TELPAS Practice

What does the second sentence mean? (From a School Newspaper)

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 text. Then answer the question.

From a School Newspaper

The student council voted to hold the spring dance in the gym, even though many students had asked for the courtyard. Had the council chosen the courtyard instead, the sudden rainstorm that evening would have ruined the lights and decorations that students spent all week making.

The question

Choose the best answer.

What does the second sentence mean?

  • The council did not choose the courtyard, so the rain did not ruin the decorations.Correct answer
  • The council chose the courtyard, and the rainstorm ruined all of the decorations.
  • The council wanted the courtyard but could not use it because rain was expected.
  • The rainstorm that evening ruined the decorations that were hanging in the gym.

Why “The council did not choose the courtyard, so the rain did not ruin the decorations.” is correct

This tests an inverted conditional. "Had the council chosen" means "If the council had chosen," and it describes something that did not happen and what would have followed. English learners often read it as a past fact. Rewriting it with "if" makes the meaning clearer.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The council chose the courtyard, and the rainstorm ruined all of the decorations. — "Had the council chosen" describes something that did not happen.
  • The council wanted the courtyard but could not use it because rain was expected. — The sentence says nothing about what the council wanted; it imagines a different choice.
  • The rainstorm that evening ruined the decorations that were hanging in the gym. — The decorations would have been ruined only in the courtyard, and the dance was in the gym.

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.