CELPIP Reading Practice Test PDF With Answers

A. Turn an offer of photographs into an agreed exhibition contribution

Let me know whether you'd prefer a scanning appointment or to send files from home.

Elena’s email

The selection is largely settled, but printable copies, captions and permission still need arranging. Elena is moving Priya's offer towards a usable contribution. The possible website and opening are secondary matters.

Check the alternatives

B. Obtain broader permission for a contribution already ready to display
Website permission may be requested later; the present contribution still needs scans and captions.

C. Resolve doubts about whether the photographs fit the exhibition theme
Elena has already selected the grocery and parade pictures. Explaining the theme does not reopen that decision.

D. Recruit a contributor to help prepare the exhibition's opening event
Elena invites Priya to attend, explicitly without obligation, and assigns her no opening-event role.

C. Priya's pictures will show how residents experienced the neighbourhood

Your grocery photograph shows a side of the neighbourhood that our collection of formal building photographs is missing.

Elena’s email

Read the contrast alongside the focus on everyday life. Buildings are already documented; Priya's pictures add the human activity associated with those places. Adding a missing perspective does not mean replacing the existing collection.

Check the alternatives

A. Priya's pictures will help establish when the street's buildings changed
The request accepts approximate dates and does not ask the photographs to establish architectural changes.

B. Priya's pictures will replace formal photographs of the same locations
The email says the contribution adds a missing perspective, not that existing photographs will be removed.

D. Priya's pictures will broaden the exhibition beyond the local area
The mountain picture is excluded precisely because the exhibition remains focused on these streets.

D. The previews support selection but are insufficient for producing display copies

The small previews were enough for us to choose the pictures, but the printer will need full-size scans.

Elena’s email

The two image versions serve different purposes: small files let Elena choose suitable content, while printing requires full-size scans. The request concerns usable image files rather than permission, restoration or caption approval.

Check the alternatives

A. The previews lack the captions needed to decide which pictures to select
Selection has already taken place using the previews, before captions are written.

B. The scans would let the gallery assess damage before handling the originals
Minor damage is acceptable and should remain visible; the scans are requested for printing, not a damage assessment.

C. The scans would establish permission for the pictures to appear online
Online permission is a separate decision that may be requested after the exhibition.

D. Include the remembered year while signalling that it has not been established

An approximate year is enough, provided we label it as approximate.

Elena’s email

Elena allows a useful recollection without treating it as verified history. The condition concerns how uncertainty is represented, rather than agreement within the family or confirmation by a second person.

Check the alternatives

A. Use the family's preferred date once everyone agrees on the recollection
Agreement within the family does not remove the instruction to label an uncertain date as approximate.

B. Describe the occasion without mentioning when the photograph was taken
Elena offers a way to include an uncertain year, rather than asking for the date to be omitted.

C. Delay the caption until another contributor can confirm the remembered year
Confirmation is not a prerequisite; the email accepts an explicitly approximate year.

B. One picture singles out a person rather than showing people incidentally

In the grocery photograph, your former neighbour is clearly the main subject.

Elena’s email

The relevant distinction is the person's role in the image: a recognizable main subject versus members of a distant crowd. Elena's next sentence exempts Priya from tracing the parade crowd for this exhibition.

Check the alternatives

A. The grocery picture belongs to someone outside Priya's family
The neighbour is the subject, not an identified owner of the photograph. Ownership is not the distinction Elena gives.

C. The parade picture has already been cleared for the website collection
Neither photograph has website permission; that would be requested separately later.

D. One picture needs a personal recollection to establish where it was taken
Both photographs need captions. Location information does not explain whose permission is required.

A. Encouraging about participation while careful about how the material is used

Saying no to that would not affect their place in the gallery.

Elena’s email

Elena offers manageable ways to contribute, accepts qualified memories and makes attendance optional, while distinguishing display permission, online use and caption approval. Warmth does not mean ignoring those boundaries.

Check the alternatives

B. Appreciative of the offer while doubtful that personal memories are useful
The captions specifically invite Priya's memories; uncertainty can be acknowledged rather than excluding them.

