What does the word excellent mean?
Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grade 3 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 passage. Then answer the questions.
The Armadillo
The nine-banded armadillo is the state small mammal of Texas. It is about the size of a house cat. Its back is covered with hard plates made of bone, like a suit of armor. The plates help protect the armadillo from thorny plants and from some animals that want to eat it.
Armadillos are good diggers. They use their strong front claws to dig burrows. A burrow is a hole in the ground where an armadillo sleeps and stays safe. Armadillos also dig in the dirt to find insects and grubs to eat.
An armadillo cannot see very well, but it has an excellent sense of smell. It can smell insects that are hiding under the ground.
A mother armadillo usually has four babies at one time. The four babies are always alike: they are all boys or all girls.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Read this sentence from the passage. “An armadillo cannot see very well, but it has an excellent sense of smell.” What does the word excellent mean?
- Very weak
- Very goodCorrect answer
- Brand new
- Very strange
Why “Very good” is correct
This is a vocabulary-in-context question. The word “but” sets up a contrast: the armadillo’s eyesight is poor, but its sense of smell is the opposite. The next sentence, which says it can smell insects hiding underground, confirms that excellent means very good.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Very weak — “Very weak” describes its eyesight, which the word “but” sets against its sense of smell.
- Brand new — Nothing in the sentence is about something being new.
- Very strange — The passage says its smell is useful for finding food, not strange.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grade 3, or see the TELPAS practice test for 3rd 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.