Reading for Meaning

What is comprehension?

Comprehension means understanding what you read, not just saying the words.

Ama can read every word on a page aloud. But when her teacher asks, "Why was the boy sad?", she does not know. Ama has read the words. She has not yet read for meaning.

Reading for meaning is a set of skills you can learn:

• finding the main idea (what the passage is mostly about)
• noticing the details (the facts that support the main idea)
• making inferences (working out what the writer did not say directly)
• using context clues (guessing a new word from the words around it)
• answering questions carefully, using the passage

This book teaches each skill in turn. Then you will practise them on two passages set in Ghana.

Try this: Think of the last story you read. In one sentence, what was it mostly about?

Before you read

Good readers do not jump straight into the words. They take ten seconds to prepare.

1. Read the title. What might the passage be about?
2. Look at any picture. What does it show?
3. Skim the first and last sentences. They often hold the main idea.
4. Ask yourself: What do I already know about this?

If the title is "The Fishermen of Elmina", you already know something: Elmina is on the coast, fishermen use canoes and nets, and the sea can be dangerous. Now when you read, the new facts have somewhere to sit.

Preparing like this is called previewing. It makes the passage easier, because your brain is already thinking about the topic.

Try this: Look at the title of the next page. Before reading it, say three things you expect it to tell you.

Reading once, reading twice

In a comprehension exercise, read the passage at least twice.

First read: Read all the way through without stopping. Do not worry about hard words. Just get the general picture. Ask: what is this mostly about?

Second read: Read slowly. Notice the details. Underline or note names, numbers, places and times. Notice words like but, because, then and finally, which show how ideas connect.

Then read the questions. Go back to the passage for each one. Put your finger on the part that answers it.

Many pupils read the passage once, quickly, and then answer from memory. That is how marks are lost. The passage is right there. Use it.

Try this: Time yourself reading one page of any book. Then read it again. Did you notice anything new the second time?

What is the main idea?

The main idea is the one thing the passage is mostly about. If you had to tell a friend about the passage in one sentence, that sentence is the main idea.

Everything else in the passage is there to support the main idea.

Think of a football team. The main idea is the captain. The details are the other players. They are all working for the same goal.

A paragraph about why Kakum National Park is special might say: it has a canopy walkway, it is home to forest elephants, it has rare butterflies, and visitors come from all over the world. The main idea is Kakum is a special place. The walkway, elephants and butterflies are the details.

Try this: Read the paragraph on this page about the football team. What is its main idea?

Finding the main idea

Writers often put the main idea in the first sentence of a paragraph. Sometimes it is in the last sentence. Sometimes it is not written at all, and you must work it out.

Here is a paragraph:

Kofi wakes at five. He sweeps the compound, fetches water from the borehole and feeds the goats. Then he walks three kilometres to school. By the time lessons start, he has already done a morning's work.

Which sentence is the main idea? The last one: By the time lessons start, he has already done a morning's work. The other sentences are examples that show it.

Ask yourself: Which sentence do all the others point to?

Try this: Cover the paragraph. Say its main idea in your own words, without using any of its sentences.

Topic or main idea?

Pupils often confuse the topic with the main idea.

The topic is one or two words: what the passage is about. For example, "cocoa farming".

The main idea is a full sentence: what the passage says about the topic. For example, "Cocoa farming is hard work but it feeds many families."

A passage can have the topic "the sea" and a main idea of "the sea gives Elmina its food and its danger". Another passage with the same topic might have the main idea "the sea is getting warmer".

In an exam, if a question asks for the main idea, answer with a sentence, not a word.

Try this: Topic: "my school". Write two different main ideas a passage about your school could have.

Main idea of a whole passage

A long passage has several paragraphs, and each paragraph has its own main idea. The passage also has one overall main idea that holds them all together.

To find it:

1. Find the main idea of each paragraph. Write each one in a few words.
2. Ask: what do all of these have in common?
3. Write one sentence that covers them all.

For example, paragraph one is about Abena losing her money. Paragraph two is about her searching the market. Paragraph three is about a trader finding it and returning it. The overall main idea: Abena lost her money, but an honest trader gave it back.