C. Reassuring about the originals while pressing for wider publication rights
Website use remains a separate future choice, and refusal would not affect the gallery contribution.

D. Flexible about the captions while reluctant to accommodate missed events
Elena explicitly welcomes contributions from people who cannot attend the opening.

C. take the prints home at the end of the appointment

we'll make digital copies while you wait and hand the prints straight back.

Elena’s email

The appointment creates digital files without a loan of the originals. Priya can leave with her prints even though producing exhibition copies happens later.

Check the alternatives

A. leave the prints until the new display copies are ready
Keeping the originals until display printing is finished is unnecessary; Elena returns them after scanning.

B. have the prints collected once my brother has scanned them
Home scanning is an alternative to the appointment and requires emailed files, not collection of originals.

D. bring the prints back when I attend the exhibition
The exhibition uses new prints. Priya does not need to return her originals for display.

B. give visitors a sense of the photographs' physical history

Small scratches and worn edges are fine; please leave them in, as they help convey the age of the photographs.

Elena’s email

Elena treats wear as information about the old physical photographs. Keeping it does not identify donors, date changes to the street or rank the scanning methods.

Check the alternatives

A. help visitors compare the quality of the different scans
The marks belong to the originals; they are not a way to judge scanning quality.

C. show visitors which parts of the street have since changed
Changes to the street would come from the pictured scene, not scratches or worn edges.

D. help visitors identify the people who supplied the pictures
Names or initials supply donor credit; the marks do not identify the contributor.

A. send you the parade notes and scan in the meantime

If reaching your neighbour takes time, send the parade material first; we can prepare that contribution separately.

Elena’s email

The parade contribution can proceed independently. Neither removing the neighbour's name nor promising later permission substitutes for permission to display the grocery photograph.

Check the alternatives

B. send you the grocery scan with her name left out
Leaving out a name does not change the neighbour's role as the main subject or remove the permission request.

C. hold back both scans until I can contact her
This overlooks Elena's offer to prepare the parade contribution separately.

D. send you both scans with permission to follow later
The email distinguishes the two contributions; it does not say the grocery contribution can proceed pending permission.

C. a later website request would still be a separate decision

Permission to display the pictures in the gallery won't cover our website.

Elena’s email

Agreeing to gallery display and a name credit does not authorize online publication. Caption review also concerns wording, so it cannot replace the later website decision.

Check the alternatives

A. you will need a new decision before displaying the scans
Priya has agreed to gallery display; the further decision concerns online use, not the same gallery display again.

B. the website may use the pictures without the gallery credit
Removing credit would not grant website permission. Use and attribution are separate choices.

D. my caption approval will also settle the website request
Reviewing captions does not expand permission from the gallery to the website.

B. give me a chance to review the captions by email

Once you've sent your notes, I'll put the captions together and email you a draft before anything goes to the printer.

Elena’s email

Elena will turn the notes into draft captions and send them for review before printing. Priya's absence from the opening does not prevent that remote review or require postponing preparation.

Check the alternatives

A. use my notes as the final captions while I am away
The notes are input for Elena's draft, not automatically final print-ready captions.

C. leave the caption review until my visit after the opening
Review is intended before printing, not after the exhibition has opened.

D. prepare the captions when I can attend the gallery
Attendance is optional and drafting is triggered by receipt of the notes, not by a gallery visit.

C. Paper Workshop

Make a free-standing folded-paper figure and take it home.

Guide: Paper Workshop

His children said they wanted to take home a small figure they had built, rather than another drawing or photographs of a display,

Email

Combine the children’s preference for building a take-home figure, rather than drawing, with the guide. The Paper Workshop makes a free-standing folded-paper figure that visitors keep. The View Studio offers drawing instead, and the Model Gallery’s existing figures are for viewing only.

Check the alternatives

A. Model Gallery
The gallery offers viewing only and its models remain in cases.

B. Listening Room
The Listening Room offers recorded interviews, not objects visitors make.

D. View Studio
The View Studio is participatory, but it offers drawing rather than building the take-home figure the children want.

