TELPAS Practice

In stanza 3, the sun is "a heavy hand on the back of my neck." What does this suggest?

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 poem. Then answer the questions.

Abuela's Garden

My grandmother talks to her tomatoes in Spanish, softly, the way you would talk to a baby who is almost asleep.

She has never owned a book about gardens. Her lessons are in her hands: press the soil down, but not too hard, leave the roots room to breathe.

In July the San Antonio sun is a heavy hand on the back of my neck, and I want to go inside. She only pulls her hat lower.

When I complain that the seeds are slow, she laughs and says, Mija, the best things in this garden are the ones that make you wait.

Now it is August. I kneel beside her in the dirt, and without thinking, I tell the tomatoes good morning.

The question

Choose the best answer.

In stanza 3, the sun is "a heavy hand on the back of my neck." What does this suggest?

  • Someone is pushing the speaker from behind.
  • The speaker has hurt her neck.
  • The sun is going down.
  • The sun feels very hot and strong.Correct answer

Why “The sun feels very hot and strong.” is correct

This tests a metaphor. The speaker compares the July sun to a heavy hand pressing down, which shows how strong the heat feels. The next line, "I want to go inside," supports this meaning.

Why the other answers are wrong

  • Someone is pushing the speaker from behind. — No person touches the speaker; the hand is a metaphor for the sun.
  • The speaker has hurt her neck. — Nothing in the poem says she is hurt.
  • The sun is going down. — It is July, and the sun feels heavy, not weak.

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.