Does the structure make the point clear and convincing?

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Why Leaves Change Color in Autumn (science article)

   [1] Each autumn, the hardwood forests of the northern United States shift from green to gold, orange and scarlet, and travelers plan entire weekends around the change. [2] The transformation is not a sudden painting of the leaves, because it follows a gradual chemical schedule that is determined mostly by the shortening of the days. [3] This article explains where the colors originate and why the display differs from one year, and from one tree, to the next.

   Chlorophyll Fades
   [4] Through the summer a leaf appears green because it is packed with chlorophyll, the pigment that absorbs sunlight and supplies the energy for manufacturing sugar. [5] Leaves also contain carotenoids, pigments that look yellow or orange, but the chlorophyll is so abundant that it completely conceals them. [6] As the nights lengthen in early autumn, the tree stops replacing its chlorophyll, and the green gradually fades from the leaf. [7] The yellow and orange pigments were present in the leaf all along, and they become visible only as the green drains away.

   The Red Is New
   [8] Red works differently, because the pigments responsible for it, called anthocyanins, are manufactured in the leaf during autumn rather than uncovered by the loss of green. [9] As the days shorten, the tree begins to seal the leaf stalk, so sugar produced on bright afternoons becomes trapped inside the leaf. [10] Part of that trapped sugar is converted into anthocyanins, which is why a maple standing on a sunny slope can glow a brilliant scarlet. [11] Many aspens and birches produce very few anthocyanins, so their leaves turn yellow regardless of the weather.

   Why Each Year Looks Different
   [12] Weather changes the display considerably from one year to the next. [13] A run of sunny days followed by cool nights that stay above freezing tends to produce the strongest reds. [14] A hard freeze that arrives early can damage the leaves before the pigments finish forming, leaving only a dull brown, and a severe drought can also dull the display for the whole season.

   Glossary
   [15] Hardwood: a broad-leaved tree, such as a maple or an oak, that drops its leaves in autumn. Anthocyanin: a red pigment that a leaf makes in autumn.

2. 1.

   Ari judges “The Red Is New” (sentences 8–11) for a reader new to the topic. Which judgment is best supported?

   • It works: sentence 8 sets red against the hidden pigments, and sentences 9 and 10 give the steps in time order.
   • It names the red pigment, anthocyanins, and says that part of the trapped sugar is converted into it.
   • It works, and sentence 10 shows that a leaf needs direct sun before it can turn red, whatever the weather.
   • It would work better if photosynthesis were defined first, because the red pigment depends on that process in the leaf.
3. 2.

   Bo judges “Why Each Year Looks Different” (sentences 12–14) as an explanation. Which judgment is best supported?

   • It works: each sentence names a kind of weather and says what that weather does to the color of the leaves that year.
   • It would work better if it listed the states where the strongest color appears each year, for travelers.
   • It lists three weather effects: sunny days with cool nights, an early hard freeze, and a severe drought.
   • It would work better if it linked the weather to the trapped sugar in sentence 9, so each effect had a reason.
4. 3.

   Esme reads the glossary after the article (sentence 15). Does it add something the sections lack?

   • Yes: it helps fully, since any glossary lets a reader look up the terms of an article quickly.
   • It defines two terms from the article, a kind of tree and a red pigment, in one short line each.
   • No: both entries repeat the sections, so a reader gains nothing from having a glossary at the end of the article.
   • Partly: “Hardwood” explains a word sentence 1 uses without a meaning, but the anthocyanin entry repeats sentence 8.

5. How a Canal Lock Lifts a Boat (explanatory article)

   [1] A canal cannot climb a hill, so where the land rises, engineers construct a lock, a watertight chamber with gates at both ends that raises or lowers boats by changing the level of the water around them. [2] The idea is centuries old, yet its parts are simple enough to follow in a few steps. [3] This article follows a single boat traveling uphill and then examines the most impressive locks in the Americas.

   Water Does the Lifting
   [4] A lock requires no engine to raise a boat, because the boat floats on the water and the water is moved by gravity alone. [5] Water then flows into the chamber from the higher level through valves set in the walls or the floor. [6] Before this can happen, the crew closes the lower gates behind the vessel and shuts the valves that lead downstream. [7] As the chamber fills, the vessel ascends with the surface, often by several meters in minutes. [8] When the water inside has reached the level of the water ahead, the upper gates can be opened and the boat sails out.

   Why the Gates Wait
   [9] A gate cannot be opened while the two levels differ, because the weight of the higher water presses against it with more force than any crew could resist. [10] Many lock gates are built in pairs that meet in a shallow V pointing toward the higher water. [11] The pressure of that water pushes the two leaves together, which seals the joint more tightly as the difference in level increases. [12] Only when the levels match does the pressure disappear and allow the gates to swing freely.

   A Closer Look at Panama
   [13] The Gatun Locks on the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914, lift ships about twenty-six meters up to Gatun Lake. [14] The lift is accomplished in three steps, one chamber after another, because one chamber that tall would require walls and gates of enormous size. [15] Each step uses water that flows down from the lake by gravity, so no pumps are needed.