A. Paper Workshop

The lift connects both floors on the west side, beside the Paper Workshop.

Guide: lift

Use the ground-floor layout to locate the lift Nina proposes. It is beside the Paper Workshop on the west side. The stairs are across on the east side; identifying a room merely because it is upstairs does not locate the lift entrance described.

Check the alternatives

B. Listening Room
The Listening Room is beside the stairs, not the lift.

C. Model Gallery
The Model Gallery is on the upper west side, but the email is describing where the group will enter the lift from the ground floor.

D. View Studio
The View Studio is on the upper east side, whereas the lift runs on the west.

D. the model’s changing light conditions

A miniature neighbourhood changes from daylight to night through a lighting display.

Guide: Model Gallery

The guide describes a lighting display that changes the miniature neighbourhood from daytime to night. Read “watch” as viewing that display, not making or handling models. The interviews and rooftop drawing belong to other rooms.

Check the alternatives

A. visitors making miniature houses
The gallery is viewing only, and the models remain in cases.

B. residents describing the old streets
Residents’ interviews are heard in the Listening Room, not watched in the gallery.

C. artists sketching the nearby buildings
Drawing the surrounding buildings belongs to the View Studio, not the Model Gallery.

B. View Studio

Outdoor area; closed in wet weather.

Guide: View Studio

Apply the weather condition in the guide to the forecast mentioned in the email. The View Studio alone is marked as an outdoor area closed in wet weather. Rooms being open during the afternoon does not override that specific condition.

Check the alternatives

A. Listening Room
The guide gives no rain closure for the Listening Room.

C. Paper Workshop
The Paper Workshop is not identified as an outdoor area or given a rain closure.

D. Model Gallery
The lighting display changes the model’s appearance; it is not described as depending on real outdoor weather.

C. memories from people who lived nearby

Hear recorded interviews with former neighbourhood residents through headphones.

Guide: Listening Room

Paraphrase the recorded interviews with former neighbourhood residents as memories from people who lived nearby. The room name tells you that sound is involved, but only the guide identifies its content. No live performance or instructional recording is offered.

Check the alternatives

A. a performance by local musicians
The room explicitly has no live shows; local music is not its stated content.

B. advice from paper-workshop volunteers
The guide’s recorded content is residents’ interviews, not workshop advice.

D. instructions for using the gallery models
The recordings concern residents, while gallery models are viewing-only displays.

A. Adapting an outing to the interests of several visitors

Thanks for arranging an afternoon with Sam and his family while they are staying with you.

Email

I don't think everyone has to follow the same route; we can meet back at the entrance when we're ready.

Email

Read the suggestions across the whole email: children can make something, Sam can see models and Daniel’s mother can rest or use the lift. Nina is helping shape an already arranged afternoon around different needs. She does not replace it, request a reservation or describe a completed visit.

Check the alternatives

B. Persuading Daniel to replace an outing he has arranged
She thanks Daniel for arranging the afternoon and suggests how it could work; she does not propose replacing it.

C. Asking Daniel to reserve a group activity at Cedar House
Neither the email nor the guide asks Daniel to reserve activities.

D. Reporting how Sam’s family reacted to a previous visit
The visit is planned for Sunday, and Nina asks what Sam thinks rather than reporting a past reaction.

D. She is comfortable with the group separating for a while

I don't think everyone has to follow the same route; we can meet back at the entrance when we're ready.

Email

Infer Nina’s attitude from the route and meeting-point proposal. People can follow different interests and rejoin later. This flexibility does not imply an early finish, avoidance of upstairs rooms or a single route decided beforehand.

Check the alternatives

A. She expects the visit to end earlier than Daniel planned
No planned finishing time or earlier ending is mentioned.

B. She prefers the group to avoid the upstairs activities
Nina suggests upstairs activities and lift access for those who want them.

C. She wants Daniel to decide everyone’s route in advance
She explicitly says everyone need not follow the same route.

B. Daniel is hosting Sam’s family during their stay

Sam and his family while they are staying with you.

