A child can understand a passage and still answer the wrong question. The student finds a relevant line, writes something true about the text, and loses marks because the response performs the wrong job.

This page owns one cross-primary comprehension skill: translate the question demand before searching the passage. Does the question ask the child to find, describe, explain, infer, support, compare, evaluate or summarise?

Quick read

• Read the question before hunting for a matching word in the text.
• Identify the command, the object of the command and any limiting condition.
• Find/state asks for information; explain asks for a relationship; infer asks what evidence suggests.
• Support requires relevant evidence; compare requires both sides of a relationship.
• The strongest test is whether the child can recognise the same demand on a new passage without a tutor naming it first.

Why command words are not enough by themselves

Students are often taught to circle the command word. That is useful, but incomplete.

Compare:

• “Explain why Amir left the room.”
• “Explain how the writer shows that Amir was reluctant to leave.”
• “Explain the effect of the phrase ‘dragged himself towards the door’.”

All three use explain. The object of the explanation changes. One asks for cause, one for evidence and inference, and one for language effect.

The child therefore needs a fuller translation:

command + what the command applies to + conditions or limits + expected answer form

The four-part question translation

1. Command: What thinking action must I perform?
2. Object: What person, idea, phrase, event, paragraph or comparison does it concern?
3. Boundary: Which lines, number of points, perspective or condition limits the answer?
4. Output: What should the final response contain?

For example:

Give two reasons why the residents opposed the proposal, using evidence from paragraph 4.

• Command: give reasons.
• Object: residents’ opposition.
• Boundary: two reasons; paragraph 4; evidence required.
• Output: two distinct supported reasons.

This translation should happen before the child begins copying phrases.

Demand 1: find, identify or state

These questions usually ask for information directly available in the text, image or stimulus.

The student’s job is to locate the correct answer boundary and present it accurately.

• Who performed the action?
• Where did the event occur?
• Which object was selected?
• What happened immediately after the alarm rang?
• State one reason mentioned by the speaker.

Common failure: copying an entire sentence or paragraph when only one precise detail is required.

Useful check: Have I included enough to answer fully, but removed unrelated information?

Demand 2: describe

Describe questions ask what something is like, what happened, or how a pattern or change appears. They usually do not require the underlying reason unless the question also asks for it.

A description may involve:

• appearance;
• behaviour;
• sequence;
• change over time;
• mood or atmosphere supported by textual details;
• features of a visual or multimodal text.

Common failure: explaining why something happened when the task only asks what happened—or giving a vague adjective without the features that justify it.

Demand 3: explain why

Why asks for cause, reason, motive or purpose.

A useful answer often contains:

relevant condition or event → reason or motive → resulting action or response

Question: “Why did Leila hide the letter?”

Weak: “She put it under the cushion.”

This describes what she did, not why.

Stronger: “She hid it because she feared that her brother would read it and discover the surprise.”

The answer performs the causal job.

Demand 4: explain how

How may ask for process, method, evidence or manner. The child must inspect the rest of the question.

• “How did the character solve the problem?” asks for steps or method.
• “How does the writer show that the character is frightened?” asks for textual evidence and interpretation.
• “How did the mood change?” asks for a before–after relationship supported by details.
• “How is the advertisement designed to persuade?” asks about language and visual choices.

Common failure: treating every how question as a request for chronological steps.

Demand 5: infer or suggest

Inference asks the child to move beyond what is directly stated while remaining anchored to evidence.

The reasoning chain is:

clue or pattern → what it suggests → answer within the evidence boundary

If a character checks the clock repeatedly, taps a foot and looks towards the door, the student may infer impatience or anxiety depending on the wider context. The answer should show which details support the interpretation.

Common failure: making a conclusion that is plausible in real life but larger than the passage can support.

Useful check: How far can this evidence reasonably take me?

Demand 6: give evidence or support

These questions require proof from the text or stimulus. The student should not simply restate the claim.

A supported answer contains:

• the claim or interpretation;
• the relevant word, phrase, action, pattern or visual feature;
• an explanation of how that evidence supports the claim when the link is not obvious.

Common failure: copying evidence without explaining its significance—or giving an interpretation without evidence.

Demand 7: compare

A comparison requires both sides of the relationship.

Question: “How were Amir’s and Daniel’s reactions different?”

Weak: “Amir remained calm.”

The statement may be correct, but Daniel is missing.

Stronger: “Amir remained calm and considered what to do, whereas Daniel panicked and ran away immediately.”

Common failure: describing two items separately without naming the shared dimension—or mentioning only one item.

Useful check: Compared in what way, and have I made both sides visible?

Demand 8: evaluate, judge or give a view

Evaluation asks the child to make a judgement using criteria and evidence.

A useful structure is:

position → relevant evidence → explanation → qualification where necessary

Question: “Do you think the title is suitable?”

