Finding Answers in the Text

Retrieval questions ask your child to find information that is stated directly in the passage — no guessing, no working out. The answer is printed on the page. They make up roughly half of the comprehension marks on a GL English paper, which makes them the single best place to bank marks quickly.

How the questions look

Every question is multiple choice with four or five options. Many give a line or paragraph reference ("In line 12...", "Look at the third paragraph..."). Even when they don't, GL questions almost always follow the order of the passage — the answer to question 4 usually sits somewhere after the answer to question 3, so your child never needs to re-hunt through the whole text from the top.

The four-step method

1. Underline the key words in the question. In "What colour was the fisherman's boat?", the words that matter are colour and boat.
2. Scan for those words — or their stand-ins. GL loves a synonym swap: the question says boat, the passage says vessel; the question says frightened, the passage says trembling. Teach your child to hunt for the idea, not just the exact word.
3. Read around the match. Read the full sentence, plus the one before and the one after. The answer usually sits a line away from the keyword, not on it.
4. Check every option against the text. The correct answer can be pointed at in the passage. If your child can't put a finger on the evidence, it isn't the answer.

The habit that wins marks: "prove it"

When practising at home, don't accept an answer on its own — ask "Where does it say that?" and have your child point to the exact words. Children who answer from memory of one quick read get caught by the traps below; children who go back to the text every time don't. The passage stays in front of them for the whole test, and there are no marks for answering without looking.

Common 11+ traps

⚠️ The word-match decoy. One wrong option repeats eye-catching words straight from the passage — but answers a different question. Matching words is not the same as matching meaning. This trap is built for children who scan and grab.

⚠️ True but not asked. An option can be a perfectly true statement from the passage and still be wrong, because it doesn't answer this question. Re-read the question stem before committing.

⚠️ The first plausible answer. GL often places a tempting near-miss earlier in the option list than the correct answer. Read all four (or five) options every time — the question asks for the best answer, not the first reasonable one.

⚠️ Answering from the world, not the passage. If the passage says the whale is a fish, then for these questions the whale is a fish. The test is "what does the text say?", never "what is generally true?"

Worked examples

Read through each example. Cover the steps and try it yourself first if you can.

1. 1

   The synonym swap

   Passage: "Despite the biting wind, Amara trudged on, her satchel growing heavier with every step." — Question: What was the weather like? A) rainy B) very cold C) warm D) foggy

   Steps

   1. Underline the key word in the question: WEATHER.
   2. Scan the passage — the word 'weather' never appears, so hunt for a stand-in.
   3. 'Biting wind' is the clue: 'biting' describes a sharp, freezing wind.
   4. Check the other options against the text: no rain, no warmth, no fog is mentioned anywhere.

   Answer

   B) very cold

2. 2

   The word-match decoy

   Passage: "Tom's sister fed the rabbits before school. Tom, still half asleep, forgot to shut the gate." — Question: Who fed the rabbits? A) Tom B) Tom's sister C) the school D) no one

   Steps

   1. A fast scanner sees 'Tom' and 'fed the rabbits' close together and grabs option A — that is the decoy.
   2. Go back and read the whole first sentence carefully.
   3. The subject of 'fed the rabbits' is 'Tom's sister', not Tom.
   4. Prove it: point at the words 'Tom's sister fed the rabbits'.

   Answer

   B) Tom's sister

3. 3

   True but not asked

   Passage: "The market was crowded. Lena bought a peach and gave half to her brother, because he had spent his last coin on a kite." — Question: Why did Lena share her peach? A) the market was crowded B) she did not like peaches C) her brother had no money left D) her brother asked her to

   Steps

   1. Option A is TRUE — the market was crowded — but it does not answer WHY Lena shared. True-but-not-asked is a classic trap.
   2. Find the reason word in the passage: 'because'.
   3. Read what follows it: 'he had spent his last coin' — so her brother had no money left.
   4. Check B and D: the passage never says she disliked peaches or that he asked.

   Answer

   C) her brother had no money left