Which verb is commonly used to describe the start of someone's life in a biography?
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Respuesta correcta: A)Was born
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "Was born". A Grade 7 student writing a biography has to know which verb belongs to each stage of a life, and the opening formula of a biographical text is one of the most fixed expressions in the genre. Recognising that "was born" opens a text while "died" closes it gives the student a structural handle on the whole paragraph, and that same awareness of how a life is organised in time is what the past simple and past continuous items in this bundle depend on.
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Respuesta correcta: A)Was born
A)Was born"Was born" marks the beginning of a life, and it is the standard opening formula of a biographical text.
B)DiedDying closes a life story rather than opening it, so it belongs at the end of a biography.
C)StudiedStudying describes a period of education that comes after birth, so it does not mark the start of a life.
D)WorkedWorking refers to a professional stage of life, which is later than birth and describes a career rather than an origin.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "Was born". A Grade 7 student writing a biography has to know which verb belongs to each stage of a life, and the opening formula of a biographical text is one of the most fixed expressions in the genre. Recognising that "was born" opens a text while "died" closes it gives the student a structural handle on the whole paragraph, and that same awareness of how a life is organised in time is what the past simple and past continuous items in this bundle depend on.
Pregunta 2
Pregunta 2 · D3Bloom: Remember
Describing a past educational achievement.
"Shakira ________ to school in Barranquilla when she was a child."
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Respuesta correcta: A)went
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "went". Irregular verbs are the first real obstacle a Grade 7 student meets in the past simple, and biography is where they surface most often because a life story is dense with once-only events. Drilling the irregular set through dates and places gives each verb a memory hook that a verb list cannot, and the same irregulars reappear in every narrative the student writes this year.
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Respuesta correcta: A)went
A)wentThe irregular past simple of "go" is "went", and a childhood school attendance is a completed past event.
B)goes"Goes" is the present simple, which would place the going to school in the present rather than in her childhood.
C)goed"Goed" is not an English word at all; the irregular past form of "go" is "went".
D)going"Going" is the -ing form, which needs an auxiliary such as "was" to form a verb, so it cannot stand alone here.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "went". Irregular verbs are the first real obstacle a Grade 7 student meets in the past simple, and biography is where they surface most often because a life story is dense with once-only events. Drilling the irregular set through dates and places gives each verb a memory hook that a verb list cannot, and the same irregulars reappear in every narrative the student writes this year.
Pregunta 3
Pregunta 3 · D4Bloom: Understand
Matching a life event with its likely date.
"Mariana Pajón won her first Olympic gold medal ________."
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Respuesta correcta: B)in 2012
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "in 2012". Dating an event is the hinge of every biographical text, because without a time marker the past simple has nothing to anchor it. Choosing among present, future and habitual markers forces the student to decide what kind of time a fact belongs to, which is precisely the judgement ICFES reading items test when they ask how a text is organised.
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Respuesta correcta: B)in 2012
A)every day"Every day" marks a repeated habit, but winning a first Olympic medal happened on one occasion, so it needs a date.
B)in 2012"In" followed by a year is the standard way to place a past achievement in time, and this is the pattern the sentence needs.
C)next week"Next week" points forward from the present, but the medal was already won, so a future marker contradicts the past.
D)now"Now" points at the present moment, and the victory belongs to a completed year in the past rather than to now.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "in 2012". Dating an event is the hinge of every biographical text, because without a time marker the past simple has nothing to anchor it. Choosing among present, future and habitual markers forces the student to decide what kind of time a fact belongs to, which is precisely the judgement ICFES reading items test when they ask how a text is organised.
Pregunta 4
Pregunta 4 · D4Bloom: Understand
Expressing the end of a career or life.
"After many years of writing, the author ________ in 1995."
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Respuesta correcta: D)died
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "died". A finished life in a dated year requires the past simple, and the distractor set here separates four different mistakes students make with that form: using the present tense, dropping the finite verb altogether, and treating the adjective "dead" as if it were a verb. Naming each of those errors separately is what turns a right answer into a usable rule.
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Respuesta correcta: D)died
A)livesThe present simple states that the author is alive now, but the sentence places the event in 1995 with "in", so the past simple is required.
B)dieThe bare infinitive has no subject attached to it and no past marking, so the sentence would have no finite past verb.
