What does the word drained mean?
Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grades 4–5 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 Whooping Crane
The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America. It can stand nearly five feet tall. It has snowy white feathers, a red patch on its head, and black tips on its wings that show when it flies. Its name comes from its loud call, which can be heard from far away.
Every fall, many whooping cranes fly more than two thousand miles from their nesting grounds in northern Canada to the Texas coast. They spend the winter in the salt marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and the land around it. There, they wade through shallow water and eat blue crabs, clams, and berries.
Whooping cranes once came very close to disappearing. Many of the wetlands where they lived were drained to make room for farms and towns. Many birds were also hunted. By the early 1940s, fewer than thirty wild whooping cranes were left in the world.
People worked hard to save them. Laws protected the birds from hunters, and their winter home on the Texas coast became a protected refuge. Scientists began counting the cranes every winter to see how they were doing. Slowly, the number grew.
Today, there are several hundred whooping cranes in the wild. They are still rare, but each winter, visitors to the Texas coast may be lucky enough to see these tall white birds stepping slowly through the marsh.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Read this sentence from paragraph 3. Many of the wetlands where they lived were drained to make room for farms and towns. What does the word drained mean?
- had the water taken outCorrect answer
- were filled with more birds
- were made larger
- were cleaned up
Why “had the water taken out” is correct
The context helps: wetlands are wet land, and they were drained "to make room for farms and towns," which need dry ground. Students may know drain from a sink or bathtub, where water goes out. This item checks whether they can carry that meaning to a new setting.
Why the other answers are wrong
- were filled with more birds — Draining made the land worse for the birds, not better.
- were made larger — The wetlands became smaller as farms and towns took their place.
- were cleaned up — Draining does not mean cleaning; it means removing the water.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 4–5, or see the TELPAS practice test for 4th and 5th 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.