“Yes, because it is interesting” is weak unless the task asks only for a personal preference. A stronger answer connects the title to the central event, theme, contrast or change in the text.

Common failure: giving a personal opinion without textual support.

Demand 9: language effect

Language-effect questions ask what a word, phrase, image or sentence choice makes the reader understand, imagine or feel—and why.

A useful process is:

1. Identify the important word or image.
2. Explain its meaning in context.
3. State the impression or effect created.
4. Connect the effect to the character, setting, mood, action or writer’s purpose.

Common failure: writing “It makes the sentence more interesting” without identifying what becomes more vivid, forceful, tense, humorous or revealing.

Demand 10: sequence or order

Sequence questions require the student to identify the order of events or ideas accurately.

Students should trace reference words, time markers and cause–effect relationships rather than rely on memory of the general story.

Common failure: choosing the most memorable event instead of the event that occurred immediately before or after the one named.

Demand 11: summarise

Summary asks the student to select relevant points, remove repetition and examples where unnecessary, and compress meaning accurately within the stated boundary.

The child must understand:

• what topic or aspect is being summarised;
• which section of the text is relevant;
• what counts as a distinct point;
• which details are examples rather than main ideas;
• how to paraphrase without changing meaning;
• what length or format limits apply.

Common failure: retelling the passage instead of selecting the requested information.

One passage can contain many different demands

Consider a passage in which a child finds an injured bird, hesitates, then seeks help from an adult.

• Find: Where was the bird discovered?
• Describe: Describe the bird’s condition.
• Explain why: Why did the child hesitate?
• Infer: What does the child’s final action suggest about their character?
• Support: Give evidence that the child became more confident.
• Compare: How did the child’s response change from the beginning to the end?
• Evaluate: Was the adult’s response appropriate? Support your view.
• Language effect: What does the phrase “a fragile bundle of feathers” suggest?

The passage stays the same. The answer job changes. This is why comprehension should not be taught only as “understand the story”.

The question-demand matrix

Demand	Minimum answer job	Common wrong job
Find/state	Accurate relevant information	Copying too much
Describe	Relevant features or change	Explaining cause instead
Explain why	Reason, motive or cause	Retelling what happened
Explain how	Process, method or evidence relationship	Giving only a result
Infer/suggest	Supported conclusion	Unsupported guess
Support/evidence	Claim plus relevant proof	Claim repeated
Compare	Both sides on a shared dimension	One-sided description
Evaluate	Judgement, evidence and reason	Personal preference only
Language effect	Meaning and reader impression	“Makes it interesting”
Summarise	Selected compressed relevant points	Passage retelling

Number and scope words matter

The command is only part of the question. Students must also notice quantity and boundary.

• one reason means one distinct reason, not three loosely connected details;
• two ways requires two separate points;
• using paragraph 3 limits the evidence source;
• at the beginning limits the time frame;
• in your own words changes how evidence should be expressed;
• how did her feelings change requires a before–after relationship;
• with reference to the visual requires visual evidence, not prose alone.

A correct idea outside the boundary can still be an incorrect answer.

Do not let keyword matching replace translation

Keyword matching happens when the child sees a word in the question, finds the same word in the passage and copies the nearest sentence.

The method sometimes works for direct retrieval, which makes it difficult to abandon. It fails when the question requires interpretation, comparison, explanation or evidence from several places.

Before searching, the child should say what kind of answer would count. This changes the search from “find the same word” to “find the evidence that performs this job”.

The answer-before-evidence error

Some students form a likely answer from the topic and then search for a phrase that appears to support it. This reverses the evidence process.

A stronger order is:

1. translate the demand;
2. locate relevant evidence;
3. interpret the evidence;
4. form the answer;
5. check whether the response stays within the question boundary.

The under-answer and over-answer

An under-answer does not complete the requested job. An over-answer adds unsupported or irrelevant information.

Question: “Why was the shopkeeper suspicious of the visitor?”

• Under-answer: “He behaved strangely.” The behaviour is not identified or explained.
• Over-answer: “The visitor was definitely a professional thief who had planned the crime for weeks.” The conclusion exceeds the evidence unless the passage establishes it.
• Controlled answer: “The shopkeeper became suspicious because the visitor repeatedly looked towards the cash drawer while pretending to examine the shelves.”

Demand translation helps students find the correct answer size.

Answer structure should fade, not become a cage

Simple structures can help students learn the job:

• inference: evidence → suggestion;
• comparison: A → shared dimension → B;
• evaluation: view → evidence → explanation;
• language effect: word meaning → impression → context;
• cause: condition → reason → action or result.

These structures should gradually become internal questions. If the child forces every answer into one visible template, the scaffold has become a crutch.

The prompt-fading sequence

1. Tutor names the demand and models the answer job.
2. Student identifies the command with a guiding question.
3. Student translates command, object and boundary aloud.
4. Student annotates independently.
5. Student translates mentally and answers.
6. Student meets the same demand under changed wording and on a new passage.
7. Student returns after a delay with no visible template.

