Write a precise, fair argument

Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   A Nature Play Area on the Ostrander Library Lawn (argument draft about an invented town)

   [1] The Ostrander Public Library sits on nearly an acre of mown grass that is used for two story hours each summer and otherwise stands empty from April through October. [2] The library board should turn the eastern half of that lawn into a nature play area, with stepping logs, a sand table, a path of low boulders and a shaded bench for caregivers. [3] A play area would keep young families at the library longer, it would cost much less than a conventional playground, and it would draw families who do not use the library at all.

   [4] First, families who spend more time at the library tend to borrow more books, and a play area would give them reason to stay after a program. [5] The library's circulation records for last year show that families who attended a children's program borrowed an average of six picture books per visit, while families who only returned books borrowed fewer than two. [6] This is important for the library.

   [7] Second, a nature play area is far less expensive than a traditional playground, because logs, boulders and sand require no rubber surfacing or yearly inspections by an outside contractor. [8] The landscape guy from the parks department said it would be super cheap, way cheaper than that huge climbing thing the board turned down a while back. [9] Because the materials are natural, they weather slowly, and the parks department expects to replace the logs only once every eight to ten years.

   [10] Third, a play area would attract families who are not using the library now, which matters to a board whose card registrations have declined for three consecutive years. [11] One mother told a librarian last spring that her children would visit more often if there were somewhere to play outside.

   [12] Some board members worry that children would carry sand and mud into the children's room and add to the custodian's work. [13] That concern is fair, but the plan places a boot brush and a covered sink beside the east entrance, which the head custodian has approved. [14] For a modest cost, the board could turn an empty lawn into the reason that young families stay, borrow and return.

2. 1.

   Bo thinks sentence [11] is too slight to support the reason in [10]. Which evidence should replace [11] because it is relevant and sufficient?

   • During a four-week trial with loose logs and a sand bin last August, the front desk recorded 212 new card applications, compared with 64 in August the year before.
   • During last August's trial with loose logs and a sand bin, two fathers told the front desk that the sand bin was the main reason they had finally applied for cards.
   • The parks department reports that the logs and boulders of a nature play area need almost no upkeep during their first five years.
   • A brochure from the company that sells the stepping logs reports that libraries with nature play areas see far more families apply for cards.
3. 2.

   Esme knows a library board expects costs reported the way a planning report gives them. Which version of sentence [8] does that?

   • The eastern half of the lawn could be finished for about $38,000, roughly a third of the price of the climbing structure the board declined in 2019.
   • The parks department's landscape architect estimates the cost at about $38,000, roughly a third of the price of the climbing structure the board declined in 2019.
   • The landscape architect's estimate came in astonishingly low, a mere fraction of the enormous sum that the board once refused to spend on a towering climbing structure.
   • Per the LA's opinion of probable cost, the east-lawn NPA scope, excluding site furnishings, comes in near $38K, about 0.33 of the 2019 PCS bid.

4. An Earlier First Train on Saturdays (argument draft about an invented rail line)

   [1] On Saturdays the first Kessel Valley train leaves Marlow Junction at 8:40 in the morning, more than two hours later than on weekdays, even though many of the valley's hospitals, bakeries and warehouses begin their Saturday shifts at seven. [2] The rail authority's board should add a 6:15 Saturday departure from Marlow Junction to the city terminal, making the weekday stops as far as Brennan Street. [3] An earlier train would let weekend workers reach their jobs without a car, and it could be operated at a modest cost because the equipment and the trained crews already exist.

   [4] First, Saturday workers who depend on the train are now forced either to pay for private rides or to give up shifts that begin before nine. [5] A nurse at Valley General said that getting to work on Saturdays is a real headache for a lot of people on the early shift. [6] Each Saturday shift that a worker cannot reach is lost pay for that worker and an empty post for the employer who scheduled it.

   [7] Second, the authority already owns what an earlier train requires, since the trainset that runs at 8:40 sits idle at the Marlow yard overnight and the weekday crews are qualified on the route. [8] The authority's operations report for last year estimated the cost of one added Saturday round trip at about $1,900 per week, almost entirely for crew wages. [9] So it makes sense.

