Grade Practice Test | Lumos Learning

Read the passage and answer the question.

The ostrich is the largest bird in the world, but it cannot fly. Its legs are so strong and long that it can travel faster by running. Ostriches use their wings to help them gather speed when they start to run. They also use them as brakes when turning and stopping.

Ostriches have been known to run at speeds of 60 miles per hour. So, they can run faster than horses and match the average speed of car drivers on a highway.

These huge birds stand as tall as horses and sometimes weigh as much as 298 pounds. In North Africa, they are often seen with other larger animals.

The zebra, which is also a fast runner, seems to be one of their favorite companions.

An ostrich egg weighs one pound, which is as much as two dozen chicken eggs. Ostrich eggs are delicious and are often used for food by people in Africa. The shells are also made into cups and beautiful ornaments.

What would change this piece into a narrative passage?

The blue whale is quite an extraordinary creature. To begin with, it is a mammal that lives its entire life in the ocean. The size of its body is amazing. This whale can grow up to 98 feet long and weigh as much as 200 tons, making it the largest known animal to have ever existed. Its body is long and elegantly tapered, unlike other whales which have a rounder, stockier build. Their build, along with their extreme size, gives them a unique appearance and the ability to move more gracefully and at greater speeds than one might imagine. They can reach speeds up to 31 mph for short periods of time. Their normal traveling speed is around 12 mph, but they slow to 3.1 mph when feeding. Although they are extremely large animals, they eat small shrimp-like creatures called krill. Since the krill are so small, the blue whale eats about four tons daily as they swim deep in the ocean.

Unlike other whales that live in small, close-knit groups called pods, blue whales live and travel alone or with one other whale. While traveling through the ocean, they surface to breathe air into their lungs through blowholes. They emerge from the ocean, spewing water out of their blowhole, roll, and reenter the water with a grand splash of their large tail. They make loud, deep, and rumbling low-frequency sounds that travel great distances, which allow them to communicate with other whales as far as 100 miles away. Their cries can be felt as much as heard. Their resonating call makes them the loudest animal on Earth. If you ever have the opportunity to see or hear a blue whale, it will be an experience you will not soon forget.

The structure of this passage is:

This year Jim and I had the most wonderful vacation. Especially, compared to the one we took last year. We went to Hawaii, which was a better place to visit than last year’s hunting lodge in Alaska. The hotel we stayed in was a luxury suite; it included a big screen TV with all of the movie channels, a hot tub on the balcony, a small kitchen stocked with local fruits and vegetables, and a huge bed shaped like a pineapple. The weather in Hawaii was superb. We enjoyed many hours on the beach sunbathing and playing volleyball. When we were not on the beach, we were in the ocean swimming or riding the waves on a surf board. Each night we enjoyed eating and dancing with all of our friends at a luau. Our week in Hawaii rushed by, making us wish we had planned a two-week vacation. Without a doubt, we will be going back to Hawaii next year for our vacation.
The hunting lodge in Alaska had a shower with hardly any warm water, a small cooler for our food, and cots to sleep on each night. But, the room wasn’t even the worst part of the vacation. The weather was terrible; it rained the entire time we were there. Even with the rain, our guide expected us to go on an all-day fishing trip that was part of our vacation package. All we caught on that fishing trip was a cold from the rain. After the third day in Alaska, we decided to end our nightmare, cut our trip short, and head for home.

Choose the text structure used in this passage.

Reading: Literature (RL.4.5)