If you have gone through the Reading Comprehension Worksheet 3 From "The Substitute" then, by all means read the answers below. These reading comprehension worksheet answers are affiliated with the article, so they won't really make much sense by themselves!
Printable PDFs: From "The Substitute" Reading Comprehension Questions | From "The Substitute" Reading Comprehension Answer Key
Reading Comprehension Worksheet 2 Answers
1. Sainte- Pélagie, Jean Francois' place of imprisonment, used to be a
(C) fencing school
Why? In line 32, at the end of paragraph five, the reader learns that Jean Francois is imprisoned at Sainte-Pélagie. Paragraph six begins to describe the living conditions there and in line 40, a room is described, which is filled with all the "all the old apparatus of a fencing school,—broken masks, rusty foils, leather jackets and gloves with the stuffing half out. It was there that the political prisoners had dinner together…" So we see that the room, and hence, most likely, the prison, had once been a fencing school.
2. In line 1 of the passage, the word "vagabondage" most nearly means
(A) homelessness
Why? The answer lies in paragraph two, when Jean Francois describes where the police found him - in "ruined houses" after his mother dies (lines 6 – 7). We can infer that he was living in those ruined houses, working with the brush seller and catgut scraper, and that when the police found him, he was arrested for being homeless, a crime at the time.
3. The sentence on line 20: "He talked this way openly, cynically, like a man." primarily serves to
(D) demonstrate the effect the protagonist's misfortune has had on his young life.
Why? Here, with a question that may seem to have a few correct answers, it may be useful to get rid of obviously wrong answers, first. Choice A, "present new information about the protagonist so his actions are better understood," is incorrect because there is no new information about him presented – just previous info expounded upon. Choice B is incorrect because he never argued against reform school. Choice C is wrong because at that point, he didn't show any signs of cunning, and Choice E is incorrect because although there was definite back-story in paragraph two, there is no back-story presented in the sentence itself, and the question relates only to this one line. Hence, choice D must be correct.
4. You could infer that the group Jean Francois joins after his second arrest would most desire to
(E) overthrow the government
Why? The key to this answer lies in the words "most desire to." What would "political prisoners" (line 41) who meet in the leader's room, have violent disputes, welcome a newcomer with the name "citizen" and plot governmental offices (as the hunchback does in the last two lines) most want to achieve? Political stature, which can only happen by an overthrow. Choice E.
5. The following are all incidents prior to Jean Francois' initial arrest EXCEPT
(B) Jean Francois commits petty theft
Why? Jean Francois commits petty theft in line 31, which is his second arrest. Paragraph two contains all of the other choices, which happens before he's arrested for vagabondage, his first run-in with the law.