   [10] Some board members argue that an early Saturday train would run nearly empty, as the 8:40 train often does through its first several stations. [11] That worry deserves a serious answer, because an empty train is a poor use of public money. [12] But tons of people would totally ride it, way more than anyone on the board thinks.

   [13] For roughly the cost of one crew's wages, the authority could give back Saturday work to riders who now lose it. [14] The board should add the 6:15 departure when it approves the spring timetable in February.

5. 3.

   Kira thinks sentence [5] gives too little support for the reason in [4]. Which evidence should replace [5] as relevant and sufficient?

   • The union that represents the train crews, whose members would be paid for the added trip, says that many Saturday hospital workers struggle to reach their jobs on time.
   • A study of a commuter line in another state found that adding an early weekend train raised weekend employment in the towns along its route.
   • Valley General's staffing office reports that early Saturday shifts went unfilled forty-one times last year, and twelve departing workers blamed the train schedule.
   • The trainset that runs at 8:40 sits idle at the Marlow yard overnight, so no new equipment would be needed to run an earlier Saturday departure.
6. 4.

   Luz knows a transit board expects survey results reported with their source and size. Which version of sentence [12] does that?

   • But the authority's March survey of 640 riders guarantees that 118 of them will board the new 6:15 train each Saturday morning without fail.
   • But in the authority's March survey of 640 weekday riders, 118 said they work a Saturday shift that begins before 8:30 in the morning.
   • But 118 of the valley's weekday riders work a Saturday shift that begins before 8:30, far more than the board seems to expect.
   • But the March O-D survey (n = 640) puts pre-0830 Saturday shift starts at 18.4 percent, implying robust latent demand for the AM trip.

7. A Shared Bread Oven for Linder Plaza (argument draft about an invented town)

   [1] Since the Tamsworth food cooperative closed its bakery two years ago, the town has had no place where residents can bake bread together, and the brick-paved corner of Linder Plaza has stood empty except for two benches and a bicycle rack. [2] The parks and recreation commission should build a shared brick bread oven on that corner and open it on Saturday mornings to residents who reserve a baking time in advance. [3] An oven would give the plaza a regular weekend use, and it would teach a practical skill that many residents have said they would like to learn.

   [4] First, a weekly event gives a public space a reason to be visited, and the plaza has lacked one since the cooperative closed. [5] Foot counts taken by the town planning office on six Saturdays last summer found an average of thirty-one people crossing the plaza between nine and noon, compared with more than two hundred in the market square two blocks away. [6] That is a big difference.

   [7] Second, residents want to learn to bake, and an oven supervised by trained volunteers would give them a place to practice. [8] Lots of people on the town's online message board said that baking bread together sounded like fun.

   [9] Some commissioners worry that smoke from the oven would bother the residents of the apartments above the shops on the plaza's north side. [10] The worry is reasonable, since several of those apartments have windows facing the corner where the oven would stand. [11] But the oven builder says the smoke is no big deal at all if you do it right. [12] Former members of the cooperative have also offered to run the first season of baking mornings, so the town would not need to hire new staff.

   [13] A shared oven would turn a quiet corner into a weekly gathering place and give residents a skill they have asked to learn. [14] The commission should approve the oven at its March meeting so that it can be built and tested before the summer baking season begins.

8. 5.

   Milo notices that sentence [6] only says the numbers differ. Which sentence should replace [6] to explain why [5] supports the reason in [4]?

   • The difference shows that the plaza needs a bread oven, because an oven is exactly what a plaza like this one needs.
   • Since the market square draws two hundred people, an oven would draw the same two hundred people to the plaza each Saturday.
   • Since the market square draws far bigger crowds, the commission should move the Saturday market into Linder Plaza instead.
   • Since the market square differs from the plaza mainly in having a weekly event, the gap suggests that a scheduled oven could draw some of that crowd.
9. 6.

   Noah thinks sentence [8] is weak support for the reason in [7]. Which evidence should replace [8] because it is relevant and sufficient?

   • The planning office counted an average of thirty-one people crossing Linder Plaza on summer Saturdays, compared with more than two hundred in the busy market square.
   • When the library offered four bread-baking workshops last winter, all eighty seats were reserved within two days, and the waiting list reached ninety-five names.
   • A shared oven in a city park on the other side of the country has drawn bakers almost every weekend since it opened about ten years ago.
   • Three residents who attended a library baking workshop last winter said afterward that they wished they had a place to keep practicing.
10. 7.

