Write a precise, fair argument
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
A Climbing Boulder for Fenner Park (argument draft about an invented town)
[1] Fenner Park has a playground for young children and a basketball court for older ones, but nothing in the park invites teenagers or adults to try a physical challenge that is neither a team sport nor a race. [2] The parks board should install a sculpted concrete climbing boulder, eight feet high, on the level ground beside the basketball court, surrounded by a deep bed of wood chips. [3] A boulder would give older children and adults a new way to be active, and it would draw visitors to a corner of the park that is now used very little.
[4] First, climbing builds strength, balance and problem-solving at once, and a boulder low enough to climb without ropes lets beginners learn safely. [5] When the recreation department offered a six-week indoor climbing class at the community center last winter, all forty places filled in the first morning, and the waiting list reached sixty-three names. [6] The popular class ended in March. [7] Residents still want to continue climbing. [8] The community center has no permanent climbing wall.
[9] Second, a boulder would bring steady use to the park's empty northeast corner, which now holds only a pair of benches and a broken drinking fountain. [10] Parks that add a feature people visit for its own sake generally see the surrounding spaces become more popular as well. [11] A boulder there would bring regular visitors back to a part of Fenner Park that most residents currently pass by on their way elsewhere.
[12] Several board members worry that a climber could slip and that the town would be held legally responsible for any resulting harm. [13] That worry is reasonable, since any climbing structure carries some risk, and the board must take public safety seriously. [14] The town's insurer has reviewed similar boulders in two nearby towns and agreed to cover one at Fenner Park if the wood-chip bed is kept at least twelve inches deep. [15] Climbing a boulder is really fun, and there is something for everyone.
Ari finds sentences [6], [7] and [8] choppy. Which single sentence combines them and shows how the three ideas relate?
- The popular class ended in March, and residents still want to continue climbing, and the community center has no permanent climbing wall for them to use in town.
- The popular class ended in March, yet residents still want to continue climbing, and the community center has no permanent climbing wall where they could.
- Because the community center has no permanent climbing wall, residents still want to continue climbing after the class ended in March.
- Residents, who still want to continue climbing, saw the popular class end in March at a community center with no permanent climbing wall.
Bo wants a last sentence that follows from the argument as written. Which sentence should replace [15]?
- A boulder would meet a demand the class already showed and bring use to an empty corner, with its risk limited by the insurer's twelve-inch rule.
- A boulder would give residents a place to climb and bring life to an empty corner, with no risk to climbers or to the town.
- A boulder would also save the town money, since climbers would no longer need to drive to the gym in the next county.
- A boulder at Fenner Park would show that climbing boulders belong in town parks across the state, in large cities and small villages alike, as soon as possible.
Esme is writing one note for the next draft. Which change would most strengthen the argument as a whole?
- Replace "sculpted concrete" in sentence 2 with a plainer phrase that the board members and residents would understand at once.
- Add a counterclaim: the draft does not consider what board members who oppose the boulder might say about it.
- Add evidence for the second reason: nothing in paragraph 3 shows that a boulder would bring people to that empty corner.
- Add more figures to paragraph 2, such as how many people took a climbing class in the town two years ago.
A Community Canning Kitchen in the Old Rowe School (argument draft about an invented town)
[1] Each August the gardeners of Brightwater harvest more tomatoes, beans and peaches than they can eat, and much of that produce is given away in a hurry or left to spoil because few residents own the equipment needed to preserve it. [2] The town council should turn the unused cafeteria kitchen of the old Rowe School into a community canning kitchen, open three evenings a week from July through October. [3] A shared kitchen would keep good food from going to waste, and it would teach residents a careful skill that is easier to learn beside an experienced cook than from a book.
[4] First, a canning kitchen would let gardeners preserve what they now give away or discard. [5] The Brightwater garden club asked its members last fall how much of their harvest went unused, and the 112 households that answered estimated an average of nineteen pounds each. [6] The cafeteria kitchen already has large stoves, deep sinks and steel counters, so it could handle many households' produce in a single evening.
[7] Second, safe canning depends on exact times and temperatures, and residents learn those best by working beside someone who has done it many times. [8] The county extension office has offered to send a trained food-safety instructor to lead the first evening of each month at no charge to the town. [9] Residents could sign up online. [10] They could bring their own jars. [11] The kitchen would provide the canners.
[12] Some council members point out that a kitchen open to the public would need a paid manager on every evening it opens, and that the town's budget has no line for one. [13] That is true, since the extension instructor would come only once a month, and someone must open the building, check the equipment and lock up afterward. [14] Still, the benefits of the kitchen are clear, and the council should not let one detail stand in the way of a good idea. [15] This kitchen is a great idea that the council should think about.
Jun finds sentences [9], [10] and [11] choppy. Which single sentence combines them while keeping each fact and showing how they relate?
- The kitchen, where residents who had signed up online and brought their own jars would go, would provide the canners.
- Residents could sign up online, and they could bring their own jars, and the kitchen would provide the canners.
- Residents could sign up online and bring their own jars, while the kitchen would provide the canners.
- Residents could sign up online for an evening at the kitchen, while the kitchen itself would provide the canners.
Kira wants a final sentence that follows from and supports what this draft has argued. Which sentence should replace [15]?
- A shared kitchen would save produce and teach a careful skill at no cost to the town, so the council should open it this July.
- A shared kitchen would save produce and teach a careful skill, and the council should open it as soon as it settles who will manage each evening.
- A shared kitchen would also bring new visitors to the old Rowe School, which could help the town find a buyer for the empty building in the next few years.
- The council should instead offer free canning classes at the library, where a manager is already on duty each evening.