The title often gives you a hint. So does the last paragraph.

Try this: Take any three-paragraph story you have. Write the main idea of each paragraph, then one sentence for the whole.

What are details?

Details are the small facts in a passage: names, places, numbers, times, colours, reasons. They support the main idea and answer questions like who, what, where, when, how many.

Abena is eleven. She lives in Tamale with her grandmother. Every Saturday she sells kuli-kuli at the market from seven until noon.

Details here: Abena's age (eleven), her town (Tamale), who she lives with (grandmother), what she sells (kuli-kuli), the day (Saturday), the hours (seven until noon).

Exam questions love details. "How old is Abena?" "Where does she live?" "What does she sell?" All of these are answered straight from the passage.

Try this: Read the three sentences again. Write five questions a teacher could ask about them. Then answer each one.

Finding details fast

When a question asks for a detail, you do not need to read the whole passage again. Scan for it.

Scanning means running your eyes over the text looking for a particular word. If the question is "What time did the bus leave?", scan for numbers or the word bus. If the question is "Who found the goat?", scan for names.

Key words in the question tell you what to scan for. Underline them.

Question: Why did Kwame miss the football match? Scan for: Kwame, football, match, miss.

Find the sentence. Read it and the sentence before and after it. The answer is usually there.

Try this: Open any book. Give a friend a question about one page and time how long they take to scan for the answer.

Sequence: what happened when

Some questions ask about order: what happened first, next, last.

Writers use signal words to show order: first, then, next, after, before, later, finally, at last, meanwhile, while.

First, Kofi mixed the flour and water. After kneading the dough, he left it to rise. Later, he shaped it into loaves. Finally, he baked them.

Question: What did Kofi do after the dough had risen? Scan for rise and read on: he shaped it into loaves.

Be careful with before and after. "Before going to school, Ama swept the room" means the sweeping came first.

Try this: Write down five things you did this morning, in order, using five different signal words.

What is an inference?

An inference is something you work out that the writer did not say directly. You use clues in the text plus what you already know.

Ama came home with wet hair and muddy sandals. Her exercise book was soaked.

The writer never says it rained. But you can infer it. Wet hair plus mud plus a soaked book, plus what you know about rain, equals: it rained on Ama's way home.

Inference is sometimes called "reading between the lines". Good readers do it all the time without noticing.

Clue + what you know = inference.

Try this: Kofi looked at the clock, grabbed his bag and ran out without breakfast. What can you infer? What clues helped you?

Inferring feelings

Writers rarely say "she was angry". They show it, and let you infer it.

Abena slammed the door. She threw her bag on the bed and would not answer when her mother called.

How does Abena feel? Angry or upset. Clues: slammed, threw, would not answer.

Kwame's hands shook as he opened the envelope. He read the first line twice.

How does Kwame feel? Nervous. Clues: hands shook, read twice.

When a question asks "How did X feel?" and the passage does not say, look at what the person does and says. Actions show feelings.

Try this: Write two sentences that show someone is happy, without using the words happy, glad or smiled.

Inferring reasons

Questions that begin with why often need an inference. The passage gives clues; you give the reason.

The market was almost empty. Most of the traders had packed up. Only Auntie Esi was still there, calling out the price of her last few fish, which she had lowered twice already.

Why did Auntie Esi lower her price? The passage never says. But it is late, the market is emptying, and she has fish left. Fish does not keep. So: she wanted to sell the fish before they spoiled, rather than take them home.

To answer a why question, start with "Because…" and use the clues.

Try this: Kofi walked the long way home, past the river, even though it was getting dark. Think of two possible reasons. Which clues support each?

Inference, not imagination

An inference must be supported by the text. It is not a wild guess.

Ama looked out of the window at the grey sky and sighed. She put her football back in the cupboard.

Good inference: Ama thinks it will rain and she will not be able to play. Clues: grey sky, sighed, put the ball away.

Bad inference: Ama is sad because her best friend moved to Kumasi. There is nothing in the text about a friend or Kumasi. That is imagination, not inference.

