IELTS Reading - Diagram Completion

In this lesson we'll learn how to tackle diagram completion questions on IELTS Reading. In this type of questions, you’re given a descriptive text and a diagram or plan, which you have to label according to the text. Your diagram may be a technical drawing, a description of something from the natural world, a process or a plan of something.

This is how the diagram completion question may look like on IELTS Reading test:

Label the parts of a leaf on the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

IELTS Reading diagram completion - leaf diagram

Answering strategy:

 

Tips:


Example:

Label the parts of a leaf on the diagram below. Choose ONE WORD from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

Remember this useful technique: underline new terms as you read. In this example, we've underlined all the new terms for you.

Leaves' structure

Plants play a very important role in our surroundings. Trees provide us with fresh air, shade in summers, food, and other benefits without which we cannot even think of living.

One of the most principal organs of a tree is a leaf. The leaves are the organs for photosynthesis - a process when carbon dioxide is turned into oxygen. The structures of leaves are adapted for efficient photosynthesis.

Most leaves are broad and so have a large surface area allowing them to absorb more light. Also, they are thin, which means a short distance for carbon dioxide to diffuse in and oxygen to diffuse out easily. The blade is the broad, flat part of the leaf. Photosynthesis occurs in the blade, which has many green food-making cells.

If you look closer at leaves, you will notice networks of thin threads. Those networks are called veins: they support the structure of the leaf and transport substances to and from the cells in the leaf. The main vein of a leaf, running down the centre of the leaf, is called midrib.

The area of some plants that connects the plant's stem and leaf is called the petiole. The petiole is the pipeline through which the products of photosynthesis are moved from individual leaves to the rest of a plant and through which necessary chemicals and nutrients from other parts of the plant are brought to individual leave.

Now it's time to label the diagram:

IELTS Reading diagram completion - leaf diagram

1.

2.

3.

4.




Answers and explanations

  1. Arrow near the number 1 points to the little threads in the middle of the leaf.  After you look at the underlined words, you’ll see what’s written in the fourth paragraph:

    If you look closer at leaves, you will notice networks of thin threads. Those networks are called veins.

    So the correct answer is: veins or vein.

  2. The second arrow points to a large vein in the centre of the leaf. The last sentence of the fourth paragraph says: The main vein of a leaf, running down the centre of the leaf, is called midrib. So the correct answer is: midrib.

  3. The bracket near number 3 captures the main part of the leaf. The third paragraph tells us that

    The blade is the broad, flat part of the leaf.

    Thus, the correct answer is blade.

  4. The fourth part you have to label is the part of the leaf that connects it to the plant’s stem. And once again, you scan the text for the underlined words and see this phrase in the last paragraph:

    The area of some plants that connects the plant's stem and leaf is called the petiole.

    So the correct answer is petiole.

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