Grade 4 ELA Practice Test: Figurative Language and Text Structure
- Figurative Language and Text Structure
- 15 questions
- 20 minutes
Questions 1-8 practice similes, metaphors, personification, idioms and sayings. Questions 9-15 ask how informational paragraphs are organized. Tip: signal words such as "first," "because" and "however" are strong clues to a text's structure.
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Question 1
Which sentence uses a simile?
Correct answer: A
A simile compares two things using "like" or "as," and this sentence compares snow to feathers with "like." "The snow was a white blanket" is a metaphor, because it makes the comparison without "like" or "as."
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Question 2
Dad's garage is a jungle of bikes, boxes and tools.
What does this metaphor tell the reader about the garage?
Correct answer: C
A jungle is thick and tangled, so calling the garage a jungle of bikes, boxes and tools means it is packed full and hard to move through. The metaphor is not saying there are real plants or animals.
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Question 3
Which sentence uses personification?
Correct answer: B
Personification gives a human action to something that is not human. People groan, so a door that "groaned" is personified. "As heavy as a rock" is a simile.
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Question 4
The spelling quiz was a piece of cake for Lena.
What does the idiom "a piece of cake" mean in this sentence?
Correct answer: D
"A piece of cake" is an idiom that means something is very easy. An idiom's meaning is not the same as the meaning of its separate words, so the sentence has nothing to do with real cake.
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Question 5
Coach looked at the clock and said, "Let's hit the road before the traffic gets bad."
What does Coach mean?
Correct answer: B
"Hit the road" is an idiom that means to start a trip or leave. Coach wants to go before the traffic gets heavy, which fits leaving now.
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Question 6
The saying "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" means you should not plan on something good before it actually happens.
Which situation best fits this saying?
Correct answer: A
Theo is acting as if he already has the prize money before he knows he won, which is exactly what the saying warns against. Ana's chickens are real chickens, so that choice takes the saying too literally.
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Question 7
Mom sighed, "I've asked you a million times to hang up your coat."
What does Mom mean?
Correct answer: D
"A million times" is an exaggeration. Mom has not really asked a million times, but she has asked so often that she is tired of repeating herself, which her sigh also shows.
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Question 8
Poem: The Wind
The wind is a broom on an autumn day,
It sweeps the leaves and the dust away.
It whistles a tune down the empty street,
Then hurries off on invisible feet.In the first line, what does the poet compare the wind to?
Correct answer: C
The first line says "The wind is a broom," a metaphor. The second line continues the comparison: like a broom, the wind "sweeps the leaves and the dust away."
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Question 9
Monarch butterflies begin life as tiny eggs on milkweed leaves. After a few days, a caterpillar hatches. For about two weeks, it eats milkweed and grows. Next, it forms a chrysalis. Finally, one to two weeks later, an adult butterfly comes out.
Which text structure best describes this paragraph?
Correct answer: A
The paragraph tells the stages of a monarch's life in the order they happen, using time words such as "after," "next" and "finally." That is chronological, or sequence, order.
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Question 10
Frogs and toads are both amphibians. Frogs usually have smooth, wet skin, while toads have dry, bumpy skin. Frogs have long back legs for big jumps. Toads, on the other hand, have shorter legs and often take small hops.
Which text structure best describes this paragraph?
Correct answer: C
The paragraph tells how frogs and toads are alike ("both") and how they are different ("while," "on the other hand"). Those are compare and contrast signal words.
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Question 11
Heavy rain fell for three days. As a result, the river rose over its banks. Because the water covered the main road, many families could not drive into town.
Which text structure best describes this paragraph?
Correct answer: D
Each event leads to the next: the rain made the river rise, and the flooding kept families from driving. The words "as a result" and "because" signal cause and effect. No solution to the flooding is given.
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Question 12
Students at Pine Hill School noticed that the lunchroom trash cans were full of paper and plastic that could have been recycled. They asked the principal for recycling bins and made posters showing what goes in each bin. Now the lunchroom sends much less trash to the landfill.
Which text structure best describes this paragraph?
Correct answer: B
The paragraph names a problem (recyclable items in the trash), tells what the students did to fix it, and shows that the fix worked. That is a problem and solution structure.
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Question 13
Which group of signal words most likely shows that a text compares and contrasts?
Correct answer: D
"Both" points to how things are alike, while "however" and "unlike" point to differences. "First, next, finally" signal sequence, and "because, so, as a result" signal cause and effect.
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Question 14
An author wants to explain the steps for planting a bean seed in a cup. Which text structure would work best?
Correct answer: A
Steps must be followed in order, so chronological (sequence) order fits best. Compare and contrast would be useful for telling how two kinds of seeds are alike and different.
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Question 15
Because the bakery ran out of flour, it could not make bread on Monday.
Which part of the sentence tells the cause?
Correct answer: B
The cause is why something happened. Running out of flour is the reason, and the word "because" introduces it. Not making bread is the effect.
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