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A comprehension passage can be questioned at three levels, and knowing which level a question works at tells you what kind of answer it needs. At the first level you find what the text says, at the second you work out what it means, and at the third you judge how well it does what it sets out to do.

Literal questions

A literal question asks for something the text states. The answer is on the page, so the task is to find it, choose the right part of it and put it in your own words where the question asks for that. Typical stems ask who did something, what a writer says about a topic, or which fact a paragraph gives.

The common slip is to answer from the wrong place. Questions usually point to a paragraph or to line numbers, and the answer comes from there even when the same fact is repeated elsewhere. Another slip is to lift a whole sentence when only one clause answers the question. A short, exact answer shows that you have understood which part matters.

Take this short passage, written for practice.

The council promised a new bridge in 2019. By 2023 the river still had to be crossed on a rusting footbridge, and the mayor had stopped answering calls from the village.

A question asking what the villagers still had to use to cross the river is literal: a rusting footbridge. A question asking how long the villagers had waited is a small calculation from the dates, which is still literal because the text supplies everything needed.

Where a question says "in your own words", copying the text's phrase does not answer it. You must show that you understand the idea by rephrasing it. For a rusting footbridge you might write an old metal walkway in poor repair. Do not change the meaning while changing the words: a footbridge that is rusting is not necessarily dangerous, so unsafe would go beyond the text.

Inferential questions

An inferential question asks what the words imply. The writer has not stated it, but the details point to it, and a reader is expected to see that. The question may ask what a phrase suggests about a person, why an event happened, what a word shows about the writer's feelings, or what is meant by an expression.

In the bridge passage, the line about the mayor ceasing to answer calls implies that the council has lost interest in the village or is avoiding blame. Neither is stated. Both are reasonable because the mayor's silence follows a broken promise. An answer should name the inference and tie it to the evidence, for example: the mayor's refusal to answer suggests he has no explanation to give, which shows how little the village matters to the council.

Some habits make inference answers stronger.

• Start from a word or phrase in the text, then say what it suggests beyond its literal sense.
• Check that the rest of the passage fits your reading. An inference that fights the surrounding sentences is probably wrong.
• Use verbs that fit the task: suggests, implies, hints, reveals, conveys. Do not state an inference as though the writer had written it.
• Where a word carries a second meaning, such as irony or a pun, explain both meanings and say which one the context favours.

Questions about the meaning of a figure of speech belong here too. If a text says a politician was "a weathervane in a storm", the literal sense (a device that turns with the wind) is not what is wanted. The meaning is that he changes direction with whatever is popular, and the answer explains that link.

Questions on vocabulary in context

A word's dictionary meaning may not be its meaning in the passage. Questions about a word or phrase "as used in the text" want the sense the sentence needs. A reliable method is to replace the word with your answer and read the sentence again. If the sentence still makes the same point, the answer is right. Use the clues around the word, such as a contrast signalled by but, an example after a colon, or a repeated idea in the next sentence.

Evaluative questions

An evaluative question asks you to judge. Typical stems ask whether a paragraph is an effective conclusion, whether an image supports a point, whether a writer's argument is convincing, or to what extent a claim is justified. These questions want a position and a reason, and a bare yes or no answers nothing.

A good evaluative answer has three parts: a clear position, evidence from the text, and an explanation that links the evidence to the position. In the bridge passage you might be asked whether the closing detail about the unanswered calls is an effective ending. A position could be that it is effective because it moves from a factual delay to a personal act of neglect, which leaves the reader with a sense of the council's contempt. The evidence is the phrase about the mayor and the explanation is the shift from the impersonal to the personal.

"To what extent" questions allow a partial answer. You can say that a claim is mostly justified but weakened by a particular point, as long as you say what that point is.

When you must "justify" or "motivate" your answer, the reasoning is the answer. Two sentences that explain are better than a list of four assertions.

Questions on the writer's craft

Many questions ask about a technique: why the writer used a rhetorical question, what a metaphor adds, what effect a short paragraph has, or how a particular word choice builds the writer's attitude. They are inferential and evaluative at once. Name the technique correctly, say what it does in that place, and say what that does to the reader or to the argument. A sentence that only labels a device earns nothing, because the reader already knows the device is there.

Answering in the right form

Read the verb in the question. Identify and name want a short answer. Explain and account for want a reason. Discuss wants more than one aspect or a line of thought. Quote wants the exact words, usually a few only, in quotation marks. When a question gives a number of items, such as two examples, supply exactly that number, and make each one distinct.

Write complete sentences unless the question allows otherwise, and keep your wording close to what is asked. A question that asks how a writer creates humour is not answered by saying what the humour is about.