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Reading Past the Words is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on inferring audience and purpose from a source, aligned to Common Core standard D2.His.11.3-5. 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 12 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.

Reading Past the Words

D2.His.11.3-5

NameDate

Look at the source, then answer the questions.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

Workhouse Admission Register

A page from the county workhouse register, 1847, kept by the record office. ADMITTED, MARCH 1847 Hall, Sarah, 42, widow, no work since the mill shut. Hall, Thomas, 9, son. Dunn, Patrick, 55, labourer, canal work ended. Ware, Ellen, 28, no settled home. Discharged this month: 3 persons.

  1. 1. What does the register not tell you?
  2. 2. What was happening to work in the county in 1847?
2.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

Petition Against the Railway

A petition sent to Parliament in 1844 by canal workers and boat owners. To the honourable members, We are boatmen and wharf workers of this valley. The proposed railway will take the coal and corn we carry. Two hundred families live by the canal. We ask that the line be refused, or that work be found for us. Signed by 84 hands.

  1. 1. What does the petition not tell you?
  2. 2. Did the petition succeed?

LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 12 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading Past the Words

Set 12. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It does not tell you what happened to these people afterwards. 2. It was disappearing: the mill had shut and canal work had ended.
  2. 2.1. It does not tell you what Parliament replied. 2. No. The railway opened in 1846, two years later.

More practice for D2.His.11.3-5

Work out who a source was made for and why, from the source itself.

Teaching this next? Who Was This Made For? is the 45-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 to Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.His.11.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.