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Answer, Explain or Describe? is a free printable Grade 2 English worksheet on naming which job a text is doing, aligned to Common Core standard RI.2.6. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 19 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 4 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 19 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.

Answer, Explain or Describe?

RI.2.6

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Earthquakes

The Earth's crust is not one piece. It is broken into huge slabs called plates, and the plates are always moving — about as fast as your fingernails grow. Where two plates meet, they can catch on each other. Pressure builds up for years while they are stuck. When they finally slip, all that stored energy is released at once. The ground shakes. That shaking is an earthquake. Most earthquakes are too small to feel. A few are strong enough to bring down buildings, which is why new buildings in some places are made to sway.

  1. 1. What does the author want to explain?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Launching a Lifeboat

When a boat is in trouble, a call goes out to the lifeboat station. Pagers sound. The crew are volunteers, so they stop whatever they are doing and drive to the station. Most arrive within six minutes. They pull on drysuits and lifejackets and climb aboard. The boat slides down a ramp into the sea and the engines start. At sea, the crew look for a flare, a light, or a shape in the water. Once they find the boat, they take the people off first and the boat second. A lifeboat can right itself if a wave rolls it over.

  1. 1. What does the author want to explain?

LessonPrint · RI.2.6 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Answer, Explain or Describe?

Set 4. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. What causes an earthquake and why some are dangerous.
  2. 2.1. What happens, step by step, when a lifeboat is called out.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.2.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.