Why does the author tell readers that the Texas Capitol is taller than the United States Capitol?
Analyze and Evaluate Information and Ideas · TELPAS Grades 4–5 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 3: make inferences, draw conclusions, and think about why the author wrote a text and how it is built.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
The Texas State Capitol
In downtown Austin stands one of the largest state capitol buildings in the United States. The Texas State Capitol is where lawmakers meet to make the state’s laws. The governor of Texas also has an office there.
The building was finished in 1888. Its walls are made of pinkish-red granite, a very hard kind of stone. The granite came from a hill near the town of Marble Falls, about fifty miles away. Workers cut huge blocks of stone, and trains carried them to Austin.
The Capitol has a tall, round dome on top. Many Texans like to point out that their Capitol is even taller than the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. On top of the dome stands a statue of a woman called the Goddess of Liberty. She holds a star high in one hand.
After almost one hundred years of wind, rain, and hot sun, the old statue was cracked and worn. In the 1980s, a helicopter lifted it off the dome. Later, a helicopter set a new statue in its place. The new statue is a replica of the old one. It looks just like the original, but it is made of a metal that holds up better in bad weather. The original statue is now kept inside a museum in Austin.
Today, visitors can take free tours of the Capitol. They can stand under the dome, look straight up, and see a giant star in the middle of the ceiling.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does the author tell readers that the Texas Capitol is taller than the United States Capitol?
- To explain why the statue on the dome had to be replaced
- To show something that Texans are proud of about their CapitolCorrect answer
- To tell readers that lawmakers from Washington, D.C., meet in Austin
- To explain how the granite blocks got to Austin
Why “To show something that Texans are proud of about their Capitol” is correct
This asks about the author's purpose for including a detail. The sentence begins "Many Texans like to point out," which signals that the height is a point of pride. The student has to think about why the fact is there, not just what it says.
Why the other answers are wrong
- To explain why the statue on the dome had to be replaced — The statue was replaced because it was cracked and worn, not because of the building's height.
- To tell readers that lawmakers from Washington, D.C., meet in Austin — The passage says Texas lawmakers meet in the Capitol; it does not say lawmakers from Washington come there.
- To explain how the granite blocks got to Austin — The granite and trains are in paragraph 2 and have nothing to do with the comparison in paragraph 3.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 4–5, or see the TELPAS practice test for 4th and 5th grade.
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