TELPAS Practice

What does this comparison show?

Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grades 10–12 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Reporting category 1: work out what words and phrases mean from context, and understand how sentences and word forms work.

Read the poem. Then answer the questions.

Two Languages

At school I speak in careful steps,

each word a stone I test

before I put my weight on it,

in case it slips or gives.

At home the words run out ahead of me,

loud and quick, a river

that knows where it is going

before I have even started.

My teacher says my English

is coming along nicely.

My grandmother says my Spanish

is starting to sound like English.

Some nights I lie awake

between my two languages,

a bridge with traffic going both ways,

holding, and holding.

The question

Choose the best answer.

At the start of the poem, the speaker says each English word is "a stone I test / before I put my weight on it." What does this comparison show?

  • The speaker thinks English words are heavy and hard to say aloud.
  • The speaker likes to walk to school by crossing a river on stones.
  • The speaker chooses English words slowly, unsure if they are right.Correct answer
  • The speaker throws away any English words that are not useful.

Why “The speaker chooses English words slowly, unsure if they are right.” is correct

This tests figurative language. Someone crossing a stream tests each stone before stepping on it in case it moves. The comparison shows the speaker checks each English word before trusting it. The phrase "careful steps" in the first line supports this reading.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The speaker thinks English words are heavy and hard to say aloud. — The stone is about testing before trusting it, not about how words sound.
  • The speaker likes to walk to school by crossing a river on stones. — The stones are a comparison, not a real walk.
  • The speaker throws away any English words that are not useful. — Testing a stone means checking it, not throwing it away.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 10–12, or see the TELPAS practice test for 10th–12th grade.

This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Texas Education Agency or the official TELPAS program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published test design.