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Domain-Specific Words is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on working out a subject word from the text around it, aligned to Common Core standard RI.4.4. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 22 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 2 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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One paper per pupil

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 22 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.

Domain-Specific Words

RI.4.4

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How Penicillin Was Found

In 1928 Alexander Fleming went on holiday and left a stack of dishes on a bench. Each held a colony of bacteria. When he came back, one dish had a spot of mould on it. Around the mould was a clear ring where the bacteria had died. Fleming realised the mould was producing something that killed bacteria. He named it penicillin and published a paper. Almost nobody noticed. Ten years later, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain read that paper and tried to make penicillin in quantity. That turned out to be the hard part: it took two thousand litres of mould fluid to treat one patient. By 1944 the problem had been solved and penicillin was reaching soldiers in the field.

  1. 1. What does "in quantity" mean here?
  2. 2. What is a "colony" of bacteria?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Wolves and the Rivers

Wolves were shot out of Yellowstone by 1926. Fourteen were brought back in 1995. With no wolves, elk had grazed the valleys freely for seventy years. Young willow and aspen were eaten as soon as they grew. The wolves killed some elk. More importantly, they changed where elk would stand still. Open valley floors became dangerous, so the elk stopped lingering there. Willow and aspen grew back along the rivers. Beavers, which need willow, returned. Their dams made ponds. Roots held the banks. The rivers narrowed, deepened and moved less. Some researchers describe this as wolves changing the shape of rivers, though others argue the effect has been overstated.

  1. 1. What does "overstated" mean here?
  2. 2. What does "grazed" mean?

LessonPrint · RI.4.4 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Domain-Specific Words

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. In quantity means in large enough amounts to treat patients — two thousand litres of mould fluid for one. 2. A group of bacteria growing together in one place.
  2. 2.1. Overstated means claimed to be bigger than it really was — some researchers say the wolves' effect has been. 2. Grazed means fed on growing plants — the elk grazed the valleys for seventy years.

More practice for RI.4.4

Work out what an academic or subject word means in this text.

Teaching this next? Subject Vocabulary in Context is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.4.4 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.