Reading Comprehension: The Secret Garden

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: For how many years had the secret garden been locked?

• seven

• eight

• nine

• ten

• eleven

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: Which of the following facts do we know about the secret garden from the passage?

• It receives a lot of sunlight.

• There is lots of space for playing.

• There is a pond.

• There are trees inside.

• There is a gardener.

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: What word best describes Mary as she “turned it [the key] over and over”?

• regretful

• frustrated

• pensive

• frightened

• ecstatic

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: What made Mary especially keen to see the secret garden?

• It had been inaccessible for so long.

• People had been saying how beautiful it was inside.

• She could see a bit of it through the wall and it looked very tempting.

• She was bored of playing in the rest of the garden.

• Her parents had encouraged her to play outside.

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: Mary was keen to keep the garden a secret even if she found the entrance. Why?

• Mary didn’t like spending time with other people.

• People had warned her that she shouldn’t go into the garden.

• Mary wanted to play by herself.

• Mary found it thrilling to keep secrets.

• Mary had promised a friend that she would keep it a secret.

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: What did Mary plan to do in the secret garden?

• play with her skipping rope

• invite her friends over to play

• tend to the plants

• read her books

• play her own games

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: According to the first paragraph, where had the key been hidden?

• on the wall

• next to a flower pot

• in the earth

• in a bird’s nest

• on the window-sill

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: According to the passage, what accounted for Mary’s particularly strong imagination?

• Mary had been brought up with no toys.

• Mary had always been a very creative child.

• Mary’s school encouraged imaginative activities.

• Mary had nothing to entertain her at home.

• Mary’s parents had instilled in Mary a love of imaginative games.

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: According to the passage, what impression do we get of the house in which Mary lived?

• It was an inviting place.

• The house contained many secrets.

• The house was an old, dilapidated building.

• The people who lived there were very posh.

• All the neighbours were in awe of the house.

Read the excerpt from The Secret Garden, where Mary finds a key and later discovers a hidden door to a walled garden. Choose the best answer: Why was it particularly hard to see if there was a door to the garden?

• The garden walls were covered in thick ivy.

• The garden was so large it was hard to get all the way around it.

• There were trees obscuring the garden walls.

• Mary only ever looked for the door after dark, when no one was around.

• The house towered over the garden so the walls were in shadow.