At the far bench, a woman ______ a seedling from a crowded tray into a larger pot.

Vocabulary and Grammar in Context · ELPAC Grades 11–12 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.

Extra practice, not a separate task on the real test: a sentence with one word missing, testing the vocabulary and grammar the passages assume.

Look at the picture, then answer the questions.

Read image description

Long benches inside a greenhouse hold trays of seedlings. At the far bench a woman lifts a seedling out of a crowded tray and settles it into a larger pot. A man wheels a cart of empty trays down the aisle between the benches. Bags of soil are stacked against the glass wall behind him.

The question

Look at the picture. Then choose the word that best completes the sentence about it.

At the far bench, a woman ______ a seedling from a crowded tray into a larger pot.

• AtransplantsCorrect answer
• Bdiscards
• Cprunes
• Dharvests

Why “transplants” is correct

This tests vocabulary from a specific field, here gardening, where several verbs describe handling plants. 'Transplants' means moving a living plant from one place to grow in another, which is exactly a seedling going from a crowded tray to a larger pot. The phrase 'from ... into a larger pot' rules out every verb that does not involve moving the plant somewhere new.

Why the other answers are wrong

• discards — 'Discards' means throws away; a seedling settled into a larger pot is being kept, not thrown out.
• prunes — 'Prunes' means trims off branches or leaves, and it cannot describe moving a plant from one container to another.
• harvests — 'Harvests' means gathers a grown crop, not moving a young seedling so it can keep growing.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 11–12, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 11–12. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.