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11+ Reading Comprehension Test 1.

(Standard response format)

Read the passage below carefully and answer ALL the questions which follow fully, in sentences, and as far as possible in your own words. Good presentation, writing and spelling are important.

We came to Stoneygate because Grandma had died and Grandpa was left alone. We bought the house at Stoneygate’s edge, one of a long line that faced the wilderness and the river. Grandpa moved into the room next to mine. He had a single trunk of clothes and souvenirs. He put his old coalminer’s helmet and his polished pitman’s lamp on the shelf above his bed. He hung a photograph of himself and Grandma on the wall. The photograph was fading and there were hundreds of tiny cracks on its surface. It showed them on their wedding day at St. Thomas’ Church. He wore a smart black suit and a white flower in his buttonhole. Grandma held a massive white bouquet before her long white dress. They smiled and smiled. Just beyond them you could see the graves, then Stoneygate, then the hills and the distant misty moors.

At first Grandpa was gloomy, watery-eyed and silent. He hardly seemed to know me. I heard Mum whispering that Grandma’s death would mean the death of him as well. At night he used to whisper in his room as I dropped off to sleep next door. I dreamed that Grandma was with him again, just beyond the thin wall beside my bed, and that she had come to comfort him as he died. I heard her voice, soothing him. I dreamed that his sighs were his final breaths. I trembled with fear that I would be the one to hear him die.

But he didn’t die. He started to smile again, and tell his tales and sing his ancient pit songs in his hoarse cracked voice:

When I was young and in me prime,

Eh, aye, I could hew coal …

He took me walking and showed me that the evidence of the pit was everywhere – depressions in the gardens, jagged cracks in the roadways and in the house walls. Lamp posts and telegraph poles were twisted and skewed. Fragments of coal darkened the soil.

“Look at the earth and you think it’s solid,” he said. “But look deeper and you’ll see it’s riddled with tunnels. A warren. A labyrinth.”

He told me how things had been in his day: the huge black slag heap beside the river, the great wheels and the winding gear, the hundreds of men disappearing every morning and every night into the earth. He showed me where the entrances to the shafts had been, told me about

the dizzying drop in the cage to the tunnels far below. He pointed up to the hills past Stoneygate, told me they were filled with shafts, potholes, ancient drift mines.

As we wandered, I used to keep on asking him: How deep did you go? How dark was it? What was it like to go down there, day after day, week after week, year after year? Why weren’t you terrified, Grandpa?

He used to smile.

“It was very deep, Kit. Very dark. And every one of us was scared of it. As a lad I’d wake up trembling, knowing that as a Watson born in Stoneygate I’d soon be following my ancestors into the pit.”

He used to draw me close to him, touch my cheek, run his fingers through my hair.

“But there was more than just the fear, Kit. We were also driven to it. We understood our fate. There was the strangest joy in dropping down together into the darkness that we feared. And most of all there was the joy of coming out again together into the lovely world. Bright spring mornings, brilliant sunshine, birdsong, walking together through the lovely hawthorn lanes towards our homes.”

(adapted from Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond)

Now answer the following questions. Write in sentences and as far as possible in your own words.

  1. What was the reason for the narrator’s family moving to Stoneygate? (2)

  2. What, in your opinion, do the objects Grandpa displayed in his room reveal about Grandpa himself? (3)

  3. Reread from ‘They smiled … moors’. (lines 7-8)

    How do you feel when you read these sentences? Can you suggest a reason why these two sentences might have been placed next to each other? (2)

  4. In your own words explain the evidence that the coal mines had greatly influenced the environment of the area. Does the language used suggest this influence was good or bad? (5)

  5. Do you think Grandpa was the first member of his family to work in the mines? Explain your answer. (2)

  6. Explain fully, and in your own words, how Grandpa used to feel about going down into the mine and then returning to the surface. (4)

  7. How does the language of the final paragraph help us as readers to understand the miners’ feelings? (Refer to specific words and phrases In your answer.) (3)

  8. Read paragraph 2 again. Imagine that the narrator kept a diary. Write one of the entries he might have made as he listened to Grandpa in the next room. You should write about 40-50 words. Remember to include details of the boy’s feelings and thoughts as well as an account of the situation. (4)

25 marks

    1. According to the passage, the narrator's family moved to Stoneygate because Grandma had died and Grandpa was left alone. It's clearly stated in the opening line: "We came to Stoneygate because Grandma had died and Grandpa was left alone." The family appears to have moved there specifically to be close to and care for Grandpa after his loss.

