The character's feelings
- The writer's attitude or opinion towards the subject (Correct answer)
- The genre of the text
- The setting of the story
Correct answer: The writer's attitude or opinion towards the subject
The author's viewpoint is their perspective, attitude, or opinion as shown through their writing choices — including word choice, tone, and what information they include or leave out.
Question 4: In the sentence 'The soldiers, exhausted and starving, trudged through the mud', what extra information do the commas contain?
- A fronted adverbial
- A relative clause
- A parenthetical phrase (embedded clause) (Correct answer)
- A list of nouns
Correct answer: A parenthetical phrase (embedded clause)
The phrase 'exhausted and starving' is inserted between commas as a parenthetical (embedded) clause giving extra information about the soldiers. It could be removed without changing the basic sentence meaning.
Question 5: What is the term for the overall feeling or atmosphere of a text?
- Theme
- Tone (Correct answer)
- Plot
- Narrator
Correct answer: Tone
Tone refers to the mood or atmosphere created by the writer through their language choices. A text might have a tense, joyful, melancholy, or mysterious tone, for example.
Question 6: Which question type asks you to 'give evidence from the text to support your answer'?
- Retrieval
- Inference
- Prediction
- Evaluation with evidence (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Evaluation with evidence
When a question asks you to give evidence, it expects both your interpretation (inference or evaluation) and a direct quote or reference from the text to back it up. This is a higher-order comprehension skill.
KS2 SATs KS2 Reading Comprehension 3
What is the purpose of a glossary in a non-fiction book?