This is the next in my series of IELTS reading tutorials that look at different types of questions. This one looks at the matching features question. You will find a complete reading text with 7 questions to download or do online. Before that, I also help you along with a suggested strategy for approaching this type of question and show you some of the more common traps.
An example of how it works
The way this reading works is you have to find elements in the text that match a list of people/places
eg, You have a list of names such as
A. George Stephenson
B. Richard Trevithick
C. Archimedes
D. James Watt
E. the Corinthians
F. John Fitch
Which pioneer
1. was responsible for building a life size steam locomotive
2. legally protected the design of the working model of the steam locomotive
3. created a small scale replica of a steam locomotive
4. was defeated by the limitations of the raw materials available to him
5. understood the potential of steam locomotives to transport people
6. used steam as a form of propulsion
7. discovered how to use steam engines in the manufacturing industry
8. used animals and not steam to power a form of railway
The traps
It may look easy but there are traps.
1. Read the context – don’t word match
Look at this example:
The first step was the design of a working model of a steam locomotive by John Fitch in the United States in 1794
You may think that this means you can match John Fitch with 2. You see “the design of the working model of the steam locomotive” and you match it with “legally protected the design of the working model of the steam locomotive”. Sorry, you just lost a point by not reading the context and the question. We see nothing there that says Fitch legally protected the design.
2. Read for synonyms – don’t match words
Another problem is that you may need to look for synonyms or similar words in the passage and not the exact words in the question. Look at this example:
8. used animals and not steam to power a form of railway
It is no good looking for the word “animals” in the text because the answer is given by these words:
The Corinthians did not consider using steam to power this prototype of the railway but instead used horses and oxen.
This means you need to read for meaning and not just individual words.
3. You are looking for similar words in every question
In every question, you are going to be looking for “firsts” and “steam” and normally “locomotive’. This means it makes no sense to concentrate on these words in the text.
4. The questions do not follow the order of the text
This is one of those tricky question types where you cannot necessarily read the text and expect to find the questions coming in order. You may have to go backwards and forwards as you read: this is where you need to be sure of your scanning skills.
5. You may use more than one name once
Don’t be trapped into using each name just once. It may be that some names have two or more correct answers.
A suggested procedure
You will find your own way to do this exercise, but here is my suggestion:
- focus on the names/dates/places: in my example James Watt etc
- scan the text for those names and underline them in the text – every time they occur
- look at all the questions for all the names
- read carefully and look for synonyms in the text
- underline/highlight parts of the passage that give the answer -
- mark them “?4″ if you are uncertain
- mark them “4” if you are certain and cross out that question on the question paper
Practice Reading
This is not easy. It’s not supposed to be! It’s a full length IELTS reading passage with 7 questions to answer. Download it and take your time. The answers with explanations are below. If you like, just download the answer version – that will show you how to get the answers,
Download text
Matching features: Corinth to Darlington (537)Download answer sheet
Matching features: Corinth to Darlington - answer sheet (429)Don’t want to download? Try the interactive version.
I strongly suggest you do it on paper but if you want an online version here it is. I suggest paper because it’s better practice if you can underline words, but if you want to do it on the screen, here is the text.
See the reading passage
Questions
From Corinth to Darlington -
a journey on two tracks with many detours along the way
A.
There are those who believe that it was George Stephenson who was the inventor of railway transport and indeed many history books do credit him with this achievement. In point of fact though, railway transport had a long and varied history well before Stephenson came along with his legendary “Rocket” and “Locomotion” and he can at best be regarded as the man who popularised steam powered rail locomotion for passengers. Though, even in that sphere, he should be seen as simply developing ideas of other inventors rather than as being the true originator.
B.
Strange as it may seem, the pioneers of rail transport were the Ancient Greeks of Corinth as far back as 600 BC. They produced a system for transporting boats across the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow neck of land connecting the Peloponnese with mainland Greece, so that sailors no longer had to take the longer route around the Peloponnese. It worked by pulling wheeled vehicles along a track which was formed by grooves in the natural limestone and this prevented the wagons from leaving the intended route, much in the same way as modern railways work. Curiously, the technology for creating the first steam engine already existed at this time as Archimedes had invented the steam powered cannon. The Corinthians did not consider using steam to power this prototype of the railway but instead used horses and oxen.
C.
The next great leap forward in rail transport came in Germany in the mid 16th century when a primitive form of wooden rails were introduced. The breakthrough was the so-called “hund” system. This involved the wheels running not on grooves in the ground as previously, but on wooden planks with a pin on the wagon that fitted into the gap between the planks so that the wagon ran in one direction. This system gradually evolved and became increasingly popular as a form of transport as the Industrial Revolution took hold of Western Europe. The reason being that, as coal and other minerals were being mined in ever larger quantities, there was a corresponding need for a form of transport that was energy efficient. A wheel running on a rigid rail provided just such a solution for the transport of heavy bulk goods as it needed less energy than the alternative road transport system which was hindered by the uneven road surfaces of the time.
D.
The technology of the Industrial Revolution also provided the inspiration for the means to power these new rail systems in the form of steam. James Watt had seen the potential of steam to drive a wheel and developed a reciprocating engine that helped power the machinery in the cotton mills that were flourishing at the time. This stationary engine was both too large and inefficient to be utilised in transport, but in a relatively short span of time boiler technology improved and smaller engines were developed that could produce high pressure steam that acted directly on a piston so that they could drive a vehicle. Indeed, Watt himself patented a design for a steam locomotive in 1784.
E.
At this point, progression in rail transport accelerated rapidly and within 30 years passenger transport became a reality. The first step was the construction of a working model of a steam locomotive by John Fitch in the United States in 1794 and a mere 10 years later a full scale steam locomotive was built in the united Kingdom by Richard Trevithick. While he made several advances towards constructing a truly functional railway locomotive, especially with the introduction of a fly-wheel system to even out the action of the piston that drove the wheels, Trevithick never managed to construct a locomotive that was more than simply experimental. The one problem he failed to overcome was that his engines were still too heavy to be borne by the tracks as the steel used was simply too weak.
F.
The Napoleonic wars provided the stimulus in the next stage of this journey towards a workable form of rail transport. It became highly desirable that a means was found move provisions around the continent so that the all-important supply lines were not broken. Necessity being the mother of invention, it was not long before two key advances were made: a twin cylinder locomotive that was light enough not to break the rails and an adhesion system that ensured the weight of the locomotive was distributed evenly through a number of wheels. The success of these technological advances can be seen by the fact that the first commercially successful steam locomotive railway was in operation by 1812, transporting coal. At this point George Stephenson saw the potential of the new steam locomotive for passenger transport and, after a decade of improving on the existing technology, he was instrumental in the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825 in the north east of England. 600 people made a short journey of 26 miles and a new era in transport began.
Which pioneer
1. was responsible for building a life size steam locomotive
2. legally protected the design of a steam locomotive
3. created a small scale replica of a steam locomotive
4. was defeated by the limitations of the raw materials available to him
5. understood how steam locomotives could transport people
6. used steam for warfare
7. discovered a use for steam engines in the manufacturing industry
Choose one of
A. George Stephenson
B. Richard Trevithick
C. Archimedes
D. James Watt
E. John Fitch
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