Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
This text is difficult in some ways because the children have to jump back and
forth in the text to find their answers. It is also a larger text than some others
which means that it requires better skills of memory and searching for
answers. Here is our guidance on how you should mark your child’s answers.
Answers:
1. Plants and creatures, including humans, need salt just to stay alive.
[Line 1 and 2]
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2
3
Salt is one of the most valuable substances known to us. Plants and
creatures, including human beings, need salt just to stay alive. Salt
also prevents some foodstuffs going bad. It flavours food such as
On the first line of the text it states that salt is valuable to us and then
explains that this is because many things need it to stay alive. The
mark will be allowed as long as ‘need salt to stay alive’ is mentioned.
2. 170 million tonnes. [Line 57]
56 underground. The salt you scatter on your plate is just a fraction of the
57 170 million tonnes or so the world consumes each year.
Here in the very last line it states the large figure of salt consumption
per year.
3. Will accept any 3 of the following;
 preserves food (OR stops some food from going bad)
 flavours food
 stops egg shells cracking when boiled.
[Lines 3 – 5]
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3
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5
creatures, including human beings, need salt just to stay alive. Salt
also prevents some foodstuffs going bad. It flavours food such as
bread, butter and cheese; it softens hard water; it stops the shell from
cracking when you boil an egg.
Here we see 3 uses that salt has in food production.
WILL NOT ACCEPT; softens water because the question is asking for
food production.
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Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
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4. Will accept any 3 of the following;
 Clothes
 Household goods
 Water softeners
 Leather
 Soap
 Production of Chemicals
 Adhesives
 Fertilisers
 Toothpaste
 Synthetic rubber
[Lines 13-15, 18, 23 & 25-26]
 A material that whitens paper
Salt plays an important part in the manufacture of clothes and
household goods. Soaking animal skins and hides in brine prepares
them for the tanning process that turns them into leather. Adding salt
to a bath of dye “fixes” the dissolved colours onto the fabric being
dyed. Adding salt to a paste of boiled oil, fats and caustic soda helps
to turn it into soap. Salt is also used in water softeners. Here the
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More than four-fifths of all the salt produced today is used in factories
producing chemicals. Salt helps in the manufacture of about a dozen
chemicals used for making many hundreds of products. These range
from adhesives, fertilisers, soap and toothpaste to synthetic rubber
and a material that whitens paper. All told we use salt in more than
15,000 ways.
Several uses of salt were given in these paragraphs for non-food
products and we will accept any of the above.
WILL NOT ACCEPT; any uses in food production, such as bread,
butter, cheese and eggs.
5. 1st mark for; salt melts snow and/or ice, 2nd mark for stops more
forming. [Line 12]
11 snow and ice. Special trucks, called gritters, scatter rock salt on to the
12 roads. The salt melts lying snow or ice, and stops more forming.
Here it clearly states how salt is used on icy roads. The question is for
2 marks; either one of the answers above will give one mark or giving
both answers will grant 2 marks.
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Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
6. 1 mark for either used in saline drips OR solution of brine used
2nd mark given for either fed through a blood vessel OR used to
feed patients too ill or weak to eat.
[Line 6-9]
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In hospitals, refined salt is used in saline drips. These drip a weak
solution of brine and liquid food through a hollow needle into a blood
vessel in a patients arm. Saline drips are used to feed patients too ill
or weak to eat.
Children must mention 2 things for the 2 marks; the solution that is
used and how it is used. If only one aspect is mentioned then 1 mark
will be awarded.
7. France
India
[Line 46 – 47]
[Line 50]
(because Britain ruled India at the time)
Here it shows that the French king imposed a tax on salt called the
gabelle, therefore, a tax was put on salt in France and also mentioned,
on Line 50, the British introduced a salt tax in India.
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In the past, governments raised cash by imposing tax on the price of
salt. For example, five hundred years ago the French king brought in a
heavy salt tax known as the gabelle, which caused much hardship for
the poor. The burden of this and other taxes was one reason why the
French deposed their king in the French Revolution of 1789. Another
example can be found during the time Britain ruled India. The British
WILL NOT ACCEPT; Britain because it states that it was British rulers
in India, and the question asks for the country in which the tax was
introduced.
8. D – It is used in the manufacture of chemicals
22 More than four-fifths of all the salt produced today is used in factories
23 producing chemicals. Salt helps in the manufacture of about a dozen
24 chemicals used for making many hundreds of products. These range
This is a fairly tricky question as it is in the middle of the text, so it does
not follow on after the previous question, and it does not specifically
say ‘today, salt is mainly used for’. However, it does state that fourfifths of salt is used in factories, which is a heavy majority. This
question requires children to use skills of deduction as well as memory.