Email

The phrase “staying with you” refers to Daniel as the recipient, so he is hosting Sam’s family. Nina’s research and suggestions do not make her a Cedar House guide or establish an earlier request from Daniel’s mother.

Check the alternatives

A. Nina is responsible for guiding visitors at Cedar House
Nina has looked at the guide; no job or guiding responsibility at Cedar House is stated.

C. Sam’s children regularly attend Nina’s workshops
The children’s interests are mentioned, but no previous workshops with Nina are described.

D. Daniel’s mother has asked Nina to organise the visit
Nina considers Daniel’s mother’s comfort, but the mother is not said to have asked her to arrange the outing.

C. Paragraph C

The editor removed repeated microphone checks and long interruptions, but left hesitations that revealed uncertainty about an event.

Paragraph C

Match both the editing decision and its reason. The editor keeps meaningful hesitation in the shortened version; removing technical interruptions is a different operation. Other paragraphs discuss uncertainty, but do not describe this specific choice in an edited account.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A distinguishes memories from documents, but does not describe which sounds an editor preserves in a shortened recording.

B. Paragraph B
B concerns how interviewers respond to pauses during an interview, not what the editor keeps in an episode.

D. Paragraph D
D adds written context after publication; it does not describe preserving vocal uncertainty in a shortened account.

E. Not stated in the text
The complete claim is explicitly supported by the editing choices in C.

A. Paragraph A

they expected a collection of dates and familiar names.

Paragraph A

The differences showed how the same place could mean different things to people.

Paragraph A

Project coordinator Lena Cho decided not to force these accounts into one agreed story.

Paragraph A

A contrasts the organisers’ original expectation of dates and names with what the first conflicting interviews revealed: different experiences of the same place. That changes the intended record from one tidy factual account to a history that explains remembered differences. C preserves differences during later editing, but does not describe the organisers changing their initial understanding of the project.

Check the alternatives

B. Paragraph B
B explains interviewing technique and distinguishes fluency from accuracy, not the initial response to conflicting accounts.

C. Paragraph C
C places contrasting recollections together during editing; it does not give the reason for treating the initial disagreements as meaningful evidence about residents’ experiences.

D. Paragraph D
D concerns added context after publication, not the choice to retain residents’ disagreement.

E. Not stated in the text
A directly explains both retaining differences and rejecting one agreed story.

E. Not stated in the text

The team added a note beside the episode rather than quietly replacing the interview with a corrected version.

Paragraph D (near miss) — related wording, not evidence for the missing claim

No paragraph establishes a requirement for listeners’ permission. D explains adding a visible note after a photograph clarifies a location. C gives speakers an opportunity to check edited meaning, but that is a different group and occurs before publication.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A describes the project’s treatment of memories and original recordings, not listener permission.

B. Paragraph B
B describes interview conduct and supplies no permission rule for published episodes.

C. Paragraph C
C has each speaker check an edited section; it does not require listeners to approve changes based on new evidence.

D. Paragraph D
D describes responding to new evidence, but not asking listeners to authorise a change.

B. Paragraph B

These details made an account understandable, but the team did not treat a fluent delivery as proof that every remembered event was accurate.

Paragraph B

B connects descriptive follow-up questions with fuller, understandable accounts, then explicitly limits what fluency proves. The statement requires both the communication benefit and the distinction from factual accuracy.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A distinguishes memory from documentary evidence, but does not discuss making an interview understandable through questions and delivery.

C. Paragraph C
C checks that editing preserves meaning, not whether clearer delivery demonstrates accuracy.

D. Paragraph D
D gives transcripts and contextual notes; it does not make the statement’s distinction about understandable interview delivery.

E. Not stated in the text
B expressly separates understandable accounts and fluent delivery from accurate remembered events.

D. Paragraph D

The team added a note beside the episode rather than quietly replacing the interview with a corrected version.

Paragraph D

D describes a photograph that clarifies a shop’s position and the decision to add a visible note. Publication gains context while retaining the original interview. This is not the earlier editing process or merely the storage of unedited recordings.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A concerns initial interviews and the project’s aim before episodes are published.

