TELPAS Practice

In paragraph 1, the narrator says the street "had turned to glass." What does this mean?

Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grades 8–9 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 story. Then answer the questions.

The Ice Storm

The ice storm came on a Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning our whole street in Denton had turned to glass. Every branch, every mailbox, every blade of grass wore a clear, hard coat. It was beautiful for about an hour. Then the power went out.

By afternoon, the house was so cold that I could see my breath in the kitchen. Mom wrapped my little brother, Theo, in two blankets on the couch. Our stove was electric, so we ate cold cereal for lunch and peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and pretended it was an adventure.

Across the street lived Mr. Abernathy. In the three years we had lived on Hackberry Lane, I had heard him speak maybe five times, usually to tell kids to stay off his lawn. His voice sounded like a shovel scraping concrete. I kept my distance.

On Thursday morning, someone knocked on our door. It was Mr. Abernathy.

"Saw your windows were dark last night," he said. "You folks have any heat?"

Mom admitted that we did not.

He nodded, as if that settled something. "I've got a gas stove and a fireplace. The Garzas and the Lees are already over. Bring the boy." He turned and walked carefully back across the ice before Mom could answer.

His living room was crowded and warm and smelled like pancakes. Mr. Abernathy stood at the stove, flipping pancakes with great seriousness. He did not say much, but he kept every plate full, and when Theo spilled syrup on the rug, he only shrugged and said, "Rugs wash."

The power came back on Friday afternoon. When we left, I thanked him, and he grunted, which I was beginning to understand was simply how he talked.

That spring, when my soccer ball rolled onto his lawn, I knocked on his door to ask for it instead of sneaking over to grab it. He handed it to me, and for the first time I could remember, he almost smiled.

The question

Choose the best answer.

In paragraph 1, the narrator says the street "had turned to glass." What does this mean?

  • The houses had new glass windows.
  • Everything was covered in clear ice.Correct answer
  • The street was full of broken glass.
  • The street had become very quiet.

Why “Everything was covered in clear ice.” is correct

This tests a metaphor. The next sentence explains it: "Every branch, every mailbox, every blade of grass wore a clear, hard coat." Ice can look like glass because both are clear, shiny and hard.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • The houses had new glass windows. — Windows are not mentioned in paragraph 1.
  • The street was full of broken glass. — Nothing broke; the next sentence describes "a clear, hard coat."
  • The street had become very quiet. — The phrase describes how things looked, not how they sounded.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 8–9, or see the TELPAS practice test for 8th and 9th 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.