C)dead"Dead" is an adjective describing a state rather than a verb, so it cannot occupy the verb slot in this sentence.
D)diedThe past simple of the verb die is "died", and it is the form that fits an event completed in 1995.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "died". A finished life in a dated year requires the past simple, and the distractor set here separates four different mistakes students make with that form: using the present tense, dropping the finite verb altogether, and treating the adjective "dead" as if it were a verb. Naming each of those errors separately is what turns a right answer into a usable rule.
Pregunta 5
Pregunta 5 · D4Bloom: Apply
Describing a simultaneous action in a person's life.
"While she ________ (live) in Paris, she ________ (write) her most famous book."
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Respuesta correcta: D)was living / wrote
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "was living / wrote". The past continuous describes a background state that lasts while something else happens, and the past simple marks the thing that actually happens inside it. Mastering that contrast is what separates a Grade 7 student who can list tenses from one who can narrate a life, because every biography is a long background state interrupted by a few dated events.
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Respuesta correcta: D)was living / wrote
A)lives / writes"Lives / writes" keeps both verbs in the present, but the clause after "while" describes a period in the past.
B)lived / was writingIncorrect. "Lived" is possible, but "was living" is more natural for a background state in a biography.
C)is living / wrote"Is living" is present continuous, so pairing it with the past "wrote" mixes two different time worlds in one sentence.
D)was living / wrote"Was living" sets up the background period and "wrote" carries the single event that interrupts it, which is the standard narration pattern.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "was living / wrote". The past continuous describes a background state that lasts while something else happens, and the past simple marks the thing that actually happens inside it. Mastering that contrast is what separates a Grade 7 student who can list tenses from one who can narrate a life, because every biography is a long background state interrupted by a few dated events.
Pregunta 6
Pregunta 6 · D4Bloom: Apply
A short biography of a fictional scientist.
"Dr. Smith was born in London. He moved to Bogotá in 2005. He worked at a university for ten years. Finally, he started his own laboratory in 2016."
When did Dr. Smith move to Bogotá?
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Respuesta correcta: B)In 2005.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "In 2005". Locating a specific date inside a short biographical paragraph is the reading skill that separates comprehension from word-by-word decoding, and it is what a chronological-order exercise depends on. The three distractors are all real facts from the text, so the student has to match each one to the right event rather than simply recognise a familiar detail.
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Respuesta correcta: B)In 2005.
A)In 2016.2016 is the year the text gives for starting the laboratory, not the year of the move to Bogotá.
B)In 2005.The text states that he moved to Bogotá in 2005, so this is the date the question is looking for.
C)When he was born.The text says he was born in London, so his birth belongs to a different place and a different time.
D)Ten years ago."Ten years ago" is a relative expression, and the text gives an absolute year rather than a length of time.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "In 2005". Locating a specific date inside a short biographical paragraph is the reading skill that separates comprehension from word-by-word decoding, and it is what a chronological-order exercise depends on. The three distractors are all real facts from the text, so the student has to match each one to the right event rather than simply recognise a familiar detail.
Pregunta 7
Pregunta 7 · D4Bloom: Apply
Describing education in the past.
"My father ________ from the University of Antioquia in 1990."
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Respuesta correcta: A)graduated
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "graduated". Biographies turn on a small set of milestone verbs, and graduating is the one students most often get wrong because Spanish uses a single reflexive form for it. Learning the fixed partner "graduated from" rather than a list of near-synonyms gives the student a phrase that can be used immediately in a written biography.
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Respuesta correcta: A)graduated
A)graduated"Graduated from" is the standard collocation for completing a university degree, and the year 1990 fits it.
B)study"Study" names the activity of attending, not the event of completing a degree, which is what "graduated from" expresses.
C)finish"Finish" here has no past marking, so the sentence would not place the graduation in the year 1990.
D)is graduate"Graduate" is a verb, so the sentence needs a past form after it rather than the bare base form "is graduate".
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "graduated". Biographies turn on a small set of milestone verbs, and graduating is the one students most often get wrong because Spanish uses a single reflexive form for it. Learning the fixed partner "graduated from" rather than a list of near-synonyms gives the student a phrase that can be used immediately in a written biography.
Pregunta 8
Pregunta 8 · D4Bloom: Analyze
Analyzing the impact of a life event.
