What is the main idea of this biography?

Garrett Morgan used practical skill to add a safer pause to an early traffic signal. (The biography connects Morgan's practical repair experience to his signal with an all-direction pause that improved street safety.)

What does Morgan's early work suggest about him?

He learned by working with machines and applying ideas to practical needs. (Morgan learned sewing-machine repair, opened a shop, and kept solving problems, which supports an image of hands-on learning and practical invention.)

What does “patent” mean in this passage?

An official right granted for an invention (Morgan received the patent for his design, so the word refers to official recognition and rights connected to an invention.)

In what year did Morgan receive his patent?

1923 (The last paragraph begins by stating that Morgan received a patent for the signal design in 1923.)

Garrett Morgan's Safer Signal: Level 1 Reading Comprehension Questions

Garrett Morgan was born in Kentucky in 1877. As a young man, he moved to Cleveland and learned to repair sewing machines. He later opened his own shop and kept solving practical problems.

By the 1920s, city streets held cars, bicycles, wagons, and walkers. One day, Morgan saw a crash at an intersection. He began thinking about a safer signal. Existing signals often moved directly between stop and go. Morgan designed a three-position device with a pause that stopped traffic in every direction. This short break let an intersection clear before traffic started again.

In 1923, Morgan received a patent for his design. His hand-operated signal was not the same as every modern traffic light. Still, its extra interval showed how a small change could make a shared street safer. Morgan saw an ordinary public object and found room to improve it.

Comprehension questions