B. Paragraph B
B concerns obtaining understandable interviews, not adding later evidence to a published episode.

C. Paragraph C
C keeps an unedited recording separately; it does not add new information beside a published account.

E. Not stated in the text
D directly states the addition of a note and the decision against replacing the interview.

C. Paragraph C

The unedited recording was kept separately, allowing later researchers to hear the exchange and judge what the short episode had left out.

Paragraph C

C links retention of the unedited recording to recovering the exchange and evaluating omissions from the episode. A also says original recordings are kept, but does not explain this use of a longer version to examine editorial omissions.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A mentions keeping originals without the statement’s purpose of checking what a brief episode omitted.

B. Paragraph B
B explains gathering details during interviews, not comparing a short episode with its unedited source.

D. Paragraph D
D supplies transcripts and new contextual notes, not omitted portions of the longer recording.

E. Not stated in the text
C gives both the preserved longer source and the reason for returning to it.

B. Paragraph B

A pause did not automatically mean that an interviewee had forgotten something; someone might be deciding how to describe a difficult experience.

Paragraph B

Interviewers therefore waited rather than supplying an answer.

Paragraph B

B explains that a pause can reflect a person deciding how to describe an experience. Waiting leaves the account with the speaker rather than inserting the interviewer’s answer. The claim is about the live interaction, not later treatment of recorded pauses.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A rejects forcing memories into one story, but does not describe an interviewer’s response to a pause.

C. Paragraph C
C keeps some hesitations during editing; it does not describe an interviewer waiting during the original exchange.

D. Paragraph D
D explains publication and later annotations, not responding to a speaker’s silence.

E. Not stated in the text
B describes the pause, its possible meaning and the decision not to supply an answer.

E. Not stated in the text

The finished episodes were published with transcripts and short notes identifying the speakers and explaining references to places that had changed.

Paragraph D (near miss) — related wording, not evidence for the missing claim

The article says episodes are published, but gives no release frequency or fixed timetable. Publication format in D is not evidence of a regular interval. Nothing in the interviewing or editing paragraphs supplies the missing schedule.

Check the alternatives

A. Paragraph A
A describes the project’s beginning, not a release schedule.

B. Paragraph B
B gives interviewing practices with no publication interval.

C. Paragraph C
C describes preparing an episode but states no release frequency.

D. Paragraph D
D describes what accompanies published episodes, not when future episodes appear.

A. Paragraph A

She kept the original recordings and recorded which details came from personal recollection rather than surviving documents.

Paragraph A

The phrase “from the outset” points to A’s initial decision after the first interviews. Lena records the source of details and plans to explain memory’s limits. D also distinguishes memories from checked information, but does so in the finished publication rather than at the beginning.

Check the alternatives

B. Paragraph B
B warns that fluent delivery does not prove accuracy but does not identify documentary versus remembered details at the project’s start.

C. Paragraph C
C concerns editing and preserving the unedited source after interviews have been collected.

D. Paragraph D
D labels memory and checked facts in published notes; it does not describe the initial source-recording decision.

E. Not stated in the text
A explicitly distinguishes recollection and surviving documents in the first stage.

C. Whether identification at work should include a public first name

Their difference is not over whether customers deserve help or whether helpful staff deserve credit; it is over how much public identification those goals require.

Article

The closing paragraph separates common goals from the disputed means. Leah and Amir both value help and recognition; they disagree about public identification by name. Role labels are a related proposal, not the main disagreement, and contacting managers is not opposed.

Check the alternatives

A. Whether staff should receive credit for helping customers
The article says helpful staff deserving credit is not the disagreement.

B. Whether customers need to distinguish different staff roles
Role labels matter to Tessa and are accepted by Leah; the unresolved dispute concerns showing a name publicly.

D. Whether customers should be able to contact a manager
Amir says managers should know who handled a case, but no one opposes customers contacting a manager.

B. To show how work identification can lead to public blame

The post criticised him personally, even though he had been applying a decision made by management.

