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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 17 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.

The Refusal

The rule was that everyone in Year Six performed at the leavers' assembly. Kemi told Mr Adeyemi she would not. Not could not — would not. He asked why. She said that if she explained, he would try to solve it, and it was not a problem to be solved. It was a decision. He could have made her. Instead he asked whether she would run the sound desk, which nobody had volunteered for and which meant she would be there for every rehearsal. She said yes. At the assembly she was at the back, in the dark, and every cue was perfect. Her mother asked afterwards why she had not been in it. Kemi said she had been.

  1. 1. What did Mr Adeyemi offer instead?
  2. 2. Quote accurately the distinction Kemi draws in the second paragraph.
  3. 3. What was the rule?
  4. 4. What did Kemi tell her mother afterwards?
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. When did he tell the workforce?
  2. 2. Quote accurately the words in which he defends his silence.
  3. 3. Quote the phrase in which he names what he has been accused of.
  4. 4. What did he do in 1979?

LessonPrint · RF.5.4 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Read Closely and Quote

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Running the sound desk. 2. "Not could not — would not." 3. Everyone in Year Six performed at the leavers' assembly. 4. That she had been in it.
  2. 2.1. The day he could not pay them. 2. "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." 3. "I have been told this was cowardice." 4. Sold his house and moved into the office above the weaving floor.

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.