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Read Closely and Quote is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on reading a Grade 5 text well enough to quote it accurately, aligned to Common Core standard RF.5.4. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask 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 15 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Read Closely and Quote

RF.5.4

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Pandora

The gods made Pandora and gave her, between them, everything: beauty, skill, a voice, curiosity. They also gave her a jar, and told her not to open it. They did not say what was in it. She kept it for a long time. The story is usually told as though she opened it immediately. She did not. When she did lift the lid, out came sickness, hunger, grief and every trouble that has since been ordinary. She got the lid back on with one thing still inside. That thing was hope. And people have argued for three thousand years about whether keeping it in was a mercy or the cruellest part of all.

  1. 1. Quote the phrase that states the three-thousand-year dispute.
  2. 2. Quote accurately the words that correct the usual telling.
  3. 3. What was left inside the jar?
  4. 4. Were the gods explicit about what was inside?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Mill: Mr Whately's Account

I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.

  1. 1. Quote accurately the words in which he defends his silence.
  2. 2. When did he tell the workforce?
  3. 3. Quote the phrase in which he names what he has been accused of.
  4. 4. How long did Mr Whately put his own money into the mill?

LessonPrint · RF.5.4 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Read Closely and Quote

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. "whether keeping it in was a mercy or the cruellest part of all". 2. "The story is usually told as though she opened it immediately. She did not." 3. Hope. 4. No — they told her not to open it but did not say what was in it.
  2. 2.1. "If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have." 2. The day he could not pay them. 3. "I have been told this was cowardice." 4. Eleven years.

More practice for RF.5.4

Read Grade 5 text fluently and expressively, self-correcting where needed.

Teaching this next? Fluency That Carries Meaning is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RF.5.4 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.