The volunteers are ______ the marsh by pressing young plants into the mud along the line of stakes.

Vocabulary and Grammar in Context · ELPAC Grades 9–10 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

Six volunteers stand ankle-deep in the shallow water of a marsh. Five of them are pressing young plants into the mud. The sixth tows a flat boat behind her by a rope, and trays of seedlings are stacked in it. A line of wooden stakes marks the edge of the planted area.

The question

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

The volunteers are ______ the marsh by pressing young plants into the mud along the line of stakes.

• Adraining
• BrestoringCorrect answer
• Cpaving
• Dharvesting

Why “restoring” is correct

This tests vocabulary for purpose: the student has to name what the volunteers' work accomplishes. Pressing young plants into a marsh brings back what grows there, and 'restoring' means returning something to a healthy earlier state. The sentence gives the method ('by pressing young plants into the mud'), so the right verb is the one that fits that method.

Why the other answers are wrong

• draining — Draining a marsh would remove its water, but the volunteers are standing in it and planting, not taking water out.
• paving — Paving means covering ground with a hard surface, which has nothing to do with planting in mud.
• harvesting — Harvesting means gathering plants that have grown, the reverse of putting seedlings into the ground.

Practice more of this

More reading practice for Grades 9–10, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 9–10. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.