In an exam, if you cannot point to a clue in the passage, your inference will not get the mark.

Try this: For every inference you make on the next few pages, write the clue beside it in brackets.

What are context clues?

Every reader meets words they do not know. The context (the words around the new word) usually gives you clues to its meaning.

The fisherman's canoe was so dilapidated that water came in through the cracks and the paint had long peeled away.

You may not know dilapidated. But the clues (cracks, paint peeled) tell you it means old and falling apart.

You do not always need a dictionary. Read the whole sentence, and the one before and after. Ask: what word would make sense here?

Try this: The pupils were famished after the long walk, and finished every grain of rice on their plates. What does famished mean?

Types of context clue

Writers leave different kinds of clue.

Definition: the meaning is given straight after the word.

A borehole, a deep narrow well, gave the village clean water.

Example: examples show what the word covers.

She sold legumes such as beans, groundnuts and cowpeas.

Opposite: a contrast tells you what the word is not.

Unlike his timid sister, Kofi marched straight up to the chief.

Explanation: the sentences around it explain.

The road was impassable. Lorries turned back and even bicycles could not get through the mud.

Try this: Write one sentence for a word of your own using each of the four types of clue.

Word parts as clues

Sometimes the clue is inside the word itself.

Prefixes (word beginnings): un- means not (unhappy), re- means again (rebuild), dis- means not or opposite (disobey), mis- means wrongly (misread).

Suffixes (word endings): -less means without (careless), -ful means full of (hopeful), -er means a person who (farmer).

Root words: unforgettable = un + forget + able = not able to be forgotten.

The rebuilt school opened in September.

Re- plus built = built again. So the school had been built before, perhaps damaged, and was built again.

Try this: Work out the meaning of disrespectful, fearless and replant using their parts.

Passage 1: The Canopy Walk

Read this passage twice. The next pages ask questions about it.

Kofi had never been so high. The rope bridge swayed under his feet, forty metres above the forest floor, and he gripped the netting on both sides. Below him, the trees of Kakum spread out like a green sea.

"Don't look down," said Ama, who was already halfway across and not holding on at all. "Look at the birds."

Kofi looked. A hornbill flapped slowly between two giant trees. Somewhere a monkey called. The guide had said that forest elephants lived here, though visitors rarely saw them.

Kofi took one step, then another. The bridge creaked. By the time he reached the platform, his shirt was wet through, but he was grinning.

"Again?" said Ama.

"Again," said Kofi.

Passage 1: main idea and details

Main idea. What is the passage mostly about? Not "Kakum" (that is the topic). Not "birds". It is about Kofi being afraid on the canopy walk and finding the courage to cross it.

Details. Scan for these:

• How high is the bridge? Forty metres.
• What did Kofi hold on to? The netting on both sides.
• Which bird did he see? A hornbill.
• Which animal lives in the park but is rarely seen? Forest elephants.
• Who was already halfway across? Ama.

Each answer is a few words taken straight from the passage. Notice that none of them needs guessing.

Try this: Write two more detail questions about Passage 1 and answer them.

Passage 1: inferences

Now the questions the passage does not answer directly.

How did Kofi feel at the start? Afraid. Clues: he gripped the netting, Ama told him not to look down, his shirt was wet with sweat.

Is Ama afraid of heights? No. Clue: she was "not holding on at all".

Had Kofi enjoyed it by the end? Yes. Clues: he was grinning, and he said "Again."

Why did Ama say "Look at the birds"? To take Kofi's mind off his fear. Clue: she said it right after "Don't look down".

Each inference has a clue you can point to. That is what makes it an inference, not a guess.

Try this: Why do you think the writer mentioned the bridge creaking? What does it add?

Passage 1: context clues

Find these words in the passage and work out their meaning from the context.

swayed — "The rope bridge swayed under his feet… and he gripped the netting." The bridge was moving from side to side, which is why he gripped. Swayed = moved gently from side to side.

gripped — "gripped the netting on both sides." He was afraid, so he held on hard. Gripped = held tightly.

canopy — the title says "Canopy Walk", and the bridge is forty metres up among the treetops. Canopy = the top layer of the forest, the treetops.

platform — "By the time he reached the platform…" It is where the bridge ends and you can stand. Platform = a flat raised place to stand.