    2. The coalminer's helmet and polished pitman's lamp suggest that Grandpa took great pride in his mining career. The fact that he chose to display these work items, and that the lamp is specifically described as "polished," indicates he valued his identity as a miner and maintained respect for his profession even after retiring.

      The wedding photograph with Grandma shows his deep emotional connection to his wife.

      The fact that he brought only "a single trunk of clothes and souvenirs" indicates he was a modest man who valued memories and meaningful objects over material possessions. The careful selection of these few items reveals that family and mining were the two most important aspects of his life.

    3. These two sentences create a striking and unsettling contrast. The first sentence "They smiled and smiled" is warm and joyful, capturing a moment of pure happiness on their wedding day. However, the immediate juxtaposition with "Just beyond them you could see the graves" creates a sudden shift in tone. It creates a sense of foreboding - the happiness of the wedding day is overshadowed by the presence of death (the graves) in the background. The placement of these sentences together creates an emotional complexity that mirrors the wider themes of the story - how joy and sadness, life and death, exist side by side in this mining community.

    4. According to the passage, the coal mines had dramatically changed the area's environment in many destructive ways. We can see this physical damage in the "depressions in the gardens," the "jagged cracks" that appeared in roads and house walls, and how lamp posts and telegraph poles were left "twisted and skewed." Even the soil itself was permanently affected, being darkened by "fragments of coal." The language the writer uses, particularly words like "jagged," "twisted," and "riddled," suggests these changes were harmful and damaging to the area. This negative impact is further emphasised by the description of the "huge black slag heap" that once stood by the river, showing how mining had scarred the landscape. However, there is a subtle contrast when Grandpa mentions the "lovely hawthorn lanes," suggesting that despite the mining's destructive influence, some natural beauty managed to survive above ground.

    5. No, Grandpa was definitely not the first member of his family to work in the mines. This is clearly shown in the text through direct evidence. When Grandpa is explaining his fear of going into the mines as a young man, he says, "as a Watson born in Stoneygate I'd soon be following my ancestors into the pit." The word "ancestors" directly tells us that multiple generations of his family had worked in the mines before him.

    6. Grandpa had mixed feelings about working in the mines. On one hand, he felt fear - he admits that "every one of us was scared of it" and reveals that as a young man he would "wake up trembling" at the thought of going down into the mines. However, Grandpa's feelings were not just about fear. He explains that the miners felt "driven to it" and experienced what he calls "the strangest joy" in facing their fears together. This suggests a sense of duty, community spirit, and shared courage. Further, Grandpa found his greatest happiness in the contrast between underground darkness and returning to the surface. He describes the joy of "coming out again together into the lovely world," appreciating simple pleasures like "bright spring mornings, brilliant sunshine, birdsong" and walking home through "lovely hawthorn lanes." This suggests that working in the darkness of the mines made him appreciate the beauty of the world above ground much more.

    7. The language in the final paragraph expresses the miners' mix of emotions through carefully chosen words and phrases. The writer creates a strong contrast between fear and joy, darkness and light. The word "driven" suggests a powerful force pushing the miners beyond their fear, while the phrase "understood our fate" implies they accepted their destiny and had no choice. The phrase "strangest joy" is effective because it combines two opposing feelings - the word "joy" suggests happiness, but "strangest" suggests that this happiness was unexpected or unusual. The description of coming back to the surface is filled with positive language that emphasises their relief and happiness. Words like "brilliant sunshine" and "bright spring mornings" filled with “birdsong” create a sense of light, life and freedom after being underground. The repetition of "lovely" in "lovely world" and "lovely hawthorn lanes" emphasises their deep appreciation of the natural world above ground.

    8. Dear Diary, I'm lying in bed feeling terrified. Grandpa is in the next room whispering again, and I can hear what sounds like Grandma's voice comforting him. Mum says he might die soon from grief. My heart is pounding - what if I'm the one who hears his final breath through these thin walls? I wish I could help him somehow, but I feel so helpless. Kit.