Grade 4 ELA Practice Test: Reading Comprehension and Grammar
- Reading Comprehension and Grammar
- 12 questions
- 15 minutes
Questions 1-6 are about an informational passage on animals that live under the snow, and questions 7-12 cover Grade 4 grammar and vocabulary. Tip: for word-meaning questions, look at the sentences around the word for clues.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
Your result
- 0 correct
- 0 wrong
- 0 blank
-
Question 1
Read the passage and answer questions 1-6.
Passage A: Life Under the Snow
(1) After a heavy snowfall, a winter field can look empty and silent. But beneath the white blanket, a hidden world is busy. Scientists call this space the subnivean zone. Sub means "under," and nivean comes from a Latin word for snow.
(2) The subnivean zone forms in a surprising way. Heat stored in the ground warms the lowest layer of snow. Some of that snow slowly turns into water vapor, which drifts upward and freezes again higher in the snowpack. Over time, this process leaves small open spaces between the ground and the snow above.
(3) Snow is full of tiny pockets of trapped air, and trapped air slows down the movement of heat. Because of this, a thick layer of snow works like a blanket. Once the snow is about six inches deep, the air near the ground usually stays close to freezing, 32°F, even on nights when the air above the snow is far colder.
(4) Small animals such as voles, mice, and shrews depend on this protected space. They dig tunnels through it, nibble on seeds and roots, and even build grassy nests there. Living under the snow keeps them out of the bitter wind and hides them from many predators.
(5) Not every predator is fooled, however. A red fox can hear a vole moving under the snow. The fox stands perfectly still and listens. Then it leaps high into the air and dives headfirst into the snow to catch its meal. Some owls can also hear prey beneath the snow and grab it with their sharp talons.
(6) When spring comes and the snow melts, the tunnels disappear. If you look closely at a field then, you may see narrow, winding paths pressed into the flattened grass. They are the only signs left of a busy winter world.
What is the main idea of the passage?
Correct answer: B
Most paragraphs describe how the subnivean zone forms and how it protects voles, mice and shrews. The fox is one detail in paragraph 5, not the main idea of the whole passage.
-
Question 2
Passage A (see above):
According to paragraph 3, why does snow work like a blanket?
Correct answer: A
Paragraph 3 says snow is full of tiny pockets of trapped air, and trapped air slows the movement of heat. Snow does hide animals, but that is not the reason the passage gives for why it works like a blanket.
-
Question 3
Passage A (see above):
Based on paragraphs 3 and 4, what would most likely happen to voles during a very cold winter with almost no snow?
Correct answer: C
The snow keeps voles warm and hidden, so without it they would lose both kinds of protection. Building deeper tunnels through the snow is not possible when there is almost no snow.
-
Question 4
Passage A (see above):
In paragraph 4, what does the word bitter mean in the phrase "the bitter wind"?
Correct answer: B
The paragraph is about animals hiding from the winter cold, so a bitter wind is very cold and harsh. "Angry about something unfair" is another meaning of bitter, but it describes people, not weather.
-
Question 5
Passage A (see above):
Which statement best describes how paragraph 2 is organized?
Correct answer: D
Paragraph 2 tells what happens first (the ground warms the lowest snow), next (the snow turns to vapor and rises) and last (open spaces are left behind). It does not compare two things or give an opinion.
-
Question 6
Passage A (see above):
Which sentence from the passage best supports the idea that some predators can find small animals even when they hide under the snow?
Correct answer: B
If a fox can hear a vole under the snow, the vole is not completely hidden. The sentence about tunnels and nests shows how voles use the space, not how a predator finds them.
-
Question 7
Which word correctly completes the sentence?
The girl ____ dog won the contest gave a short speech.
Correct answer: C
Whose shows that something belongs to someone: the dog belongs to the girl. Who and whom stand for the person herself, not something she owns, and which is not used for people.
-
Question 8
Which sentence uses the past progressive tense?
Correct answer: A
The past progressive uses was or were with an -ing verb to show an action that was going on in the past. Will be reading is the future progressive, and is reading is the present progressive.
-
Question 9
At the city pool, taking a shower before swimming is a rule that everyone has to follow.
Which word best completes the sentence?
Swimmers ____ shower before they get in the pool.
Correct answer: D
Must shows that something is required, which matches a rule everyone has to follow. Might and could only show that something is possible, and may usually gives permission.
-
Question 10
Which sentence uses their, there, or they're correctly?
Correct answer: C
Their shows ownership (the players' helmets), and there names a place. In the other sentences, there grandmother should be their grandmother, Their going should be They're going, and over they're should be over there.
-
Question 11
Which sentence contains a metaphor?
Correct answer: A
A metaphor compares two unlike things without using like or as: the noisy classroom is called a zoo. The sentences with as bright as and like tiny parachutes are similes, and the sentence about the cold water makes no comparison.
-
Question 12
The Latin root port means "carry."
Which word means "able to be carried"?
Correct answer: D
Portable joins port ("carry") and -able ("able to be"), so a portable speaker can be carried from place to place. Transport means to carry something from one place to another, and a porter is a person who carries things; neither means "able to be carried."
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
More English Language Arts tests
English Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Figurative Language and Text StructureFigurative Language and Text Structure15 questions20 min English Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Main Idea and SummarizingMain Idea and Summarizing10 questions15 minEnglish Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Theme, Characters and Making InferencesTheme, Characters and Inference10 questions15 minEnglish Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Point of View, Firsthand and Secondhand AccountsPoint of View and Firsthand Accounts10 questions12 minEnglish Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Greek and Latin Roots and Context CluesGreek and Latin Roots and Context Clues10 questions12 minEnglish Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Subject-Verb Agreement, Progressive Tenses and Relative PronounsSubject-Verb Agreement, Verb Tenses and Relative Pronouns10 questions12 minEnglish Language ArtsGrade 4 ELA Practice Test: Complete Sentences, Commas and Commonly Confused WordsComplete Sentences, Commas and Confused Words10 questions12 min