Read the following passage.
A. Tom Thomson was born on August 5, 1877, near Claremont, Ontario, and grew up on a farm near Leith, close to Owen Sound. As a boy he liked walking in the woods, hunting and fishing, and he sang in the church choir and played the mandolin. He did not begin as a painter. He spent about three years working for engraving companies in Seattle, and after he came back to Ontario he became a commercial designer at Grip Limited in Toronto around 1908. At Grip he worked beside several artists who later formed the Group of Seven.
B. In May 1912 Thomson spent two weeks in Algonquin Park, and in May 1913 he left his design job to spend the season there. After that he usually lived in the park from spring to autumn, and he sometimes earned money as a fishing guide or a fire ranger. Outdoors he painted quick oil sketches on small wooden panels. In winter he went back to Toronto, where he worked in a small shack beside the Studio Building and turned some of the sketches into large canvases. In his short career he produced about 50 canvases and more than 400 sketches.
C. His painting Northern Lake won a $250 purchase prize from the Ontario government in 1913, and in 1915 the National Gallery of Canada bought Northern River for $500. The West Wind and The Jack Pine, which he worked on in the winter of 1916 and 1917, each show a single tree against a lake and sky. They are now among the best-known images in Canadian art. Reviews were not all kind: after a memorial show in 1920, one reviewer pointed to a lack of sophistication in his work. In 1924 The Jack Pine was shown at the British Empire Exhibition in London.
D. On July 8, 1917, Thomson set out in his canoe on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. The canoe was seen floating upside down that afternoon, and his body was found in the lake eight days later. An inquest ruled that he had drowned by accident, but it was criticized as rushed, and no police investigation was carried out. Many people who knew him found it hard to believe that such a skilled canoeist could have drowned by accident. More than a century later, exactly what happened on the lake that day has never been explained.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: B
Why this is correct: While he lived in Algonquin Park, he sometimes earned money as a fishing guide. Paragraph B tells us this. A fishing guide takes visitors out fishing, and extra income means money, so the two match.
Passage Reference: After that he usually lived in the park from spring to autumn, and he sometimes earned money as a fishing guide or a fire ranger.
Tips: Fishing appears in Paragraph A too. Look for the paragraph where fishing is paid work, not a hobby.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says he enjoyed fishing as a boy, but that was for fun. Nobody paid him for it there.
- C: Paragraph C lists his paintings, a prize and a reviewer's opinion. His jobs in the park are not part of it.
- D: The fourth paragraph describes his last canoe trip in 1917. It does not say he took paying visitors anywhere.
- E: Notice that paragraph B names the job directly: in the park he sometimes worked as a fishing guide to earn money.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: More than a century later, exactly what happened on the lake that day has never been explained.
Why this is correct: Notice how paragraph D ends. More than a century later, exactly what happened on the lake has never been explained. If it was never explained, nobody knows for certain how he died.
Tips: Match 'nobody knows for certain' with a phrase meaning the facts are still unclear. Read every part that talks about his death.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A covers his birth, his boyhood and his first jobs. His death is not discussed.
- B: Paragraph B follows how he lived and painted in Algonquin Park, not how his life ended.
- C: The third paragraph mentions a memorial show in 1920, so we know he had died, but it gives nothing about the cause.
- E: The last sentence of Paragraph D carries this idea: what happened on the lake has never been explained.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In winter he went back to Toronto, where he worked in a small shack beside the Studio Building and turned some of the sketches into large canvases.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says he painted quick oil sketches on small wooden panels outdoors. In winter he went back to Toronto and turned some of them into large canvases. Toronto is the city in the statement.
Tips: The statement has two steps, small work outside and big work in the city. Find where they are linked, and check that the big works grow from the small ones.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: His work as a designer in Toronto comes up in paragraph A. But that was a job, not his way of making paintings.
- C: Paragraph C names his famous canvases, yet it does not explain that they grew out of small outdoor pieces.
- D: Paragraph D is about his last canoe trip and the unanswered questions that followed.