Try this: Use swayed and gripped in sentences of your own.

Passage 2: The Lost Purse

Read this passage twice.

Abena counted the coins again. Sixty cedis: the money her mother had given her for the week's foodstuffs. She tied it into the corner of her cloth and set off for the market.

The market was crowded. Abena bought tomatoes, onions and a tin of fish. When she reached for the money to pay for rice, her fingers found only cloth. The knot had come undone.

Her stomach dropped. She walked back the way she had come, eyes on the ground, past the tomato seller and the onion seller. Nothing.

At the fish stall, the old woman looked up. "Child, are you looking for something?"

Abena could not speak. The woman reached under her table and held out a small roll of notes. "You left it on my table. Count it."

Abena counted. Forty-two cedis. Exactly what was left.

Passage 2: main idea and details

Main idea. The passage is mostly about Abena losing her mother's money at the market and an honest trader returning it. Notice that this covers the whole passage, beginning to end.

Details.

• How much money did Abena start with? Sixty cedis.
• Who gave her the money? Her mother.
• Where did she keep it? Tied in the corner of her cloth.
• What did she buy before she noticed? Tomatoes, onions and a tin of fish.
• What was she about to buy when she noticed? Rice.
• How much was returned? Forty-two cedis.

A detail that needs a little maths: How much had she spent? 60 − 42 = 18 cedis.

Try this: Which sentence tells you how the money was lost? Copy it out.

Passage 2: inferences

How did Abena feel when she found the money gone? Shocked and frightened. Clue: "Her stomach dropped." This is a way of describing a sudden sick feeling of fear.

Why did she walk with her eyes on the ground? She was looking for the money, hoping it had fallen.

Why could Abena not speak? She was too upset, or too surprised, or both. Clue: it comes just after the woman's kind question.

What kind of person is the fish seller? Honest and kind. Clues: she kept the money safe, asked Abena what was wrong, and told her to count it.

Why did the woman say "Count it"? So that Abena could see that nothing had been taken.

Try this: Did the old woman know whose money it was before Abena came back? What clue helps you decide?

Passage 2: context clues

foodstuffs — "the money her mother had given her for the week's foodstuffs." Then she buys tomatoes, onions, fish and rice. So foodstuffs = food items for cooking.

undone — "The knot had come undone." Her fingers found only cloth; the money was gone. So undone = untied, loose.

stall — "At the fish stall, the old woman looked up… reached under her table." So a stall = a trader's table or small shop at a market.

roll of notes — she held it out, and Abena counted forty-two cedis. So a roll of notes = paper money rolled up together.

Try this: The passage says "Her stomach dropped." Her stomach did not really move. What does the phrase mean? Why is it stronger than "she was worried"?

Comparing the two passages

Exams sometimes ask you to compare two passages.

What is the same?

• Both have a Basic 6 child as the main character.
• Both children face a problem (fear; lost money).
• Both end happily.
• Both are set in Ghana.

What is different?

• Kofi's problem is inside him (fear). Abena's is outside her (lost money).
• Kofi solves his problem himself. Abena's is solved by another person's honesty.
• Passage 1 is set in a forest; Passage 2 in a market.

A good comparison answer names the thing being compared and gives a point from each passage.

Try this: Write one sentence comparing how the two passages end.

Reading the question carefully

Many marks are lost not by misreading the passage but by misreading the question.

• "Give two reasons" means two, not one.
• "In your own words" means do not copy the passage.
• "Quote" means copy the exact words.
• "Which word in the passage means…" wants a single word from the text.
• "Why" wants a reason. Start with because.
• "How do you know" wants evidence. Point to the clue.

Underline the question word (who, what, where, when, why, how) and any number (two reasons, three details).

Try this: Rewrite this question in your own words so that you are sure what it wants: "Quote the phrase that shows Abena was frightened."

