ESL Pets Reading

This ESL pets reading passage is all about the types of pets that people can keep if they live in different sized houses. By reading the passage and answering the questions that follow it you will be able to improve your English reading ability.

If you need help with the understanding the words in the passage you can go to the ESL pets vocabulary page to learn all the words you will need to know.

Read the ESL pets reading passage first and try to understand it as well as you can and then answer the questions that follow the passage.

ESL Pets Reading Comprehension Passage

Many people like to keep pets. Some just have one pet while other people keep many different pets. This often depends on if they live in a big or small house. If a person lives in a small house, or even a flat or apartment, they cannot keep a lot of pets as there is not enough room. If people live in a big house that has a garden then they will be able to keep more pets and bigger ones.

For a person who lives in a small house a small pet is often good. They could keep a bird or two as these are very interesting pets. They have brightly colored feathers and make nice chirping sounds. If you have a parrot it can even learn to talk, but it takes a long time to teach it to say some words. If a bird is too noisy then they could keep some cute animals like mice, gerbils or hamsters. These are all nice and fluffy so you can take them out of their cages and play with them. Fish are also a type of pet for people without much space or time. They just need some food and their bowl or tank cleaning sometimes.

People that have more space and time to look after a pet could keep something bigger that needs more care, such as a dog or cat. Cats do not need to be looked after as much as a dog, but they get lonely if there is no one there with them. They often like to have someone to sit with and who strokes them. This makes them happy and they start to purr. If someone has a dog they need to take it out for walks so that it can get exercise. It is good to take a dog out twice a day. Dogs need exercise so they cannot be kept in the house all the time.

There are then pets that need a very large amount of space. These would be animals such as horses or donkeys, it could even be a domestic pig. For these animals a person needs more than a big garden, they need a field so the animal has space to move and run around, as well as grass to eat. These are types of animals that would generally not come into the house and the owners would only spend part of the day with them.

ESL Pets Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension questions that go with the above reading passage.

1) Why can a person in a small house not have a lot of pets?

    A) They can have a lot of pets.
    B) They cannot grow enough food for them.
    C) They do not have enough space.
    D) Other people might not like too many pets.

2) Why are birds good pets?

    A) They do not eat much.
    B) They are brightly colored and make nice sounds.
    C) They can be trained to play fetch.
    D) They are not good pets.

3) According to the passage which of the following is a cute animal?

    A) Mice
    B) Fish
    C) Horse
    D) Cat

4) From the passage, why do cats start to purr?

    A) Because they are stroked.
    B) Because they are fed.
    C) Because they are left alone all day.
    D) Cats do not purr.

5) Which of the following is an animal that would not normally come into a house?

    A) Cat
    B) Dog
    C) Gerbil
    D) Donkey

Score =

Correct answers:

ESL 4u home › Reading › Pets