It is asking you to infer what had happened in the kitchen using clues from the text to support your answer.
Let's practise
Splat! The coleslaw tub fell right in front of Mum's feet as she opened the fridge door. Splat! Splat! Splat! The butter, milk and leftover lasagne followed quickly behind.
Mum stopped and turned round, her dripping wet coat making even more mess on the floor. She'd arrived just in time to miss the worst of the storm.
What on earth could have happened? It looked like she'd been burgled by a hungry visitor.
She turned around to look at the kitchen bench. Empty pizza boxes, a sharp knife, pools of coke flowing dangerously near the edge. She scooped up a gooey red liquid and tasted it. Mmm! Definitely strawberry doughnut jam; George's favourite. But George was at Scout Camp wasn't he? He wasn't due home until tomorrow morning. Besides, there was far too much food here for one person alone.
Without making a sound, Mum silently inched towards the kitchen door …
How had the kitchen got into such a state? Refer to the text in your answer.
1 mark
- Read the question. Read it again. What is it asking?
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- What did Mum think it looked like?
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Mum thought it looked like she had been burgled.
- Scan the text to find clues as to why she thought this.
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Food hadn't been placed in the fridge properly; the bench contained pizza boxes, a knife and spilled coke and strawberry jam.
- What else did Mum know?
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That her son George was at Scout Camp. But the text asks the question ‘wasn't he', which implies that he might not be there after all. She also says there was strawberry doughnut jam and that this is George's favourite. Also Mum thought there was too much food out for one person.
- Put the clues together to make an inference about how the kitchen got into such a mess. Refer to the text in your answer.
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I think that George had returned early from camp and was so hungry that he raided the fridge and cupboards. Because he was so hungry, he was rushing and spilled and dropped food on the floor and on the bench.
- Check your answer.