- E: The second paragraph sets out both steps: small panels painted outdoors, then large canvases made in Toronto in winter.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: His painting Northern Lake won a $250 purchase prize from the Ontario government in 1913, and in 1915 the National Gallery of Canada bought Northern River for $500.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says that in 1915 the National Gallery of Canada bought his painting Northern River. Paragraph D tells us he died in 1917, so the gallery bought it while he was still alive.
Tips: Two sales come close together. Ask which buyer was a national gallery, then check he was still alive.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: His childhood and his work as a designer fill paragraph A. No gallery appears in it.
- B: Paragraph B counts how many canvases and sketches he made, but it does not say anyone bought them.
- D: The canoe trip in paragraph D is dated 1917, which helps with timing. But no sale is mentioned there.
- E: Northern River and the year 1915 are both named in Paragraph C, along with the gallery that bought it.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: On July 8, 1917, Thomson set out in his canoe on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph tells us what he did in the summer of 1917: he set out in his canoe on Canoe Lake. It says nothing about any wish to paint the Rocky Mountains, so this idea is not in the passage.
Tips: The summer of 1917 is in Paragraph D, but check whether the text ever mentions mountains or a trip west.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A says he worked in Seattle, far to the west, but it gives no plans to paint mountains.
- B: We learn in paragraph B that he spent spring to autumn in Algonquin Park. Other places he hoped to paint are not named.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer lists his famous paintings of trees, lakes and sky. None of them is about the Rocky Mountains.
- D: Paragraph D covers July 1917, but only the canoe trip and what followed. His hopes for that summer are left out.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Many people who knew him found it hard to believe that such a skilled canoeist could have drowned by accident.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says an inquest ruled that he drowned by accident. Many people who knew him found that hard to believe. Finding a ruling hard to believe means questioning it.
Tips: The official finding is one thing. Look next for what his friends thought of it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A names the artists he worked beside at Grip. But it does not report anyone's view of how he died.
- B: In paragraph B, the writer describes his seasons in Algonquin Park, not the end of his life.
- C: Paragraph C gives one reviewer's opinion of his art, which is a different kind of doubt.
- E: Look at paragraph D. It reports the doubt: people who knew him could not easily accept an accidental drowning.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: He spent about three years working for engraving companies in Seattle, and after he came back to Ontario he became a commercial designer at Grip Limited in Toronto around 1908.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says he did not begin as a painter and spent about three years working for engraving companies in Seattle. So he held a job in that city for a few years before painting became his career.
Tips: Scan for 'Seattle'. Then check that his job there was before painting and lasted 'a few years'.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Notice that paragraph B says he left his design job in 1913. But it does not say where he had worked before Toronto.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it mentions London, where The Jack Pine was shown, but that was a painting travelling, not a job.
- D: Notice that paragraph D is set in Algonquin Park in 1917, long after his early jobs.
- E: His years in Seattle, before he became a painter, are described in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In 1924 The Jack Pine was shown at the British Empire Exhibition in London.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says that in 1924 The Jack Pine was shown at the British Empire Exhibition in London. So one of his paintings was on display at an exhibition in that city.
Tips: Find where his work was put in front of the public. Then check the city, and that it was an exhibition.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph names Ontario, Seattle and Toronto, but no exhibition and no London.
- B: Notice that paragraph B is about how he painted in the park and in Toronto, not about where his work was shown.
- D: Paragraph D is set on Canoe Lake during his last trip. Showing his art is not part of it.
- E: The last sentence of Paragraph C names the British Empire Exhibition in London and the year 1924.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: As a boy he liked walking in the woods, hunting and fishing, and he sang in the church choir and played the mandolin.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A says that as a boy he sang in the church choir and played the mandolin. A mandolin is a musical instrument, so the statement matches.
Tips: Find the paragraph about his childhood and look for the name of an instrument.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: His painting seasons in Algonquin Park are the subject of paragraph B. There is no music in it.
- C: The third paragraph is about his well-known paintings and what one reviewer said.
- D: Notice that paragraph D describes his last canoe trip and the questions about it.
- E: The mandolin is named in Paragraph A, in the sentence about his boyhood.
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