Matching Paragraph Headings – Matching paragraph titles is a type of exercise that appears in the IELTS reading test or makes it difficult for many candidates. The article will share with you the secret to practicing linking titles with paragraphs effectively!

A common question type in IELTS Reading will ask you to choose the titles of the passages and match them with the passages in the text you will practice more proficiently!

Strategies for answering questions

1. Quickly read through headlines to see what they’re about.
2. Then look at the first paragraph.
3. Often just read the topic sentence carefully because the main idea and the answer are there – you can skimming through the rest.
4. However, sometimes the answer is not in the topic sentence and you have to read the entire paragraph more carefully.
5. If you can’t choose the right answer, move on to the next question.
6. If at first you are still confused between the two answers, choose both. Then you can eliminate 1 of the following 2 if it is more suitable for a different passage.
7. If you end up stuck between two answers to a question, choose the one that best suits you.

Things need to notice:

1. There are always more options in the title than the actual number of paragraphs, so be careful when concatenating them.
2. Be careful with synonyms – often the words in the paragraph and the headings of the paragraph will not be the same; they will be synonyms.
3. Having the same noun in the title and paragraph doesn’t mean this is the correct answer – you still need to read it carefully to check.

A practice passage:

Before you do a full reading, we’ll practice with a short passage first. This is the first paragraph from the full reading that you will do. There are only five titles to choose from for this first paragraph (less than full reading).

Follow the steps above, and click on the sentence you think is the correct answer. The topic sentence is red to remind you to focus on it.

1. Match the correct heading to the paragraph.

Town facilities

Colonization

Urban divisions

Architectural home styles

Types of settlements

Now that you know some strategies and have practiced with a paragraph, you can now practice matching headings to paragraphs in a full text.

Matching Paragraph Headings – Practice

Read and focus on the topic sentences in the text below and then match the paragraph headings to their paragraphs.

One has been done for you.

[Please note that if you are on a mobile device, you have to go to ‘navigation’ or scroll down to the bottom of the screen to see the questions]

The reading passage has seven paragraphs: A – G.

Choose the most suitable paragraph headings B – G from the list of headings on the right.

Write the appropriate numbers (i –ix) in the text boxes below the headings.

NB There are more paragraph headings than paragraphs so you will not use them all.

Paragraph Headings Answer Discussion

Paragraph RED

(vi) – Historical foundations

B. In the 19th century most towns were heavily fortified and the foundations of these walls are sometimes visible.Collecting tolls to enter and exit through the walls was a major source of revenue for the old town rulers, as were market fees. The markets were generally located centrally and in small towns, while in large towns there were permanent stands made of corrugated iron or concrete. The market was usually next to the local ruler’s palace.

In this first question, the word ‘foundation’ is in the topic sentence. This does not automatically make ‘en’ the correct answer. However, it is a good reason to flag this up as a possibility. The heading also refers topic to ‘history’, so the reference to ’19th century’ in the sentence tells us the paragraph is about the history. A quick skim of the paragraph confirm this.

Paragraph C

(ix) – The residences of the rulers

C. The palaces were often very large. In the 1930’s, the area of ​​Oyo’s palace covered 17 acres, and included of a series of courtyards surrounded by private and public rooms. After colonization, many of the palaces were completely or partially demolished. Often the rulers built two storey houses for themselves using some of the palace grounds for government buildings.

The topic setence mentions the palaces, which is where the rulers of Yaruba would likely live, and the heading mentions the homes (residences) of the rulers, so it is likely to be ix. Reading the rest of the paragraph confirms that the whole paragraph talks generally about the palaces in Yoruna. Don’t be tricked by the ‘colonisation’ heading. This only refers to one sentence in the paragraph, not the whole paragraph. It is therefore a supporting point rather than the main idea.

EASY Paragraph

(iii) – Urban divisions

D. The town is divided into different sections. In some towns these are regular, extending out from the center of the town like spokes on a wheel, while in others, where space is limited, they are more random. The different areas are further divided into compounds called “ile”. These vary in size considerably from single dwellings to up to thirty houses. They tend to be larger in the North. Large areas are devoted to government administrative buildings. Newer developments such as industrial or commercial areas or apartment housing for civil servants to be build on the edge of the town.

The answer is first seen in the topic sentence. The word ‘divided’ should have flagged this up to you as a possibility. Notice the use of the synonym ‘urban’ to replace ‘town’. It is common to see synonyms in paragraph headings questions and other IELTS reading questions.

Paragraph E

(iv) – Architectural home styles

E. Houses are rectangular and either have a courtyard in the center or the rooms come off a central corridor. Most social life occurs in the courtyard. They are usually built of hardened mud and have roofs of corrugated iron or, in the countryside, thatch. Buildings of this material are easy to alter, either by knocking down rooms or adding new ones. And can be improved by coating the walls with cement. Richer people often build their houses of concrete blocks and, if they can afford to, build two storey houses. Within compounds there can be quite a mixture of building types. Younger well-educated people may have well furnished houses while their older relatives live in mud walled buildings and sleep on mats on the floor.

The topic sentence sentence starts to give you a clue that ‘iv’ is the correct choice of the paragraph headings as it discusses houses and their styles. This is then discussed further in the supporting sentences that follow.

Paragraph F

(vii) – Domestic arrangements

F. The builder or the most senior man gets a room either near the entrance or, in a two storied house, next to the balcony. He usually has more than one room. Junior men get a room each and there are separate rooms for teenage boys and girls to sleep in. Younger children sleep with their mothers. Any empty room are used as storage, let out or, if they face the street, used as shops.

In this context, ‘domestic’ means of or relating to the home, so the heading is referring to the arrangements within the home. Again, just by reading the topic sentence you can see that this paragraph is discussing home arrangements and skimming through the rest of the paragraph confirm this.

WOOD Paragraph

(i) – Town facilities

Amenities vary. In some towns most of the population uses communal water taps and only the rich have piped water, in others piped water is more normal. Some areas have toilets, but bucket toilets are common with waste being collected by a “night soil man”. Access to water and electricity are key political issues.

‘Facilities’ is a synonym of ‘amenities’ so this is the first clue that this could fit this paragraph, but you need to read on to confirm that the paragraph is discussing the facilities of the town, which it is.

Hopefully, the above sharing will help you do the best Matching Paragraph Headings exercise! And the new lesson IELTS Fighter has updated:

Wish you all good study!