"The artist lost his sight when he was 20. However, he didn't stop painting. He used his other senses to create unique masterpieces."
What is the most remarkable thing about this artist's story?
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Respuesta correcta: D)He continued his creative career despite a physical challenge.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is the one about continuing to paint after losing his sight. Inferring the point of a short biography from the contrast between an obstacle and the response to it is the highest-order reading this bundle asks for, since no sentence states the message outright. A student who can name what the whole passage is building towards can also write that conclusion in a biography of their own.
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Respuesta correcta: D)He continued his creative career despite a physical challenge.
A)He was born blind.The text says he lost his sight at 20, which means he could see until then rather than being born blind.
B)He stopped painting at 20.The text explicitly says he didn't stop painting, so claiming that he stopped contradicts the sentence directly.
C)He only painted when he was young.The text says he produced masterpieces after the accident, so his career clearly extended beyond his youth.
D)He continued his creative career despite a physical challenge.Continuing to create work after losing his sight is what makes the story remarkable, and it is the point the whole text builds towards.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is the one about continuing to paint after losing his sight. Inferring the point of a short biography from the contrast between an obstacle and the response to it is the highest-order reading this bundle asks for, since no sentence states the message outright. A student who can name what the whole passage is building towards can also write that conclusion in a biography of their own.
Pregunta 9
Pregunta 9 · D4Bloom: Analyze
Choosing the correct structure for a past narrative.
Choose the sentence that is grammatically correct and appropriate for a life story.
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Respuesta correcta: D)In 2010, he started his first business; he was only 18 years old.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "In 2010, he started his first business; he was only 18 years old." Error correction on a nearly correct sentence is the highest-value work in this bundle, because each distractor isolates one specific fault that Spanish speakers make: an unmarked past verb, a missing auxiliary, and the use of "have" for age. A student who can say why each version fails can repair their own writing without being told again.
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Respuesta correcta: D)In 2010, he started his first business; he was only 18 years old.
A)In 2010, he start his first business and he was only 18."Start" has no past marking, so the sentence mixes a present verb with the past "was" in the same clause.
B)In 2010, he starting his first business and he has 18 years.Two faults: "starting" needs the auxiliary "was", and age in English takes "was 18", never "has 18".
C)He started his first business in 2010 when he has 18."has 18" uses the wrong verb for age and places it in the present, while the event is dated 2010.
D)In 2010, he started his first business; he was only 18 years old."Started" is the past simple and age takes "was" plus a plural, which is exactly what this sentence does.
💡 Explicación
The correct answer is "In 2010, he started his first business; he was only 18 years old." Error correction on a nearly correct sentence is the highest-value work in this bundle, because each distractor isolates one specific fault that Spanish speakers make: an unmarked past verb, a missing auxiliary, and the use of "have" for age. A student who can say why each version fails can repair their own writing without being told again.
Pregunta 10
Pregunta 10 · D4Bloom: Evaluate
Evaluating the structure of a biography.
"1. Fernando Botero was born in Medellín in 1932. 2. He studied at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. 3. His style, 'Boterismo', became famous for its large figures. 4. He is one of the most recognized Colombian artists in history."
Which sentence summarizes the general importance of the person rather than a specific life event?
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Respuesta correcta: C)Sentence 4: "He is one of the most recognized Colombian artists in history."
💡 Explicación
The student evaluates the function of different sentences within a biographical text to distinguish between facts and overall significance.
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Respuesta correcta: C)Sentence 4: "He is one of the most recognized Colombian artists in history."
A)Sentence 1: "Fernando Botero was born in Medellín in 1932."This states where and when he was born, which is a specific dated event rather than a judgement about his overall importance.
B)Sentence 2: "He studied at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid."This records a period of his education abroad, which is one episode of his life and not a statement about his lasting reputation.
C)Sentence 4: "He is one of the most recognized Colombian artists in history."This evaluates his overall legacy and lasting recognition, which is exactly the general importance rather than a single dated event.
D)Sentence 3: "His style, 'Boterismo', became famous for its large figures."This describes a characteristic of his artistic style, which is what he was known for rather than how important he is judged to be.
💡 Explicación
The student evaluates the function of different sentences within a biographical text to distinguish between facts and overall significance.
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