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Brilliance British School

Academic Year 2023/2024

15 Stage 5
Reading Sheet
Week 7
Explanatory
20 Name: ___________________________________________________

Class: ___________________________________________________

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35

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 What makes lightning?

50 In ancient times people believed that angry gods threw lightning

bolts from the heavens. It was not until the 1700s that scientists
offered an explanation for lightning. Lightning is electricity released
from the Earth's atmosphere during thunderstorms.

Where lightning happens

55 Lightning is most common in tropical regions. However,

thunderstorms with lightning happen in almost every region of the
world. An estimated 1,800 thunderstorms occur around the world at
any given time. These storms produce 8 million flashes of lightning
each day.

60 How lightning develops

Water droplets and ice particles inside a cloud carry electrical

charges. Some of these charges are positive and others are negative.
Lightning occurs usually when too many negative charges build up in
a cloud. To balance these negative charges, positive charges form
65 under the cloud on the ground. Because opposite charges attract, the
negative charges in the cloud want to join the positive charges on the
ground.
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 It is difficult for the charges to unite because electricity does not
move easily through air. The cloud grows and so does the strength of
70 the charges. Eventually, the charges overpower the air, and the cloud
releases a strong, negatively charged electrical current. As the negative
current heads toward the ground, a positively charged current jumps
from the ground to meet it. When the currents join, a bright flash is
created that heads back up toward the cloud. This is a lightning flash.
75 This process repeats until all the negative charges in the cloud have
been used.

In addition to the cloud-to-ground lightning that most people are

familiar with, lightning can occur within a cloud, between clouds, or
between a cloud and the air. Similar buildups and releases of electrical
80 charges produce all the different types of lightning.

The loud boom that follows lightning is called thunder. The

electricity from lightning heats the gases in the air. As the gases
violently expand, 30 they make a loud noise.

Effects of lightning

85 Lightning can damage buildings, ships, and airplanes when it

strikes. It can also kill or seriously injure a person. People are safer

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 inside a building or a car during a thunderstorm. They should stay
away from electrical appliances and open doors and windows. People
who find as themselves outside during a thunderstorm should stay
90 away from trees.

Lightning can also be useful. The heat from lightning joins the
nitrogen and oxygen in the air to form nitrates and other compounds.
These nutrients fall to the Earth when it rains. The Earth's soil needs
these nutrients to grow plants.

95

Answer the following questions:

1. Look at lines 1-4.

a. Give a reason for the cause of lightning ages ago.

___________________________________________________________________

100 b. What were the results scientists achieved?

___________________________________________________________________

c. Give one example of a countable noun and one example uncountable noun.

Countable: __________________________________________________________
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 Uncountable: ________________________________________________________

105 2. Look at lines 5-10.

a. Find a word with the same meaning “extremely hot and wet”.

___________________________________________________________________

b. Give an example of a fact from this section.

___________________________________________________________________

110 c. Find a word which shows that the data given is close to accurate.

___________________________________________________________________

d. What is the purpose of the conjunction 'however' in this section?

___________________________________________________________________

e. Give an example of a quantifier.

115 ___________________________________________________________________

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 3. Look at lines 11-17.

120 a. Look at this part: “How lightning develops”

What is the previous part an example? Tick one box.

subheading

rhetorical question

glossary

125 diagram

b. What is the purpose of the comma in line 15? Tick one box.

to separate adjectives before a noun

to separate direct speech from a reporting verb

to separate clauses in a complex sentence

130 to separate words or phrases in a list

c. Give an example of an adverb.

___________________________________________________________________

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 d. Give a reason for lightning taking place.

135 ___________________________________________________________________

4. Look at lines 18-26.

a. Look at this sentence: “As the negative current heads toward the ground, a

positively charged current jumps from the ground to meet it.”

What type of sentence is the previous one?

140 a compound sentence

a complex sentence

a simple sentence

b. Give an example of two adverbs which are antonyms to one another.

___________________________________________________________________

145

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 c. Match the following words to the correct word class according to how they are

used in lines 18-26.

150 overpower quantifier

flash verb

through adjective

all common noun

negative preposition

155 d. Find an example of a subordinate clause. Ms.

___________________________________________________________________

e. Give an example of a connective.

___________________________________________________________________

5. Look at lines 27-33.

160 a. Lightning can take place in different ways. Give two ideas.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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 b. Line 27 has started with a connective. Why has the writer chosen this

connective?

165 ___________________________________________________________________

c. Give a reason for the occurrence of thunder.

___________________________________________________________________

d. Look at this sentence: ”The loud boom that follows lightning is called thunder.”

What is the underlined word an example of? Tick one box.

170 rhyme

onomatopoeia

simile

alliteration

e. Give an example of a main clause.

175 ___________________________________________________________________

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 6. Look at lines 35-40.

180 a. Why has the writer used commas in line 35?

___________________________________________________________________

b. How can people keep safe during a thunderstorm? Give two ways.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

185 c. What does the personal pronoun in line 35 refer to?

___________________________________________________________________

d. Find an example of a compound noun.

___________________________________________________________________

7. Look at lines 41-44.

190 a. Why is the word 'Earth' capitalised?

___________________________________________________________________

b. Lightning does not only have disadvantages but advantages too. Tick (one box.

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 Yes No

Explain your answer. Give a quotation from the text to prove your answer.

195 Explanation: ________________________________________________________

Quotation: __________________________________________________________

8. Tick two sentences that are examples of non-standard English.

Sometimes lightning go from cloud to ground.

Some people are killed by lightning.

200 Lightning has hit the Empire State Building.

Many people study lightning.

9. This text is structured in different ways to make the information easy to read.

Give two of the ways. Dina

 _______________________________________________________________

205  _______________________________________________________________

10. Give a reason for the use of present tense in this text.

___________________________________________________________________

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 11. This text is an example of an explanatory text. Give one feature of an

210 explanatory text used in this text.

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

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