Luz has room for one revision note. Which change would most strengthen this argument as a whole?
- Answer the manager problem in [12] and [13] with a plan, such as trained volunteers or a small fee, instead of waving it away in [14].
- Ask the council for a kitchen open one evening a month instead, when the extension office's trained food-safety instructor could run it at no charge to the town.
- Replace the word "canners" in sentence 11 with a phrase that explains what the large pots are used for.
- Add evidence that gardeners have produce they cannot use, since the draft gives no figures about wasted food.
A Boardwalk Through Sedge Marsh (argument draft about an invented nature preserve)
[1] The mile-long trail through Sedge Marsh Preserve crosses low ground that floods every spring, and from March through June the path becomes a strip of mud so deep that walkers either turn back or trample new paths through the vegetation beside it. [2] The preserve's board of trustees should replace the wettest half mile of the trail with an elevated wooden boardwalk, eighteen inches above the ground and wide enough for two visitors to pass comfortably. [3] A boardwalk would keep the trail accessible during the season when the marsh is most remarkable, and it would protect the delicate vegetation that walkers currently destroy.
[4] First, the trail is nearly abandoned in precisely the months when the marsh is most biologically active. [5] The electronic trail counter at the parking area recorded an average of 1,240 visitors a month from July through October last year, but only 310 a month from March through June. [6] Spring is when the marsh marigolds bloom and the red-winged blackbirds return, and the preserve's own visitor brochure describes it as the most rewarding season to explore.
[7] Second, the mud is steadily widening the trail and damaging the vegetation along its edges. [8] The preserve's volunteer naturalist photographed the same stretch of trail in 2019 and again last spring, and the bare path had grown from four feet wide to eleven. [9] Volunteers replant the damaged edges every autumn. [10] Visitors trample the new plantings again every spring. [11] The replanting effort is largely wasted.
[12] Several trustees argue that a boardwalk would be too expensive, since the contractor's estimate for the half mile is $210,000. [13] That is a considerable sum for a small preserve, and the trustees are right to consider it carefully. [14] However, a state wetlands grant would pay seventy percent of the cost, leaving the preserve to raise $63,000 over two years from its members and visitors. [15] The marsh deserves better than mud, so the trustees should act.
Noah wants a last sentence that follows from the whole argument, including its concession. Which sentence should replace [15]?
- A boardwalk would open the trail in its best season and protect the plants, and it would ask almost nothing of the preserve.
- A boardwalk would show that wetland trails across the state should be raised above the mud as soon as possible.
- The trustees should close the wettest half mile from March through June, which would protect the plants at no cost.
- A boardwalk would open the trail in its best season and protect the plants, and the grant leaves a cost the preserve can raise in two years.
Pia can suggest one revision. Which change would most strengthen this argument as a whole?
- Add more photographs to paragraph 3, such as pictures of the trail edge taken in the years between 2019 and last spring.
- Show that the mud, not cold weather, causes the spring drop in [5], for example with counts from a spring when the trail was dry.
- Replace "biologically active" in sentence 4 with a plainer phrase, such as "full of blooming plants and returning birds".
- Ask the trustees to raise the whole mile instead of half, since the dry half might flood in a wetter year.
A Delivery Van for the Corbin Library Branches (argument draft about an invented library system)
[1] The Corbin County Library has four branches, but a book requested at one branch can reach another only when a staff member delivers it in a personal vehicle, which ordinarily happens once a week. [2] The library board should lease a small delivery van and hire a part-time driver to transport requested books, films and returned materials among the four branches every weekday.
[3] A leased van with a part-time driver would cost about $31,000 a year, according to the library's business manager, which represents less than four percent of the library system's annual budget. [4] The business manager also notes that the board currently reimburses employees about $4,600 a year for the mileage they drive in their own vehicles, an expense that a van would eliminate.
[5] Readers at the smaller branches wait an unreasonably long time for the materials they request. [6] The library's records show that a book requested at the Pine Hollow branch last year took an average of nine days to arrive, compared with two days at the main branch, where most of the collection is shelved. [7] Readers who wait that long frequently stop requesting materials. [8] The Pine Hollow librarians have observed this. [9] Requests there declined by a quarter last year. [10] A daily van would bring a requested book to any branch within two days, the same wait that readers at the main branch already enjoy.
[11] Several board members argue that the library could save the expense by encouraging readers to travel to the main branch for the materials they want. [12] That alternative would certainly be cheaper, and many readers at the larger branches could manage it easily. [13] But Pine Hollow is twenty-two miles from the main branch, and the county bus does not run between them on weekends, so the readers who most need the van are the least able to make that drive. [14] Overall, a van would be nice to have.
Tala wants a final sentence that follows from and supports this argument. Which sentence should replace [14]?
- For less than four percent of its budget, the library could give Pine Hollow readers the same two-day wait as other readers, so the board should lease the van.
- The board should instead ask the county to run the weekend bus to Pine Hollow, so that readers can reach the main branch.
- A delivery van would show that libraries across the state should replace staff members' cars with vans as soon as they can.
- A van would also let the library carry books to the county's schools, which have asked the library for weekly deliveries.
Zee is writing one revision note about how the draft is put together. Which change would most strengthen the argument as a whole?
- Add an answer to the board members who want readers to travel to the main branch for the books they request.
- Add more cost figures to paragraph 2, such as the van's fuel and insurance, to show the full yearly expense.
- Ask the board to pay a driver to use a staff member's own car each weekday instead of leasing a van.
- Move the waiting problem in paragraph 3 ahead of the cost in paragraph 2, so that readers see the need before the price.