ENSpeak the language you have been studying.
DESprich die Sprache, die du gelernt hast.
ESHabla el idioma que has estudiado.
ARتكلم اللغة التي درستها.
HIजो भाषा पढ़ी है, उसे बोलो।
URوہ زبان بولو جو سیکھی ہے۔
ZH说出你学过的那门语言。
PTFale o idioma que você estudou.
FRParle la langue que tu as étudiée.
JA勉強してきた言語を話そう。
ENSpeak the language you have been studying.
DESprich die Sprache, die du gelernt hast.
ESHabla el idioma que has estudiado.
ARتكلم اللغة التي درستها.
HIजो भाषा पढ़ी है, उसे बोलो।
URوہ زبان بولو جو سیکھی ہے۔
ZH说出你学过的那门语言。
PTFale o idioma que você estudou.
FRParle la langue que tu as étudiée.
JA勉強してきた言語を話そう。

IELTS Reading: inventions passages

The story behind everyday objects and machines, such as the pencil, glass and the bicycle: one of the most frequent IELTS passage types.

158 passages mainly about inventions · 39 more that touch on it · from 186 full tests

Passages mainly about inventions

Each passage opens as a timed 20-minute practice with its 13–14 questions. Submit to see your band estimate and the sentence that proves every answer.

Show 110 more inventions passages

Other passages that cover inventions

These passages have a different main subject but deal with inventions along the way.

39 passages

Key inventions vocabulary

Words worth knowing before you read about inventions, each with the sentence it appears in.

WordMeaningExample from a passage
improvised
verb
made or invented something quickly from whatever was available“the object he had improvised from a folding chair” Test 410
wheelbase
noun
the distance between the front and rear wheels of a vehicle or trolley“the wheelbase was sufficiently narrow to pass between counters” Test 410
undignified
adjective
making someone look foolish or not deserving respect“men considered the device undignified” Test 410
eccentric
adjective
considered strange or unusual by other people“What had looked eccentric became ordinary” Test 410
telescoping
adjective
made of parts that slide into one another so that the object takes up less space“a patent for the telescoping trolley in 1949” Test 410
centrepiece
noun
the main feature or attraction that draws attention to a place or event“wanted a centrepiece that would rival the tower in scale and boldness” Test 418
circumference
noun
the outer edge of a circle or round object“were hung around the circumference” Test 418
forged
verb
shaped metal by heating it and pressing or hammering it into form“was forged in one piece” Test 418
promoters
noun
people who organise and finance an event or enterprise“It made money for its promoters” Test 418
excavation
noun
the digging out of ground, especially in preparation for building“the excavation for the foundations was slow and difficult work” Test 418
carriageway
noun
the part of a road along which vehicles travel“the edge of the carriageway dissolved into the dark” Test 422
contractor
noun
a person or company paid to carry out building or road work“eventually running a small business as a contractor” Test 422
optics
noun
the scientific study of light and how it behaves“though it gave him no training in optics” Test 422
embedded
verb
fixed firmly inside a surrounding material“Two glass lenses were embedded in the dome” Test 422
microprismatic
adjective
using many tiny shaped facets to reflect light“eventually joined by microprismatic reflectors” Test 422
cumbersome
adjective
long, heavy and awkward; used here of a name that is hard to say“Zhang Heng gave it a cumbersome name, often translated as 'instrument for measuring the seasonal winds” Test 433
upheavals
noun
periods of violent change and disturbance in a country or system“It was probably destroyed or lost during the political upheavals that followed the fall of the Han dynasty” Test 433
dislodge
verb
to make something move out of the position where it was held“so that the slightest movement would dislodge it” Test 433
ambiguity
noun
the state of being open to more than one interpretation“so observers could read the direction without ambiguity” Test 433
replicas
noun
accurate copies made of an object that already exists“replicas of his instrument are displayed in museums in Beijing and elsewhere” Test 433
sentimental
adjective
expressing tender emotion rather than practical or financial value“the commercial and sentimental value the postcard would soon acquire” Test 436
lithography
noun
a printing method in which ink is transferred from a prepared flat surface“firms in Germany dominated the trade because of their skill in colour lithography” Test 436
reclassified
verb
put into a different category from the one used before“the postcard had been reclassified, in effect, as a souvenir rather than a means of correspondence” Test 436
archive
noun
a store of records or objects kept as evidence of the past“For the historian they remain a remarkable archive” Test 436

Question types in these passages

  • True / False / Not Given · 164 passages
  • Summary completion · 38 passages
  • Flow-chart completion · 36 passages
  • Table completion · 34 passages
  • Note completion · 32 passages
  • Short-answer questions · 29 passages
  • Sentence completion · 27 passages
  • Matching information · 22 passages
  • Diagram label completion · 21 passages
  • Multiple choice (choose more than one) · 17 passages
  • Multiple choice · 9 passages
  • Matching features · 6 passages
  • Matching headings · 6 passages
  • Matching sentence endings · 1 passages

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