   Caption
   [16] A ship rises in a lock chamber; the dark band on the wall shows how far the water has climbed since the lower gates closed.

6. 4.

   Kira follows the boat through “Water Does the Lifting” (sentences 4–8). Which judgment is best supported?

   • It would work better if the Panama locks came first, so readers could picture a real case.
   • It works: the steps follow the boat in one clear line, from entering the chamber to rising and then sailing out.
   • It would work better if the closing of the lower gates in sentence 6 came before the water enters in sentence 5.
   • It would work better if sentence 10, on V-shaped gates, moved here, since gates are part of lifting.
7. 5.

   Luz judges “A Closer Look at Panama” (sentences 13–15). Which judgment is best supported?

   • It would work better if it described the cargo that ships carry and the route the canal follows across the country.
   • It works, and sentence 15 shows that no lock anywhere needs pumps, whatever its size or its location.
   • It says the Gatun Locks opened in 1914 and lift ships about twenty-six meters in three steps, from the sea to the lake.
   • It works: sentence 13 gives a real lift, and sentences 14 and 15 say why there are three steps and what powers them.
8. 6.

   Milo reads the caption (sentence 16). Does it add something the sections do not?

   • It says what the photo shows: a ship in a chamber and a dark band on the wall beside the water.
   • Yes: it shows how a gate is pressed shut by the water, which is what sentence 11 explains in words.
   • No: it repeats sentence 7, so a reader gains nothing from the picture beyond what the text already says.
   • Yes: the dark band shows the water climbing since the gates closed, which sentence 7 can only state in words.

9. Why Bread Rises (explanatory article)

   [1] A loaf of bread begins as a dense lump of flour, water and a little yeast, yet a few hours later it has doubled in volume and is filled with thousands of microscopic air pockets. [2] Nothing is added to the dough during that time, so the transformation must originate from inside it. [3] This article explains what makes the dough swell, what keeps the swelling from escaping and what the oven finally accomplishes.

   What the Yeast Does
   [4] Yeast is a living fungus that feeds on the sugars in flour, and as it feeds it releases carbon dioxide gas that forms millions of small bubbles. [5] A warm kitchen accelerates the process, and a cold refrigerator slows it almost to a stop, which is why bakers regulate the temperature of a rise deliberately. [6] Bubbles alone would simply drift to the surface and escape if the dough were unable to hold them.

   How the Dough Holds the Gas
   [7] Wheat flour contains two proteins that join when water is added, and kneading stretches them into an elastic network called gluten. [8] Gluten behaves like a net of thin rubber sheets, so each bubble is wrapped in a film that stretches as the gas pushes outward. [9] Bread flour holds more of these proteins than cake flour does, which is why bread has a chewy crumb and cake has a tender one. [10] Without that network the gas would leak away, and the loaf would bake into a dense, unappetizing slab.

   In the Oven
   [11] When the dough enters a hot oven, the gas in each bubble expands rapidly and the loaf swells again for several minutes. [12] As the interior warms past the temperature that yeast can survive, the yeast stops producing gas and the starch begins to set. [13] The set starch and the stiffened gluten together form the firm crumb that holds the loaf's shape. [14] Meanwhile the surface dries and browns into a crust whose flavor differs from the soft interior.

   Try It
   [15] To see the gas for yourself, stir a spoonful of sugar and a packet of yeast into a cup of warm water, and within ten minutes a foam of tiny bubbles will gather on the surface.

10. 7.

    Pia judges the opening (sentences 1–3). Which judgment is best supported?

    • It works, and sentence 3 shows that the oven is the most important of the three parts of the process.
    • It would work better if it began with the oven, since baking is the part that readers know well.
    • It says a loaf begins as flour, water and yeast and doubles in volume within a few hours of rising.
    • It works: sentences 1 and 2 pose the puzzle of a dough that swells, and sentence 3 names the three parts.
11. 8.

    Ren judges “What the Yeast Does” (sentences 4–6). Which judgment is best supported?

    • It would work better if sentence 5, on kitchen temperature, were cut, since it does not explain swelling.
    • It says yeast feeds on sugar, releases a gas and works faster in a warm kitchen than in a cold one.
    • It works: sentence 6 ends by saying bubbles would escape, which hands the reader on to the next section.
    • It works, and sentence 5 shows that bakers keep dough cold to improve its flavor and its texture.
12. 9.

    Tala reads the “Try It” sidebar (sentence 15). Does it add something the sections do not?

    • It tells readers to stir sugar and yeast into warm water and then watch a foam form on the surface.
    • Yes: it lets a reader see the bubbles of sentence 4 forming, which the sections can only describe.
    • Yes: it shows how gluten holds the gas in the dough, which is the point sentence 8 explains.
    • No: a kitchen experiment does not belong in an article that is meant to explain how bread rises.
13. 10.

    Zee reads sentences 7–10 and wants one new heading for all four. Which heading fits every sentence best?

    • How Gluten Traps the Gas
    • Why Bread Is Chewy and Cake Is Tender
    • How Gluten Makes Dough Rise
    • What the Oven Does to the Loaf