    Pia knows a commission expects a safety answer to name the office that checked it. Which version of sentence [11] does that?

    • But the county air-quality office has reviewed the design and certified that no resident will notice any smoke, in any weather, at any hour.
    • But the builder's elegant design would send the smoke drifting harmlessly away, far above the windows of the neighbors on the north side.
    • But the county air-quality office reviewed the design and found that a thirteen-foot chimney burning dry hardwood would carry smoke above the second-floor windows.
    • But a thirteen-foot chimney, used with dry hardwood, would carry the smoke above the second-floor windows of the apartments on the plaza's north side.

11. Wayfinding Signs for Downtown Calloway (argument draft about an invented town)

    [1] Visitors who leave the Calloway train station on foot arrive at a five-way intersection with no signs, and many of them must ask a stranger or consult a phone before they can find the river walk, the history museum or the shops on Ferrier Street. [2] The downtown district board should install twelve wayfinding signs, each showing a simple map, walking times and the direction of the main attractions, at the station and at the busiest corners. [3] Signs would help visitors find what downtown offers and would lead more of them past the shops, at a cost that the district's improvement fund can cover this year.

    [4] First, visitors who cannot find their way around downtown see fewer of its attractions and usually leave sooner than they originally intended. [5] A tourist from out of state told one shop owner that the downtown was confusing. [6] When a discouraged visitor gives up on locating the museum, the town loses a visit that it has already spent considerable money advertising.

    [7] Second, signs that show walking times would send more visitors along Ferrier Street, where most of the downtown shops are located. [8] The district's spending survey from last summer found that visitors who walked the length of Ferrier Street spent an average of $46 downtown, compared with $17 for visitors who stayed near the station. [9] This is why the signs are needed.

    [10] Several shop owners worry that additional signposts would clutter sidewalks that are already narrow and frequently crowded on summer weekends. [11] The concern is fair, since several sidewalks near the station are barely five feet wide. [12] But the signs are skinny, and honestly nobody will even notice them.

    [13] Twelve signs would transform a confusing arrival into a short, clearly marked walk, and they would guide visitors toward the street where they spend the most. [14] The board should approve the signs at its April meeting so that they are installed before the summer visitors arrive.

12. 8.

    Ren sees that sentence [9] does not say why the spending survey in [8] supports the reason in [7]. Which sentence should replace [9] to state the link?

    • The survey shows that downtown needs signs, because signs are what a downtown like Calloway's needs most.
    • If walking past more shops is what raises spending, then signs that lead visitors down Ferrier Street should raise what they spend downtown.
    • If walkers spend $46, then twelve signs would make each visitor to Calloway spend at least $46 downtown.
    • The survey matches what shop owners on Ferrier Street report: their busiest days come when the river walk draws crowds past their doors.
13. 9.

    Tala thinks sentence [5] is weak evidence for the reason in [4]. Which evidence should replace [5] because it is relevant and sufficient?

    • Two couples visiting from the coast told the museum's front desk last July that they had walked past the end of Ferrier Street twice before they finally found the building.
    • A sign company that hopes to win the contract reports that most visitors to small downtowns get lost without wayfinding signs.
    • Last summer the museum's volunteers kept a front-desk tally and found that 214 of 530 visitors, about two in five, had trouble finding the building from the station.
    • A study of a large city's downtown found that visitors who got lost spent about a third less time there than visitors who did not.
14. 10.

    Zee knows a district board expects a reply about sidewalks to give a measurement and who made it. Which version of sentence [12] does that?

    • But the slender signs would blend gracefully into the streetscape, leaving the sidewalks as open and inviting as they are today.
    • But the proposed signs are fourteen inches wide, and the town engineer has confirmed that each location leaves at least four feet of clear sidewalk.
    • But per the engineer's ROW review, each 14-inch post leaves a 48-inch clear PAR, so the installs meet the town's sidewalk standard.
    • But the town engineer has confirmed that the fourteen-inch signs will cause no crowding on any sidewalk at any time of year.