Answering in full sentences

Some questions can be answered in a word or two: "Forty metres." But when the question asks why or how, write a full sentence that uses words from the question.

Question: Why did Kofi grip the netting? Weak answer: Scared. Good answer: Kofi gripped the netting because he was afraid of the height.

Question: How do you know Ama was not afraid? Weak answer: Not holding on. Good answer: I know Ama was not afraid because the passage says she was "not holding on at all".

The good answers could be understood by someone who has not seen the question. That is the test.

Try this: Turn this weak answer into a good one: Question: Why did the trader say "Count it"? Weak answer: To check.

Using the passage as evidence

When a question asks "How do you know?" or "Which words show…", you must quote from the passage.

Put the quoted words in inverted commas, exactly as they appear. Do not change them.

Question: Which words show that the market was busy? Answer: The passage says "The market was crowded."

Question: How do you know Kofi enjoyed the walk in the end? Answer: He "was grinning" and when Ama asked "Again?" he said "Again."

Quoting shows the examiner that your answer is based on the text. It is the strongest kind of evidence.

Try this: Find a quotation in Passage 2 that shows the fish seller was honest.

"In your own words"

When a question says in your own words, you must not copy. You must say the same thing differently.

Passage: "Below him, the trees of Kakum spread out like a green sea." Question: In your own words, what did Kofi see below him? Answer: He saw the tops of the forest trees stretching far into the distance, all green.

Tips:

• Change the words but keep the meaning.
• Use synonyms: spread out → stretched; gripped → held tightly.
• Change the sentence shape: turn a long sentence into two short ones.

If you copy when told not to, you may get no marks even though the meaning is right.

Try this: Put this in your own words: "Her stomach dropped. She walked back the way she had come, eyes on the ground."

Fact or opinion?

A fact can be checked. An opinion is what someone thinks or feels.

Fact: The canopy walkway is forty metres high. Opinion: The canopy walkway is the most exciting place in Ghana.

Words like best, worst, beautiful, boring, I think, should often signal an opinion.

Some passages mix facts and opinions. A good reader can tell which is which. A question might say: "Is this sentence a fact or an opinion? Explain."

Kejetia is the biggest market in West Africa. (Fact. It can be checked.) Kejetia is too noisy. (Opinion. It depends who you ask.)

Try this: Write one fact and one opinion about your school. Swap with a friend. Can they tell which is which?

The writer's purpose

Every passage was written for a reason. Ask: why did the writer write this?

• To entertain: a story, a joke, a poem. (Both of our passages.)
• To inform: a report, a textbook page, a news article.
• To persuade: an advertisement, a letter to the editor, a speech.
• To instruct: a recipe, a set of rules, directions.

Clues: a story has characters and events. Information has facts and headings. Persuasion has strong words like must, best, now. Instructions have numbered steps and commands.

Knowing the purpose helps you understand the passage. In an advertisement, you read the claims more carefully.

Try this: What is the purpose of this page you are reading now? How do you know?

Characters: what they are like

Questions often ask what a character is like: brave, lazy, kind, proud. The passage rarely says it. You infer it from what they do, say and think.

Kofi: afraid but determined. He is scared (gripped, sweating) yet he keeps going (one step, then another) and wants to go again.

Ama: confident and helpful. She walks without holding on, and tells Kofi where to look.

The fish seller: honest and caring. She keeps the money, notices Abena, and makes her count it.

When you describe a character, give the word and the evidence: "Kofi is determined because he kept going even though the bridge creaked."

Try this: Choose one word to describe Abena. Give two pieces of evidence from Passage 2.

Setting: where and when

The setting is where and when a story happens. Writers often show it through details rather than stating it.

Passage 1: forty metres above the forest floor… the trees of Kakum… hornbill… monkey… forest elephants. Setting: the rainforest at Kakum National Park, in the daytime.

Passage 2: The market was crowded… tomato seller… fish stall. Setting: a busy market, during the day.

Questions about setting: "Where does the story take place? How do you know?" Answer with the place and two clues.

Try this: Rewrite the first two sentences of Passage 2 so that the setting is the seaside at Elmina instead of a market. What details would you change?