Article

That does not mean every passer-by needs the same information.

Article

The incident shows that a name visible at work can attach a management decision to an individual in a public post. Amir uses it to question how far identification should extend. He still supports internal identification, so his point is not to prevent a concern being reported.

Check the alternatives

A. To distinguish complaints about policy from praise for staff
The difference between policy and personal blame matters, but the incident does not compare complaints with praise; it illustrates identification travelling outside the encounter.

C. To explain why staff numbers make it harder to report concerns
Amir proposes retaining a number precisely so a customer can still identify the adviser when seeking help.

D. To argue that managers should respond publicly to complaints
He describes a public post but does not call for managers to make a public reply.

D. An employee knows where to direct a customer's unresolved request

Tessa would put an employee's function in the largest print and require the whole team to know where to direct different requests.

Article

Apply Tessa’s view to the service outcome: customers need to reach someone who can handle their request. A visible function and shared knowledge of where to direct requests serve that goal. Recognition and thanks matter to Leah, but are not Tessa’s main criterion.

Check the alternatives

A. A customer can identify an adviser in a private report to management
This matches Amir’s distinction between internal case identification and public naming. It does not establish that staff can direct a customer to appropriate help, Tessa’s central concern.

B. A returning customer can recognise the adviser who handled their case
Returning to a familiar adviser is Leah’s continuity argument. Tessa’s concern is whether the team can get the request to someone able to handle it, regardless of familiarity.

C. A customer can name the adviser who resolved a difficult complaint
This satisfies Leah’s aim of giving personal thanks. Resolving a case is good service, but the option does not identify Tessa’s specific concern about knowing where different requests belong.

A. Customers should be able to identify the adviser who handled a case

Leah also thinks a first name helps a customer return to the same employee when a question takes more than one visit.

Article

A customer could still identify the adviser when seeking help, without attaching the encounter to a name searchable outside the store.

Article

Compare the two proposals rather than their preferred badge designs. Leah uses a first name for continuity; Amir retains a number so an adviser can still be identified. Both allow the customer to distinguish an employee, although they disagree about the information made public.

Check the alternatives

B. Customers need first names to continue a conversation on another visit
Leah uses first names for continuing a conversation. Amir proposes a number as another way to identify an adviser, so he does not agree that customers need the name.

C. Managers should limit case records to names customers already know
Amir says a manager should know who handled a case, while distinguishing that private need from what every passer-by must know. He does not restrict internal records to public names.

D. Helpful staff should be identified by their function rather than a name
Both can accept role labels, but Leah still argues for showing a first name. Agreement that a function has value is not agreement that it should replace a name.

C. The policy question matters more than the physical badge design

A redesigned badge may be easy to print. Agreeing on the boundary it represents will take more care.

Article

Infer the author’s emphasis from the contrast between easy printing and difficult agreement about a boundary. The central issue is what identification should reveal, not production difficulty. The sentence leaves that disagreement open rather than presenting a settled solution.

Check the alternatives

A. The managers have chosen a design before consulting staff
A proposal is being discussed; the final contrast does not say a design has already been chosen.

B. The store’s printing difficulties are delaying a simple change
The author suggests printing may be easy, not the source of delay.

D. The role labels would remove the need for any further discussion
Role labels are one contribution to the debate; the closing paragraph still identifies an unresolved boundary.

B. helping customers recognise an adviser on a later visit

Leah also thinks a first name helps a customer return to the same employee when a question takes more than one visit.

Article

He feels more confident if he can pick up a conversation where it left off.

Reader comment

Connect the reader’s father wanting to resume a conversation with Leah’s continuity argument. Recognition on a later visit serves that purpose. The other suggestions occur in the debate, but concern choice, role clarity or internal records rather than continuing a familiar exchange.

Check the alternatives

A. letting staff choose how to introduce themselves
Optional first names are part of Tessa’s proposal, but staff choice does not explain the father’s confidence in resuming a conversation.

