Grade 8 Reading comprehension worksheet

What is on the worksheet

1. The lighting comparison For one week, a science class measured electricity use in two rooms with different lighting systems. The room with newer lights used less electricity. However, that room also had larger windows and was empty for two afternoons. The class revised its conclusion: the observations suggested a difference, but the test did not isolate the effect of the lights. Why can the class not attribute the entire difference to the lights?

2. A paragraph explains three ways a library serves the community. Its best main idea is

   1. Libraries provide several community services.
   2. The sign has six letters.
   3. One desk is brown.
   4. One user arrived at noon.

3. Explain why quoting a long paragraph is not enough to justify a claim.

4. Which claim is safest without more context?

   1. The poet was always uncertain.
   2. Every reader must feel happy.
   3. The poem records a legal confession.
   4. The speaker sounds uncertain in this line.

5. Reading and literary analysis: which term fits this description? Deliberate exaggeration used for effect.

   1. Foreshadowing
   2. Mood
   3. Hyperbole
   4. Summary

6. The hallway was a river of students is mainly a

   1. metaphor
   2. literal measurement
   3. question
   4. instruction

7. What evidence helps identify a main idea that is not stated directly?

8. The shared field Two clubs wanted the same field on Friday afternoon. The runners preferred a clear circuit around its edge, while the drama group needed a quiet area for rehearsal. A simple vote would have favoured the larger running club. Instead, the coordinator asked both groups to mark the space and times they actually needed. The runners could finish their circuit before the rehearsal began, and the drama group needed only the sheltered end. The final plan did not give either club exclusive use all afternoon, but it met the main requirements of both. Why is the final plan a compromise rather than a perfect victory for one group?

9. The sorting shortcut A library app sorts titles quickly by using the first three letters only. Tests with a small sample look successful. When the full catalogue is loaded, titles beginning with the same three letters appear in inconsistent order. The developer realizes the shortcut checked only a prefix, not the entire title. A new test set includes many shared prefixes and different letter cases. What assumption caused the shortcut to fail?

10. The lighting comparison For one week, a science class measured electricity use in two rooms with different lighting systems. The room with newer lights used less electricity. However, that room also had larger windows and was empty for two afternoons. The class revised its conclusion: the observations suggested a difference, but the test did not isolate the effect of the lights. Propose one improvement to the investigation.

11. Why should you not infer a narrator’s whole personality from one metaphor?

12. Text: Jun returned the borrowed coat neatly folded. What might this suggest, and which detail supports it?

13. A later paragraph contradicts your first inference. What should you do?

    1. Keep the first inference because it came first.
    2. Stop reading all evidence.
    3. Ignore the paragraph.
    4. Revise the inference using the new evidence.

14. The missing week The weather club compared two months of rainfall. April's sheet totalled 48 mm, while May's totalled 39 mm. At first, the pupils titled their chart May was drier. Then one member noticed seven blank days in May's record. A blank did not mean zero rainfall; the gauge had not been read during a school closure. The club could report the recorded totals but could not make a fair full-month comparison without addressing the missing observations. They shaded the missing period on the chart and revised the title to Recorded rainfall. Which title best matches what is actually known?

    1. The driest month ever
    2. May had no rain
    3. Recorded rainfall
    4. All rainfall with complete certainty

15. Write a question that would help resolve whether a quiet character is upset or concentrating.

16. A quiet corner that stayed busy The school opened a quiet study corner, but its entrance was beside a busy printer. A notice asked everyone to be silent. The room remained noisy because users had to pass through it to collect printed work. At a review meeting, pupils explained that the problem was not simply unwillingness to follow the rule. The route and equipment placement created repeated interruptions. Staff moved the printer collection point and added a separate walking route. The notice stayed, but the redesign reduced the need to depend on reminders alone. What was a major source of interruption?

    1. The notice was in a frame.
    2. People collecting printed work through the study area
    3. The room had no entrance.
    4. Every pupil refused to study.

17. Reading and literary analysis: which term fits this description? A meaningful contrast between what is expected, stated or understood and what actually occurs or is meant.

    1. Antagonist
    2. Inference
    3. Irony
    4. Theme

18. An old map at the shoreline An old map placed a footpath farther inland than a current map did. A student concluded that the shoreline had moved toward the path. Her partner noticed that the old map used a coarser scale and a different reference grid. They aligned several stable landmarks and checked the maps' dates and stated accuracy before comparing the coast. Some difference remained, but it was smaller than the initial overlay suggested. Their report distinguished possible landscape change from differences caused by mapping methods. What distinction made the final report stronger?

19. Explain how a line break can create a pause or surprise without changing the words.

20. A lower meter reading A school uses 900 units of water in one week and 720 the next after a conservation campaign. A notice credits the campaign with the entire reduction. The second week, however, has one fewer school day because of a scheduled closure. The environmental group asks for daily usage figures and attendance before estimating the campaign’s effect. What alternative explanation must be considered?