Summarising

A summary is the passage made short. It keeps the main idea and the most important details, and leaves out the rest.

Summary of Passage 1 (two sentences): Kofi was afraid to cross the high rope bridge at Kakum, but Ama encouraged him. He crossed it slowly, and by the end he wanted to go again.

Summary of Passage 2: Abena lost some of her mother's money at the market. An honest fish seller had found it and gave it back.

Rules for a summary:

• Use your own words.
• No dialogue, no small details, no opinions.
• Keep the order of events.
• Keep it short: a third of the passage or less.

Try this: Summarise the last story you read in two sentences.

Pronouns: who is "she"?

Writers use pronouns (he, she, it, they, this, that) instead of repeating names. A question may ask: "Who does she refer to in line 5?"

Ama was already halfway across. She was not holding on at all.

She = Ama.

The woman reached under her table and held out a small roll of notes. "You left it on my table."

It = the roll of notes (the money).

To find out who a pronoun refers to, look back to the nearest name or thing that fits.

Try this: In Passage 2, find the sentence "Her fingers found only cloth." Who is her? What is cloth?

Tricky questions

Some question types catch pupils out.

True or false, with a reason: Decide, then quote the part of the passage that proves it. "False, because the passage says the bridge was forty metres high, not fourteen."

Multiple choice: Read all the choices before picking. Cross out the ones that are clearly wrong. Then check the best one against the passage.

"What would have happened if…": This needs an inference plus sense. "If the knot had held, Abena would have bought the rice and gone home without any trouble."

"Suggest a title": Choose something short that fits the main idea, not just one detail. "The Honest Trader" is better than "Tomatoes and Onions".

Try this: Suggest a different title for Passage 1. Say why it fits.

Managing your time

In a comprehension test you have limited time. Plan it.

1. Preview the title and picture: 10 seconds.
2. First read of the passage: 2 minutes.
3. Read all the questions: 1 minute. Now you know what to look for.
4. Second read, underlining answers as you go: 3 minutes.
5. Answer the questions, easiest first: most of the remaining time.
6. Check: did you answer every part? Full sentences? Spellings copied correctly?

If a question is hard, leave a space and move on. Come back at the end. One hard question must not steal the time for five easy ones.

Try this: Do a practice comprehension with a clock. Note which step took longest and work on it.

Reading every day

Comprehension improves with practice. The more you read, the faster you find main ideas, the more words you know, and the better you infer.

Read anything: storybooks, newspapers, the back of a cereal box, road signs, the Bible or Qur'an, your science textbook, a football report.

Each time, ask yourself three questions:

1. What was this mostly about?
2. What was one detail I did not know before?
3. Was there a word I worked out from its context?

Ten minutes a day is enough. A pupil who reads ten minutes a day reads more than sixty hours a year.

Try this: Choose a book you will read for ten minutes every day this week. Write its title in your exercise book, and tick each day.

Summary

• Preview the title and picture before reading.
• Read twice: once for the picture, once for the details.
• Main idea = what the passage is mostly about, in a sentence. The topic is just the subject.
• Details support the main idea. Scan for them using key words.
• Inference = clue in the text + what you know. Always point to the clue.
• Context clues (definition, example, opposite, explanation, word parts) unlock new words.
• Read the question carefully: how many answers, own words or quote, why or how.
• Full sentences for why and how. Quote for "how do you know".
• Summarise in your own words, keeping the main idea.
• Read every day.

Learn more

• Khan Academy: Reading and vocabulary — free lessons and practice on main idea, inference and context clues
• ReadWorks — hundreds of free passages with comprehension questions
• Worldreader — free digital books for readers in Ghana and across Africa

Watch more

Think about it

1. Why is it possible to read every word of a passage and still not understand it?
2. Which is harder for you: finding details, or making inferences? Why do you think that is?
3. In Passage 2, the fish seller could have kept the money. Why do you think the writer chose to make her honest?
4. Think of a time you worked out something a person felt without being told. What were the clues?
5. If you could add one more paragraph to Passage 1, what would happen in it?