Updated 2026-08-23easy

TOEFL Reading Practice #004 — The Town Meeting That Left Most People Out

Free TOEFL Reading practice: The Town Meeting That Left Most People Out. 11 questions with a full passage and answer key.

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How to use this practice: Read the passage once without a dictionary, then answer the questions on your own. Tap “Answer” under each question to reveal just the correct letter — no explanations, so you can keep testing yourself.
1

Passage

Read the full passage. Bracketed letters like [A] mark the four positions for the insert-text question.

The Town Meeting That Left Most People Out

¶1 Colonists in New England during the 1600s lived far from the king and government. Someone still had to decide local matters, like building roads or paying for a school. Waiting months for a letter to cross the ocean made little sense. So many small towns created a new practice. Once or twice a year, they gathered the town's residents in one room. There, the group decided matters for the whole town. People called this gathering a town meeting.

¶2 The town meeting followed a clear pattern each time. Town leaders first posted a notice describing the topics to be discussed. On the chosen day, adult male property owners walked to the meetinghouse. This plain building was used for church and town business. There, they took their seats and waited for the meeting to begin. Anyone in the group could stand up and speak, whether he owned a large farm or only a small one. The group then voted by raising their hands, and whichever side had more hands won. The meeting also elected a few men, called selectmen, to manage town business until the next meeting.

¶3 At first glance, the town meeting looks like a room full of equal citizens making decisions together. Every man in the room, rich or poor, had exactly one vote and could speak his mind. [A] But the meeting was never actually open to the whole town. [B] Because only adult men who owned enough property could attend, most adults in town could not take part at all. [C] Women, servants, and enslaved people were left out completely, no matter how long they had lived there. [D] The town meeting was not full democracy — it was self-government for a limited group who decided for everyone else too.

¶4 Town meetings did not disappear when the colonies became an independent country. Many small towns in New England still hold them today, in meetinghouses used centuries ago. Over time, the property rule disappeared, and voting rights expanded step by step. Today, any adult resident of a town can attend, speak, and vote at its town meeting. The room has stayed the same. Who is allowed inside it has not.

  • colonist: a person who moves to and lives in a new settlement far from their home country
  • meetinghouse: a plain building used for both religious services and town business
  • selectmen: town officials chosen to manage daily town business
2

Questions

11 questions — every TOEFL Reading question type, in test order.

Q1 · Vocabulary
The word practice in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to
  1. A. a religious custom
  2. B. a regular way of doing something
  3. C. a period of training for a skill
  4. D. a formal law
Answer
Correct: B
Q2 · Reference
The word they in paragraph 2 ("There, they took their seats and waited for the meeting to begin.") refers to
  1. A. adult male property owners
  2. B. town leaders
  3. C. the topics to be discussed
  4. D. the meetinghouse
Answer
Correct: A
Q3 · Essential Term
Based on the information in the passage, the term town meeting can best be explained as
  1. A. a private meeting between a colony's governor and the King of England
  2. B. a legal court that punished people who broke town rules
  3. C. a yearly festival celebrating the founding of the colony
  4. D. a regular gathering where a town's residents met to decide local matters and elect town officials themselves
Answer
Correct: D
Q4 · Factual Information
According to paragraph 2, how did the town meeting decide the outcome of a vote?
  1. A. By having only the selectmen vote
  2. B. By counting written ballots collected in a box
  3. C. By raising hands, with the side that had more hands winning
  4. D. By letting the meetinghouse minister decide
Answer
Correct: C
Q5 · Negative Fact
According to paragraph 1, all of the following are true EXCEPT
  1. A. Colonists usually waited for letters from England to answer local questions
  2. B. Colonists in New England lived far from the king and government
  3. C. Colonists sometimes had to decide local matters like building roads or paying for a school
  4. D. Town meetings were usually held once or twice a year
Answer
Correct: A
Q6 · Sentence Simplification
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 3? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

Highlighted: "Because only adult men who owned enough property could attend, most adults in town could not take part at all."
  1. A. Because most adults could not take part in the meeting, only property-owning men were allowed to attend.
  2. B. Since only men who owned enough property could attend, most people living in town could not take part.
  3. C. Every man who owned any property at all was legally required to attend the meeting.
  4. D. Some adults in town were unable to take part in the meeting.
Answer
Correct: B
Q7 · Inference
Based on the information in paragraph 3, what can be inferred about an adult man in town who did not own enough property to meet the requirement?
  1. A. He was automatically made a selectman instead
  2. B. He could still vote, but could not speak during the meeting
  3. C. He was required to pay a fine for not owning property
  4. D. He could not attend, speak, or vote at the town meeting
Answer
Correct: D
Q8 · Rhetorical Purpose
The author mentions that today "any adult resident of a town can attend, speak, and vote at its town meeting" in order to
  1. A. list all the rules of a modern town meeting in detail
  2. B. argue that colonial town meetings were completely fair
  3. C. show how different modern participation is from the limited colonial version described earlier
  4. D. explain how selectmen are elected today
Answer
Correct: C
Q9 · Paragraph Relation
How does paragraph 4 relate to paragraph 3?
  1. A. It shows that the limits on participation described in paragraph 3 have since changed
  2. B. It argues that paragraph 3's account of exclusion is incorrect
  3. C. It repeats the description of the property rule in more detail
  4. D. It introduces a completely unrelated town tradition
Answer
Correct: A
Q10 · Insert Text
Look at the four squares [■] in paragraph 3 that indicate where the following sentence could be added.

That property requirement, on its own, kept plenty of ordinary men out of the room as well.

Where would the sentence best fit?
  1. A. Square A
  2. B. Square B
  3. C. Square C
  4. D. Square D
Answer
Correct: C
Q11 · Prose Summary Select THREE · 2 pts
Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

New England colonists created the town meeting as a form of local self-government, but participation in it was far from equal.

  1. A. Colonists lived far from England's king, so towns created meetings to decide local matters themselves.
  2. B. Meetings were announced in advance and held in a plain building called a meetinghouse.
  3. C. Only adult men who owned enough property could attend, speak, or vote at the meeting.
  4. D. Votes were decided by a show of hands, and the side with more hands won.
  5. E. Over time, the property rule disappeared and voting rights expanded to all adult residents.
  6. F. Selectmen met every day of the year to manage the town's affairs.
Answer
Correct: A, C, E