What is a cloud made of?
Basic Understanding of a Variety of Texts · TELPAS Grade 2 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 2: find the main idea and key details, and follow what happens in stories and informational texts.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
Where Rain Comes From
Rain starts as water on the ground, in lakes, rivers, and oceans.
When the sun warms the water, some of it turns into a gas that you cannot see. This gas rises up into the sky.
High in the sky, the air is cool. The cool air turns the gas back into tiny drops of water. Many tiny drops together make a cloud.
When the drops in a cloud grow big and heavy, they fall to the ground as rain.
The question
Choose the best answer.
What is a cloud made of?
- Smoke from fires
- Gas that you can see
- Many tiny drops of waterCorrect answer
- Sand blown by the wind
Why “Many tiny drops of water” is correct
The third paragraph says, "Many tiny drops together make a cloud." Choice b is tempting because the passage talks about a gas, but it says that gas cannot be seen and turns back into drops before it makes a cloud.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Smoke from fires — Smoke and fires are not in the passage.
- Gas that you can see — The passage says the gas is one you cannot see, and it turns into drops of water to make a cloud.
- Sand blown by the wind — Sand and wind are not in the passage.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grade 2, or see the TELPAS practice test for 2nd 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.