In this passage, "fossils" are

the stone shapes of animals that died long ago (The passage defines the word in the same sentence: fossils are "the stone shapes of animals that died long ago.")

According to the passage, why could Mary Anning not join the Geological Society of London?

It did not accept women. (The text gives one reason: it did not accept women. Her family's poverty is mentioned earlier, but not as the reason for this.)

Which sentence best states the main idea?

Mary Anning made important discoveries but was denied the credit for them. (The passage follows her finds and ends on the credit she was denied. The last two sentences make that the point. The other choices are details inside the story.)

The last sentence, "So is the argument about who gets the credit," suggests that

people still discuss whether Mary Anning was treated fairly ("So is" carries over the word "still" from the sentence before: the bones are still in museums, and the argument is still going on. The passage never questions that the finds were hers or real.)

The Girl Who Found the Sea Dragon: Level 1 Reading Comprehension Questions

Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, a small town on the south coast of England. The cliffs there are full of fossils, the stone shapes of animals that died long ago. Her family was poor. They collected fossils from the beach and sold them to visitors.

When Mary was about twelve, her brother found a strange skull in the cliff. Mary kept digging. Over months she uncovered a whole skeleton, long and narrow, with wide eyes and rows of teeth. People called it a sea dragon. Today we call it an ichthyosaur. It was a reptile that swam in an ocean that once covered England.

Mary went on digging for the rest of her life. She found other creatures no one had seen before, and scientists came to her for help. But she could not join the Geological Society of London, because it did not accept women. Men wrote the papers about her finds, and often left her name out. The bones are still in museums today. So is the argument about who gets the credit.

Comprehension questions