The end state is not excellent highlighting. It is accurate independent question reading.

Use changed wording deliberately

Students can memorise demand words without recognising equivalent wording.

• “What does this suggest?” and “What can you infer?” may require a similar reasoning job.
• “Give evidence” and “How does the writer show?” may both require textual support, but the latter may need interpretation too.
• “In what way were they different?” and “Compare their reactions” both require two-sided comparison.
• “Why is the title appropriate?” and “Do you think the title is suitable? Explain.” both require evaluation supported by the text.

Changed wording tests whether the student understands the demand rather than memorising the label.

Visual and multimodal questions need the same discipline

Primary English includes visual and multimodal texts. The child should identify whether the question asks about information, audience, purpose, layout, image choice, language or persuasive effect.

A visual feature should not be described without linking it to the requested effect.

For example:

The large image of the reusable bottle attracts attention to the product, while the phrase “one small change” presents the action as easy and achievable.

The response identifies feature, effect and purpose.

Question translation across the primary years

The same demand family becomes more demanding over time.

• Early primary: direct retrieval, simple description, basic sequence and supported personal response.
• Middle primary: stronger inference, comparison, cause, visual-text interpretation and evidence use.
• Upper primary: tighter evidence boundaries, language effect, evaluative reading, synthesis, summary and more precise response control.

The child may be in Primary 5 while one demand layer still needs earlier repair. Teach the active gap, not only the year-level label.

A three-student comprehension lesson

In a three-student, 1.5-hour class, all three students can read one passage while receiving different demand questions. One may answer a literal question, one an inference and one an evaluation. They can then compare what each answer needed.

Alternatively, all three can answer the same question and reveal different failures: one misreads the demand, one finds weak evidence and one expresses the reasoning vaguely. The shared text creates comparison; each repair remains individual.

A 90-minute demand-translation lesson

1. 0–10: quick command-and-output retrieval.
2. 10–25: one passage with several demand types.
3. 25–40: translate command, object, boundary and output before answering.
4. 40–55: compare under-answer, over-answer and controlled answer.
5. 55–70: changed wording on a second text.
6. 70–82: short independent mixed-demand cluster.
7. 82–90: record the student’s most frequent demand-reading error.

A four-week build

1. Week 1: distinguish find, describe, explain and infer.
2. Week 2: build evidence, support and two-sided comparison.
3. Week 3: add evaluation, language effect, visual text and scope controls.
4. Week 4: changed wording, mixed demands, reduced annotations and delayed unseen return.

What parents should measure

• The child can say what kind of answer a question requires.
• Keyword copying decreases.
• Inference answers use evidence more clearly.
• Comparisons include both sides.
• Evaluation is supported rather than purely personal.
• Answers become more complete without becoming unnecessarily long.
• Changed command wording causes less confusion.
• The student begins unseen comprehension with fewer tutor prompts.

What not to do

• Do not teach command words as isolated vocabulary only.
• Do not let students search the passage before deciding what evidence would count.
• Do not reward long answers merely for length.
• Do not use one fixed answer frame for every question.
• Do not identify the demand for the child forever.
• Do not call every lost comprehension mark a reading weakness; the text may be understood while the question demand is not.

Official curriculum reference

MOE’s current primary syllabus directory lists the English Language Syllabus 2020, which develops understanding and communication across written, spoken and multimodal texts. Parents can confirm current documents at the MOE Primary School Subjects and Syllabuses page.

Related comprehension routes

• Primary 4 Comprehension Evidence Ladder
• Primary English Claim–Evidence Thinking
• Secondary 2 Comprehension: Why Plausible Answers Lose Marks
• Primary 3 English Retrieval Gap

Frequently asked questions

Should children memorise what every command word means?

They should understand common demand families, but the full question still matters. The same command can apply to cause, process, evidence or language effect. Students must read command, object and boundary together.

Why does my child answer something true and still lose the mark?

Truth about the passage is not enough. The response must perform the requested job and stay within the stated scope. A true description may not answer a why question; a correct fact about one character may not complete a comparison.

Should my child underline every command word?

Visible annotation can help while the habit is developing. It should become lighter over time. The end state is accurate mental translation, not dependence on elaborate markings.

What is the strongest sign this skill is improving?

The child can meet an unseen passage, identify what each question is asking, locate the correct type of evidence and produce an answer whose size and structure match the demand without waiting for an adult to translate it.

The main idea

Primary English comprehension begins with translating the question into a thinking job. Find asks for information. Explain asks for a relationship. Infer asks what evidence suggests. Support asks for proof. Compare requires both sides. Evaluate requires criteria and evidence. Read the command, object and boundary together. Then search the text for evidence that can perform that exact job.