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ELA 9

English Language Arts 9 · Worksheets

Ideas and details

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Ideas and details. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

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Ideas and details

English Language Arts 9 · maddyhelps.com

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Circle the best answer for each question. Use the space to note the evidence or reasoning that decided it.

  1. Read: “When his cousin's shot finally dropped, after twelve misses, Mateo whooped as if she had won a championship. He did not mention the forty shots in a row he had made before she arrived.” Mateo's behaviour suggests that he

    1. a) believes his cousin is a better shooter than he is
    2. b) has already forgotten the shots he made that day
    3. c) is secretly jealous of how well his cousin shoots
    4. d) cares more about her confidence than his own record

  2. Read: “In 1990, the river through town was so polluted that swimming was banned. Today, kids jump off the dock every July. Herons nest in the cottonwoods again, and last summer's fish survey counted eleven species where there used to be three.” Which statement best expresses the main idea, which the writer implies but never states?

    1. a) Herons prefer to build their nests in cottonwood trees.
    2. b) The river has recovered a great deal since 1990.
    3. c) The town should ban swimming in the river once again.
    4. d) Rivers everywhere are much cleaner than they used to be.

  3. Read: “The chinook came through on the morning of the funeral. By noon, snowmelt was running in the gutters, kids were out in T-shirts, and the whole town smelled of wet earth. Nadia sat in the parked car with the windows rolled up.” The contrast between the weather and Nadia mainly serves to

    1. a) suggest that Nadia dislikes crowds and would rather be alone
    2. b) show how shut off her grief makes her from the world around her
    3. c) hint that the melting snow will make the roads hard to drive
    4. d) show that the warm weather is starting to lift Nadia's mood

  4. Read: “Mr. Okafor noticed the new student by the lockers, holding the school map upside down. He said nothing about the map. He asked which class she had first, said, ‘I'm going right past it,’ and walked slowly enough for her to keep up.” This suggests that Mr. Okafor

    1. a) helps without making her feel embarrassed
    2. b) is in a hurry to get to his own class on time
    3. c) did not notice that the map was upside down
    4. d) thinks she should learn to read the map herself

  5. Read: “It was the third week of harvest, and nobody at the supper table had talked about anything but the weather. When the radio said rain by Thursday, Dad pushed his plate away half-full and went back out to the combine in the dark.” The setting helps explain Dad's actions because

    1. a) the family has been arguing about money at supper
    2. b) rain could ruin a crop that is still not harvested
    3. c) he does not like the meal the family has made
    4. d) he likes working at night, when it is cooler

  6. Read: “People often call teenagers who sleep in lazy. Biology tells a different story. During puberty, the brain starts releasing melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy, later at night than it did in childhood.” Which detail does the writer use as evidence that these teenagers are not simply lazy?

    1. a) schools should start their day later in the morning
    2. b) the brain releases melatonin later at night during puberty
    3. c) teenagers stay up too late because of the phones in their rooms
    4. d) people often call teenagers who sleep in lazy

  7. Read: “‘I don't care who they pick,’ Jess said after tryouts. She said it again at supper, and again when her mom asked about her day. That night, she went to bed with her phone face-up on the pillow and the volume turned all the way up.” The best inference about Jess is that she

    1. a) is angry at the coach for how tryouts were run
    2. b) already knows that she has made the team this year
    3. c) has truly lost interest in making the team this year
    4. d) cares a lot about the result and is waiting to hear

  8. Read: “In many prairie towns, the outdoor rink survives because of volunteers. They flood the ice late at night, when it freezes best. They shovel it after every snowfall and patch the boards with borrowed tools. Without them, most of these rinks would have closed years ago.” Which sentence best states the main idea of this paragraph?

    1. a) Many outdoor rinks in prairie towns closed years ago.
    2. b) Volunteers are what keep many prairie outdoor rinks going.
    3. c) The ice is flooded late at night, when it freezes best.
    4. d) Prairie towns should pay workers to look after their rinks.

  9. Read: “Priya checked the scoreboard, then her phone, then the scoreboard again. When her brother skated onto the ice for the shootout, she stood up so fast that her hot chocolate tipped over. She did not even look down.” Priya is most likely feeling

    1. a) confused about what the score of the game is
    2. b) nervous and eager about her brother's turn
    3. c) bored after waiting so long in the cold rink
    4. d) upset that she spilled her hot chocolate

  10. Read: “Great-Grandpa started school in a one-room schoolhouse, a two-mile walk from the farm. In winter, the teacher arrived at seven to light the stove so the ink would not freeze in the inkwells.” The detail about the ink mainly shows

    1. a) how far the students had to walk to school each day
    2. b) how cold the schoolhouse got overnight in winter
    3. c) that the students wrote mostly in pencil back then
    4. d) that the teacher was careless with school supplies

Answer key · Ideas and details

English Language Arts 9 · maddyhelps.com

  1. d) cares more about her confidence than his own record — Cheering wildly for one basket after twelve misses, and keeping his own streak to himself, are choices made to build her up. Nothing suggests jealousy, and forty in a row makes it unlikely he thinks she shoots better.
  2. b) The river has recovered a great deal since 1990. — Swimming, herons and more fish species are all evidence of one thing: the river has come back. The claim about rivers everywhere stretches past the passage, which is about one town's river — a main idea has to fit the text, not go beyond it.
  3. b) show how shut off her grief makes her from the world around her — Everyone else is out in the thaw while she is sealed inside the car. The weather does not match her mood, and that mismatch is the point: life carries on around her while she grieves. Assuming weather always mirrors a character's feelings leads to the answer about her mood lifting.
  4. a) helps without making her feel embarrassed — The first sentence says he noticed the map, so not mentioning it is a choice: he helps without making her feel foolish. Walking slowly enough for her to keep up rules out being in a hurry.
  5. b) rain could ruin a crop that is still not harvested — Harvest time plus a forecast of rain tells you the crop is still in the field and wet weather could spoil it, so every dry hour counts. The half-full plate is about the deadline, not the food; reading it as a comment on supper ignores the setting.
  6. b) the brain releases melatonin later at night during puberty — The melatonin detail is the evidence: it gives a body-clock reason for sleeping in. The claim that teenagers are called lazy is in the passage too, but it is the view the writer argues against, not support for the writer's own point.
  7. d) cares a lot about the result and is waiting to hear — Saying it three times, even when nobody asked about the team, shows it is on her mind, and the phone on the pillow shows she is waiting for news. Taking her words at face value is the trap: when what a character says and what she does disagree, trust what she does.
  8. b) Volunteers are what keep many prairie outdoor rinks going. — Flooding, shovelling and patching are all things volunteers do, and the first and last sentences say what they add up to. The late-night flooding is true, but it is one supporting detail, not the point the whole paragraph makes.
  9. b) nervous and eager about her brother's turn — Checking the scoreboard over and over and jumping up the moment he skates out show nervous excitement. The spill tempts some readers toward upset, but she does not even look down, so her attention is entirely on her brother.
  10. b) how cold the schoolhouse got overnight in winter — Ink only freezes if the room drops below freezing, so the detail tells you the building had no heat overnight. The two-mile walk is also about hard conditions, but it is a different detail, and the question asks what the ink shows.