IELTS Reading lesson 4: Matching Paragraphs

In this lesson we'll learn how to answer Matching Paragraphs questions on IELTS Reading. In this type of questions you're given a text that contains from 5 to 8 paragraphs and a list of headings. Your goal is to match the paragraphs with the appropriate headings. Usually there can be up to 2 extra headings.


Useful information:


Answering strategy:

  1. Look through the list of headings.
  2. Read the first paragraph. Don't pay much attention to details, just get the general idea of it. You can ask yourself: "What does author want to tell me in this paragraph?" or "How would most likely this text be called if I saw it in the newspaper?". These questions will help you to think in the right direction.
  3. Read the headings list attentively and choose the best match.
  4. If you don't see a match, move on to the next paragraph.
  5. If you are unsure about the right match (you think that paragraphs A and D are OK), write down all possible answers. Don't guess yet! Maybe some of your choices will be crossed out later.
  6. Move on to next paragraph and repeat this strategy.


Tips:

Matching Paragraphs exercises with detailed explanations:


Now take a look at the following example:

The lost giants of Australian fauna

(A) Australia's wildlife is unique. The vast majority of the animals that live there are not found anywhere else – and things were no different 1 million years ago during the Pleistocene: the age of the super-sized mammal. Before humanity became Earth's undisputed superpower, giant beasts of all shapes and sizes dominated every continent, but the Pleistocene mammals of Australia were different. Some of them could grow to the size of small cars, or possessed teeth longer than knife blades.

(B) None of these animals survive today – although exactly why that's the case is a mystery. Humans, with their advanced hunting techniques and use of fire to modify the landscape, may have played a central role in the megafauna's disappearance, but this idea is still a matter of heated debate.

(C) Even if we cannot be sure that the arrival of Australian Aboriginals on the continent had catastrophic effects on its native animals, it seems that the animals had a rather spiritual effect on the humans. The Aboriginal mythological "Dreamtime" includes a cast of monstrous creatures, many of which bear a close resemblance to some of the real-life monsters that once stalked Australia's plains. Are the myths based in fact? Perhaps: after all, these creatures are far stranger than anything dreamed up by humans.

(D) For instance, the two-tonnes weighting Diprotodon comfortably holds the title of largest marsupial ever. In size and appearance it looked superficially like a modern rhinoceros, but the Diprotodon seems to have had a social lifestyle more like that of an elephant, another mammal with which it shares anatomical similarities. What the Diprotodon most resembles, however, is exactly what it is: an enormous wombat.

(E) Another record breaker, this time a world champion; Varanus priscus, commonly known by its antiquated genus name Megalania – was the largest terrestrial lizard the world has ever known. Megalania was a goanna lizard, a relative of today's infamous Komodo dragon, and conservative estimates have predicted that it was at least 5.5m long.

(F) These monster marsupials were not the only giants. Their numbers were swelled by half-tonne birds and dinosaur-like tortoises. Although this biological assemblage was truly nightmarish for humans, it greatly enriched the Australia’s fauna and contributed to the world’s biological diversity. Unfortunately, all of these species are extinct nowadays. This fact shows us that even strong, monstrous creatures can easily die out. So we need to care about animals that surround us today and don’t let them disappear as it happened to their distant ancestors.

Matching paragraphs questions:

Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet

  1. Extinction of monstrous creatures
  2. The largest mammal
  3. Myths and reality
  4. Incredible creatures of Pleistocene Australia
  5. Importance of animal protection
  6. Giant lizards
  7. Arrival of Australian Aboriginals
  8. Mystery the giants' disappearance

       

Explanations

Paragraph A

After reading this paragraph we can clearly see that its main idea is to describe the wildlife in Australia during Pleistocene. This idea is briefly written in the first sentence:

Australia's wildlife is unique.

So we can immediately cross out the irrelevant headings:

  1. Extinction of monstrous creatures (there is nothing written about animals' extinction in the first paragraph)
  2. The largest mammal
  3. Myths and reality (the text just gives information about the animals, it says nothing about whether it is real)
  4. Incredible creatures of Pleistocene Australia
  5. Importance of animal protection (animal protection is not mentioned)
  6. Giant lizards (nothing about lizards)
  7. Arrival of Australian Aboriginals (nothing about Aboriginals)
  8. Mystery the giants' disappearance (we're not given any information about animals' disappearance)

So we're left with two headings. But despite that super-sized mammal is mentioned in the text, the main focus of this paragraph is Australia's wildlife during Pleistocene. So the correct answer is Incredible creatures of Pleistocene Australia.


Paragraph B

This paragraph says that we don't know why these creatures disappeared. And again, the first sentence of this paragraph summarises its main idea:

None of these animals survive today – although exactly why that's the case is a mystery.

Now we can cross out the irrelevant headings:

  1. Extinction of monstrous creatures
  2. The largest mammal
  3. Myths and reality
  1. Importance of animal protection
  2. Giant lizards
  3. Arrival of Australian Aboriginals
  4. Mystery the giants' disappearance

Both headings that are left look good. But the first one doesn't give enough information, as it is highlighted in the paragraph that the case is a mystery. So the correct answer is Mystery the giants' disappearance.


Paragraph C

These sentences contain the paragraphs main idea:

The Aboriginal mythological "Dreamtime" includes a cast of monstrous creatures, many of which bear a close resemblance to some of the real-life monsters that once stalked Australia's plains. Are the myths based in fact? Perhaps: after all, these creatures are far stranger than anything dreamed up by humans.

So the text tells us about myths and reality, which is the correct heading.

Note that arrival of Australian Aboriginals is also mentioned in this paragraph, but it doesn't play a key role.


Paragraph D

This paragraph is clearly about Diprotodon:

the two-tonnes weighting Diprotodon comfortably holds the title of largest marsupial ever. In size and appearance it looked superficially like a modern rhinoceros, but the Diprotodon seems to have had a social lifestyle more like that of an elephant, another mammal with which it shares anatomical similarities.

So the main idea of paragraph D is The largest mammal.


Paragraph E

The whole paragraph is dedicated to the giant lizard Megalania:

... Megalania – was the largest terrestrial lizard ...

So, Giant lizards is a correct choice of heading.


Paragraph F

Paragraph F tells a bit more about other extinct species and ends with a conclusion:

Unfortunately, all of these species are extinct nowadays. This fact shows us that even strong, monstrous creatures can easily die out. So we need to care about animals that surround us today and don't let them disappear as it happened to their distant ancestors.

This conclusion is the main idea of this paragraph - we need to protect animals. That's why the correct heading is Importance of animal protection.


You can also see that two paragraphs (1 and 7) were not used at all. This sometimes happens in IELTS Matching Paragraphs questions.


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