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KS2 English textbook

Chapter 8: Reading fiction and vocabulary

  • Strand Reading
  • Level Year 4
  • Practice 91 questions with step-by-step solutions

National Curriculum for England, Key Stage 2 English, Year 4. Content: Listen to and discuss a wide range of fiction, and retrieve and record information from it, Check that the text makes sense, and explain the meaning of words in context, including shades of meaning and figurative language, Ask questions to improve understanding of a text, Infer characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and give evidence from the text, Predict what might happen from details stated and implied, Explain the effect of word choice and of a story's structure on the reader, Recognise the features of fairy stories, myths and legends and their themes, and retell some of them orally, Take turns and listen in discussion, and explain understanding of books before writing.

Open Year 4 chapter

By the end of this chapter you will be able to

  • Find a fact the writer has stated, and record it in a list or table
  • Work out what a word means from the words around it, and name a simile, metaphor or personification
  • Infer how a character feels or why they act, and give the evidence from the text
  • Explain how a word choice or a short sentence affects the reader, and name the parts of a story
  • Predict what happens next using clues, and ask a question that helps me understand
  • Name the theme and features of a traditional tale, and retell it in order

You should already know

  • Word classes, such as adverb and conjunction (Year 3, Chapter 3; Chapter 6 of this book)
  • Fronted adverbials and conjunctions (Chapter 6 of this book)
  • Standard English verb forms such as saw and went (Chapter 7 of this book)
  • Character, setting, plot and predicting in a story (Year 3, Chapter 7)

Where this leads

  • Explaining how language, structure and presentation shape meaning (Chapter 9 of this book)
  • Retrieving and recording information from non-fiction (Chapter 10 of this book)

Lessons in this chapter

  1. 8.1 Retrieving and recording information
  2. 8.2 Word meanings in context, shades of meaning and figurative language
  3. 8.3 Inferring feelings, thoughts and motives from actions and words
  4. 8.4 The effect of word choice and story structure on the reader
  5. 8.5 Predicting what happens next, and asking questions
  6. 8.6 Traditional tales, myths and legends: themes, conventions and retelling
  7. Summary and key words
  8. Check-up and practice test questions

Read the whole chapter on one page (good for printing).

Practise with real exam questions

The DfE publishes every past KS2 test, with mark schemes, for free.

KS2 English past papers