Reading

Comprehension
 INTRODUCTION
The word comprehension means
understanding. In English grammar, our
comprehension skills are tested by reading
text, understanding its meaning and
interpreting a passage and answering the
related questions.
 Top Tips for solving
comprehension passages

1. skim once as rapidly as possible to

understand the main idea before you look
at the questions.
2. Look through the questions carefully. You
are advised to keep to the order in which
the questions appear in the test paper.
3. Read intensively the portion relevant and
underline key words.
4. To find the answers to the vocabulary
based questions like synonyms, replace the
word with the meaning. If you find that it is
the same in meaning, the answer is correct.

5.To find the correct answer in multiple

choice questions, go through all the options.
Re-read the passage and then tick the correct
option.
Now let’s do some exercises
Q1. Read the passage given below
and answer the questions.

A chimpanzee is one of the great apes and has

the nearest intelligence to man. Scientists have
examined its mental capacities and sent it into
space in anticipation of man. Chimpanzees
need little description. Being apes and not
monkeys, they have no tails. Their arms are
longer than their legs and they normally rim on
all fours. They can also walk upright with toes
turned outwards. When erect they stand 3-5 ft
high. The hair is long and coarse, black except
for a white patch near the rump. The face,ears,
hands and feet are bare and except for the
black face, the flesh is coloured.
Chimpanzees exhibit great concern for each
other. When Chimpanzees meet after having
been apart they greet each other in a very
human way by touching each other or even
clasping hands. Chimpanzees have amazing
social discipline. When a dominant male
arrives, the rest of the Chimpanzees hurry to
pay respect to it. The dominant male is not
allowed to wrest food from his inferiors. The
members of party also spend considerable
amount of time grooming each other and
themselves. Mothers go through the fur of
their babies for any foreign particles, dirt, and
ticks and they aid each other when they are
injured.
Chimpanzees are the best tool users apart
from man. Sticks 2-3 ft long are picked off the
ground or balancing branches and pushed
into nests, then withdrawn and the honey or
insects licked off. Stones are used as missiles
to to drive humans and baboons away from
its food. Chimpanzees are not only tool users
but also toolmakers. They make their own
rods by stripping the leaves off a twig .
Chimpanzees learn all this by observing the
older chimpanzees making and using them.
So man is not the easily toolmaker, merely
better at it than his relatives.
Questions
(a) Chimpanzees are as _______as
men(intelligent, toolmakers, happy,sad)
(b) Chimpanzees greet each other
by_____(fighting, kissing, touching,
hugging)
(c) Like man, chimpanzees
are______(handsome, beautiful, tool users
and tool makers, naughty)
(d) Chimpanzees ______tails (have long, have
small, have no, have two)
(e) Baby chimpanzees learn, all
by______(themselves, observing older
chimpanzees, through their parents,
practice)
(f) Chimpanzees have amazing______(family
setup, physical structure, social
discipline, sound creation ability)
(g) The dominant male chimpanzees is not
allowed________( to mate with inferiors, to
stay with inferiors, to take food from
inferiors, to do sport with inferiors.)
(h) The word ‘wrest’ means__________( relax,
enjoy, take away violently, kill)
Answers

(a) Intelligent.
(b) Touching
(c) Both tool users and tool makers
(d) Have no
(e) Observing the older chimpanzees
(f) Social discipline
(g) To take food from others
(h) Take away violently
Q2.
These days, it is not unusual to see
people listening to music or using their
electronic gadgets while crossing busy
roads or travelling on public transports,
regardless of the risks involved. I have
often wondered why they take such risks:
is it because they want to exude some
sense of independence, or is it that they
want to tell the world to stop bothering
them? Or is it that they just want to show
how cool they are? Whether it is a
workman or executive, earphones have
become an inseparable part of our lives,
sometimes even leading to tragicomic
situations.
 The other day, an electrician had
come to our house to fix something. We told
him in detail what needed to be done. But
after he left, I found that the man had done
almost nothing. It later turned out that he
could not hear our directions clearly
because he had an earphone on hundreds of
such earphones addicts commute by the
delhi metro everyday. While one should not
begrudge anyone their moments of privacy
or their love for music, the fact is ‘iPod
oblivion’ can sometimes be very dangerous.
Recently I was travelling with my wife on
the Delhi metro. Since the train was
approaching the last station, there weren’t
too many passengers. In our compartment,
other than us, there were only two women
sitting on the other side of the aisle. And
then suddenly, I spotted a duffel bag. The
bomb scare lasted for several minutes. Then
suddenly, a youth emerged from nowhere
and picked up the bag. When we tried to
stop him he looked at us, surprised. Then he
took off his earpieces, lifted the bag, and
told us that the bag belonged to him and
that he was going to get off at the next
station.
We were stunned but recovered in time to
ask him where he was all this while. His
answer: he was in the compartment,
leaning against the door totally immersed
in music. He had no clue about what was
going around him. When he got off,
earphones in his hand, we could hear
strains of the song.
Q1. Question
a. Why didn't the electrician carry out the
work properly?
i. Because he was not interested.
ii. He couldn’t hear because of the
background noise.
iii. He couldn’t understand what the
author said.
iv. Because he had earphones in his ears.

b. Why were the people in the metro

doubtful about the bag?
i. They thought it was a bomb.
ii. They thought it was forgotten by
someone.
iii. They thought the bag contained
weapons.
iv. They thought the bag contained drugs)
c. Why were the passengers stunned?

i. Because the bag was a bomb.

ii. Because of the carelessness of the
young boy
iii. Because the police came to investigate,
iv. Because nobody picked up the bag.

d. Explain the term ‘earphone addict’

i. A person who buys earphones

regularly.
ii. A person who always keeps a earphone
in his pocket.
iii. A person who always wear earphones
and keep listening to music.
iv. A person who always loses his
earphones.
Q2. Find words from the passage indicated
which are similar in meaning to the words
given below.

1. In Spite of (Para 1)
2. Absorbed (Para 4)
3. Picked (Para 3)
 Answers
Q1.
a. Because he had earphones in his ears.
b. They thought it was a bomb.
c. Because of the carelessness of the young
boy.
d. A person who always wear earphones and
keep listening to music.

Q2.
1. Regardless
2. Immersed
3. lifted
Reach out to me @
sweta.roy@vedantu.com