C. making a staff role the clearest part of a badge
A clear role helps find appropriate assistance, but does not by itself identify a familiar adviser from the previous visit.

D. giving managers a private record of who handled a case
The reader is describing the father’s experience as a customer, not a manager checking an internal record.

A. put functions first and let employees decide about names

Tessa would put an employee's function in the largest print and require the whole team to know where to direct different requests.

Article

It could spare my father the frustration of telling the whole story to someone who cannot deal with it.

Reader comment

Staff who wanted to show a first name could do so, but she would not make that the main measure of good service.

Article: Tessa

Identify the third contributor as Tessa, then match both parts of her proposal: function in the largest print and a first name only if the employee wants it. The reader’s concern about reaching appropriate help explains the agreement, but does not tell you whether names would be required, optional or replaced by numbers. The article resolves that distinction.

Check the alternatives

B. put names first and add functions as supporting information
Putting names in large print comes from management’s proposal, and Leah accepts role labels. Tessa reverses that priority by making function most prominent.

C. combine clear functions with a required first name
A clear role label fits Tessa’s concern, but a required first name contradicts her optional-name proposal.

D. combine clear functions with the existing numbered identification
Retaining numbered identification and adding a role label is Amir’s proposal. Tessa allows employees who want to display a first name to do so.

D. didn't know who could handle requests outside their role

She recalls customers approaching a clearly named staff member who was unable to deal with their question and did not know whom to ask.

Article

require the whole team to know where to direct different requests.

Article

Track “that problem” back to the father explaining a request to someone who cannot deal with it. Tessa’s example shows why a clearer badge is insufficient: staff also need to know whom to ask or where to direct the request. The other options describe genuine continuity or identification concerns from the article, but not this gap in directing the customer to appropriate help.

Check the alternatives

A. could not continue a case with the adviser who began it
Continuing with the original adviser is the earlier continuity benefit. “That problem” here refers to telling the story to someone unable to handle it, not losing contact with a familiar person.

B. could be identified online after an ordinary store visit
Online identification is Amir’s privacy concern. It does not explain the reader’s immediate problem of staff being unable to direct a request to suitable help.

C. feared being blamed personally for a management decision
Personal blame for management decisions is the online-incident risk. It is not the team-knowledge gap described by Tessa or the father’s problem in this paragraph.

C. an exchange without a public name may feel too impersonal

Leah accepts the value of role labels, although she worries that an employee number alone will keep a human exchange feeling like a transaction.

Article

On several occasions an adviser whose name we never learned has listened carefully and helped us. That does not make the experience cold.

Reader comment

The reader disagrees with Leah’s worry about a number-only exchange feeling impersonal. The example of attentive help without learning a name challenges that worry. It does not reject Amir’s warning about public criticism or question staff availability.

Check the alternatives

A. a role label may not show which request an employee can handle
Neither the article nor the comment raises a concern that a clear role label cannot indicate responsibility.

B. showing a name could attach criticism to a person outside work
The comment accepts the lesson of the online incident in its next sentences; it does not dismiss that risk.

D. a familiar adviser may be unavailable on a customer’s next visit
Returning visits are discussed, but no speaker argues that a familiar adviser’s possible absence is the concern being challenged.

A. turn a management decision into personal criticism of an employee

The post criticised him personally, even though he had been applying a decision made by management.

Article

the online incident reminds me that a complaint about a store's decision can

Reader comment

Use the online incident to explain the reader’s caution. A management decision became personal criticism attached to Amir’s name and location. The reader preserves a way to raise concerns while questioning how far an identifiable disagreement travels beyond the counter.

Check the alternatives

B. be handled as a question about which adviser was responsible
Amir permits internal identification of who handled a case. The reported incident goes beyond that process: it names and criticises him publicly for a management decision.

C. be resolved by letting a customer contact the same adviser
Continuity with one adviser is Leah’s reason for names, but the article does not say it resolved the return disagreement or the online post.

D. become criticism of how the whole counter team shares its work
Tessa discusses shared responsibility for directing requests. The reported post targeted Amir personally, not how the whole team divided its work.