TELPAS Practice

In paragraph 2, what does the word town 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.

Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs are not really dogs. They are small, furry animals in the squirrel family. They got their name because the sound they make is a little like a dog’s bark.

Prairie dogs live in grasslands, including parts of West Texas. They dig tunnels and rooms under the ground. Many prairie dog families live close together, and their big group of tunnels is called a town.

Prairie dogs spend much of the day eating grass and other plants. While most of the group eats, a few prairie dogs stand up on their back legs and look around. If one of them sees a hawk or a coyote, it barks loudly. Then all the prairie dogs dive into their holes.

When two prairie dogs from the same family meet, they touch their mouths together. It looks a little like a kiss.

The question

Choose the best answer.

In paragraph 2, what does the word town mean?

  • A place where many people live and shop
  • A field of tall grass
  • A family of hawks
  • A big group of tunnels where prairie dogs liveCorrect answer

Why “A big group of tunnels where prairie dogs live” is correct

This tests a word used in a special way. Most students know town as a place where people live, but paragraph 2 says the prairie dogs’ “big group of tunnels is called a town.” The student has to use the meaning the passage gives instead of the everyday one.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • A place where many people live and shop — That is the usual meaning of town, but this paragraph is about prairie dogs, not people.
  • A field of tall grass — Grasslands are where the town is, but the town itself is the tunnels.
  • A family of hawks — Hawks are animals that hunt prairie dogs; they are in paragraph 3.

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.