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Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
9. a) brine;
[Lines 7 and 14]
water containing salt, will also accept substance containing salt
6 In hospitals, refined salt is used in saline drips. These drip a weak
7 solution of brine and liquid food through a hollow needle into a blood
8 vessel in a patients arm. Saline drips are used to feed patients too ill
13 Salt plays an important part in the manufacture of clothes and
14 household goods. Soaking animal skins and hides in brine prepares
15 them for the tanning process that turns them into leather. Adding salt
Brine is a mixture consisting of water and salt, however, as it does
not specifically mention this in the text, we will also accept anything
that suggests that it is a mixture that contains salt.
b) adhesives;
[Line 25]
glue OR sticky substance (as long as either the word glue or
sticky have been used)
24 chemicals used for making many hundreds of products. These range
25 from adhesives, fertilisers, soap and toothpaste to synthetic rubber
The word adhesive is a synonym of glue. It is a substance that
sticks things together. This is a tricky question because, again, the
answer is not in the text so the knowledge for this question is based
on experience rather than deduction.
c) synthetic;
man-made OR not natural
[Line 25]
24 chemicals used for making many hundreds of products. These range
25 from adhesives, fertilisers, soap and toothpaste to synthetic rubber
Similarly to the previous question, the definition of the word
synthetic is not specified in the text and so children are required to
know this already.
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Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
d) deposed;
[Line 49]
removed OR forced to leave (as long as there is the notion that
they are leaving against their will)
48 the poor. The burden of this and other taxes was one reason why the
49 French deposed their king in the French Revolution of 1789. Another
50 example can be found during the time Britain ruled India. The British
After mentioning that the French king imposed a salt tax, the text states
that this was a reason for ‘deposing’ their king in the French
Revolution. To revolt against something suggests that the French
people were opposed to the king’s power and therefore wanted to force
him off the throne.
10. 1 mark will be awarded for either; the burden of high taxes OR
people could not afford to pay the taxes OR could not afford to
buy salt
[Line 47 - 48]
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salt. For example, five hundred years ago the French king brought in a
heavy salt tax known as the gabelle, which caused much hardship for
the poor. The burden of this and other taxes was one reason why the
French deposed their king in the French Revolution of 1789. Another
Here, it is suggested in the text that the tax placed on salt caused
hardship for the poor specifically because they would not have the
money to buy the salt after the price increased with tax. It also states
that this was a burden for poor people which resulted in the opposition
to the king being on the throne. The children will receive the mark if
they have specifically mentioned that poor people could not afford to
buy salt or if they have mentioned that high taxes were a burden.
11. 1st mark awarded for; to carry salt
2nd mark awarded for from Ostia to Rome [Line 34-36]
34 as jewels, silks and spices. One of Italy’s oldest roads was built
35 especially to carry salt. This road was called the Via Salaria (Salt
36 Way), and ran from Ostia on the coast of Italy all the way to Rome.
The children can gain 1 mark for stating either the purpose of the road
or the beginning and ending city and will gain 2 marks for mentioning
both. However, to gain the second mark the children must mention the
words Ostia and Rome.
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Comprehension Answers
Salt is Special
12. Either; Both countries wanted control over the Mediterranean where
salt was produced and transported OR Romans ploughed salt into
soil of Cathage so that no crops would grow there. [Lines 43 – 44]
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People fought and died to win coasts rich in salt supplies. The
Carthaginians and the Romans fought partly to control the
Mediterranean salt-producing centres, as well as routes that carried
salt and other goods. After their victory, the Romans ploughed salt into
the soil of Carthage so no crops would grow there.
This paragraph describes the battles between the Romans and the
Carthaginians. It states that they fought over the control of areas that
produced and transported salt and that the Romans inserted salt into
their opponents’ soil so that their crops will not grow. Children will be
awarded one mark for either answer but will not receive 2 marks for
mentioning both.
13. 1 mark for either; the sea OR underground [Line 28 – 30] - Greece is
where the name originates from not where salt originates from.
54 People prized salt long before most of its uses were discovered. Salt
55 still comes from the sea, but huge amounts are also mined from
56 underground. The salt you scatter on your plate is just a fraction of the
Here it shows 2 sources of salt. Children will gain 1 mark for either
answer stated above but will not be given 2 marks for both.
WILL NOT ACCEPT Greece as this is where the name originates
from, not salt itself.
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