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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 16 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.

Newspaper Report: The Railway Opens

A report in the county newspaper, printed the week the railway opened in 1846. THE LINE IS OPEN The first train reached the county town in one hour. By road the same journey took most of a day. Farmers may now send milk to the town while it is fresh. The canal company has cut its charges in answer. Some say the noise and smoke will spoil the valley.

  1. 1. What does the report not tell you?
  2. 2. Did everybody welcome the railway?

LessonPrint · D2.His.11.3-5 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Reading Past the Words

Set 16. 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 happened to the canal company afterwards. 2. No. Some said the noise and smoke would spoil the valley.

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.