Which theme does the passage best support?
Read a Literary Passage · ELPAC Grades 6–8 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A short story or scene, with questions about characters, events and what words mean in context.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
Words in Between
Since the fourth grade, Lan had been her family's translator. She explained letters from the gas company, argued with the automated phone menu at the bank, and once spent a whole Saturday helping her father fill out a form for a fishing license. She was good at it. Most of the time she did not even notice she was doing it.
The parent-teacher conference was different, because this time the conversation was about her. Ms. Delgado slid a progress report across the table and explained, pleasantly, that Lan's science grade had slipped because three lab reports were missing.
Her father looked at Lan, waiting. Lan looked at the progress report. "She says I am doing well in science," Lan told him in Vietnamese, "but I need to turn in a few things."
It was not a lie, exactly. It was a translation with the sharp corners sanded off. Her father nodded and smiled at Ms. Delgado, and Ms. Delgado smiled back, and for a moment everyone at the table seemed perfectly satisfied except Lan.
Walking to the car afterward, she felt the missing reports in her chest like three stones. At the curb, she stopped. "Ba," she said, "I left something out." This time she translated every word, including the ones she wished were different. Her father listened without interrupting. Then he unlocked the car and said, "Tonight we will sit at the kitchen table, and you will show me the first one."
The question
Choose the best answer.
Which theme does the passage best support?
- Children should not have to translate for their parents.
- Telling the whole truth can be hard, but it lets others actually help.Correct answer
- Teachers and parents rarely understand each other.
- Good grades in science matter more than anything else.
Why “Telling the whole truth can be hard, but it lets others actually help.” is correct
A theme is the lesson the whole story points to, so the answer has to fit the ending as well as the beginning. Lan softens the truth, feels the missing reports "like three stones", then tells her father everything, and his response is a plan to help: "you will show me the first one." The story shows that honesty is uncomfortable but leads to real support.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Children should not have to translate for their parents. — The story presents Lan's translating as something she is good at; it does not argue against it.
- Teachers and parents rarely understand each other. — The teacher and father smile at each other, and the only misunderstanding is one Lan creates and then fixes.
- Good grades in science matter more than anything else. — The grade is what starts the conflict, but the story is about honesty, not about science.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 6–8, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 6–8. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.