Join meaning, not just grammar
Matching sentence endings gives you sentence beginnings and a longer list of possible endings. Your task is to form sentences supported by the passage. Grammar can rule out an impossible combination, but several endings may be grammatically acceptable. The deciding test is whether the complete sentence preserves the original cause, purpose or result.
Read the beginnings before considering every ending. Predict the kind of information each needs: a reason, an action, an outcome or a condition. Locate the relevant part of the text, then choose the ending that matches it. Finally, read the joined sentence as one claim. A familiar word in both halves is not enough.
The sentence beginnings follow the passage order, while the endings are mixed. In this exercise, each ending may be used once and there are two unused endings. Keep those unused options available until you have checked the evidence. Do not choose a weak match simply to make your earlier choices fit. When two options seem plausible, write what changes between them; that difference usually reveals the precise detail to check.
Original passage: Giving old maps a second life
A. The Eastbank archive holds several thousand maps of local farms. For years, visitors had to request a folder and wait while a member of staff brought it from storage. The archive began a digitisation project because repeated handling was damaging the most fragile sheets. Easier remote access was a welcome additional benefit, but it was not the project’s original trigger.
B. Before photography, conservators flattened folded maps slowly under light weights. They avoided pressing them immediately because brittle edges could split. Each map was then photographed beside a colour reference card. The card allowed staff to check whether the digital image reproduced the original shades accurately, which mattered when different colours marked different land uses.
C. Volunteers entered place names into a searchable index. Historical spellings were preserved exactly, while modern alternatives were added in a separate field. This arrangement helped visitors search with a familiar name without erasing evidence of how the place had once been described. Uncertain names were left flagged for review rather than silently corrected.
D. At first, the online catalogue displayed only finished images. Teachers asked for information about how maps had been made, so staff added short notes about survey methods. A later pilot invited local residents to identify unnamed buildings. Their suggestions were compared with dated photographs before being accepted. The archive intends to publish further maps gradually, since checking descriptions takes longer than producing the photographs. Faster equipment alone would therefore not remove the main delay.
Original fictional learning text. The passage and questions were created for this lesson, not copied from an IELTS test.
Complete six sentence beginnings
Choose the correct ending, A–H, for each beginning. Use each ending no more than once. Two endings are not needed.
- A — preserve old wording while supporting modern searches.
- B — replace the need to verify written descriptions.
- C — avoid breaking weakened parts of the paper.
- D — test residents’ suggestions against other dated evidence.
- E — protect delicate originals from further damage.
- F — remove all uncertain names from the collection.
- G — assess whether the image colours were faithful.
- H — respond to a request for context about map production.
Answers and the evidence behind them
Compare your reason as well as your answer. Each explanation identifies the decisive detail and the tempting mistake.
1. Reveal answer and explanation
E. Paragraph A identifies damage from repeated handling as the original trigger. Remote access is described as an additional benefit, so an ending about convenience would not express the stated initial reason.
2. Reveal answer and explanation
C. Paragraph B says immediate pressing could split brittle edges. Gradual flattening protects fragile paper. This is a specific conservation step, while E describes the wider project’s purpose.
3. Reveal answer and explanation
G. The reference card is a colour-checking tool. The passage links accurate shades to land-use markings; it does not say the card supplies place names or dates the map.
4. Reveal answer and explanation
A. Paragraph C retains historical spellings and adds modern alternatives separately. Both halves of the ending matter: replacing old spellings with modern ones would lose evidence.
5. Reveal answer and explanation
H. Paragraph D says teachers wanted information about map-making, prompting the survey-method notes. The notes provide explanatory context rather than a new method of photographing the maps.
6. Reveal answer and explanation
D. Residents’ identifications were checked against dated photographs before acceptance. B falsely suggests descriptions no longer need checking; F contradicts the decision to flag uncertain names for review.
Notice purpose and sequence
Read the completed sentences aloud. Each contains a purpose or a checking relationship. Now underline the phrase in the passage that establishes that relationship: “because”, “allowed”, “so” or “before”. These linking words often carry more useful information than a repeated noun.
If you confused E and C, the shared idea of protection was not the problem; the scale of the action was. The whole digitisation project reduces handling, while slow flattening prevents a particular kind of damage. When two answers seem synonymous, return to the subject of the sentence beginning and identify exactly which action it describes.
For a transfer exercise, make one false sentence from the passage by exchanging “original trigger” and “additional benefit”. Explain why the new sentence changes the meaning even though all its vocabulary appears in the text. Then try multiple choice with distractors or word-limited sentence completion. Matching endings uses supplied options, so it should not be approached as a free-writing task.
Question-format reference: official IELTS Academic Reading guidance, checked 15 October 2026. All teaching examples and practice material on this page are original.