Cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution
Grade 6 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
How a Warm Ocean Feeds a Hurricane (article)
[1] A hurricane begins over ocean water that has been warmed to at least eighty degrees Fahrenheit. [2] The heat makes huge amounts of water evaporate, and the rising vapor carries energy high into the air.
[3] As the vapor climbs, it cools and turns back into water droplets, which build towering storm clouds. [4] This change releases heat, so the surrounding air warms and rises even faster than before.
[5] The rising air leaves lower pressure near the surface, and wind rushes in to fill the empty space. [6] Earth's spinning bends that wind into a circle, which is why the storm turns around a calm center.
[7] When the storm moves over land, it loses its supply of warm water. [8] Without that fuel, the winds weaken within a day or two, even though heavy rain may continue.
Ari studies how the hurricane article is built. Which description fits the whole article?
- It describes a danger from hurricanes and then explains the steps that people take to protect themselves.
- It follows a hurricane through a series of stages, from its start to its end, in the order they occur.
- Each stage in a storm's growth sets off the next, and the last paragraph shows what happens when the supply is cut off.
- It explains how a hurricane forms and grows stronger, and it stops there without saying how a storm fades.
Bo wants to add one sentence after sentence [6] that keeps the same kind of link between ideas. Which sentence fits?
- A hurricane is much larger than a thunderstorm, and it lasts for days instead of hours.
- Families near the coast should board up their windows and leave early when a hurricane warning is announced.
- Scientists give each hurricane a name so that people can follow news about it more easily.
- As more air rushes in and spins, the circle of wind grows tighter around the calm center.
Esme imagines deleting sentence [4]. What would readers lose?
- They would lose the fact that storm clouds are built from tiny water droplets.
- They would lose the reason the air keeps rising even faster once the vapor turns into droplets.
- They would lose the reason that rising vapor cools and turns back into droplets as it climbs.
- They would lose the explanation that wind speeds depend on how large the ocean happens to be.
Wind Turbines and Solar Panels (article)
[1] Wind turbines and solar panels both make electricity without burning fuel, so neither one sends smoke into the air. [2] Each depends on the weather, which means the amount of power rises and falls during the day.
[3] The two machines collect energy in different ways. [4] A turbine's tall blades spin in the wind and turn a generator, while a solar panel has no moving parts and absorbs sunlight directly.
[5] Location matters for each machine as well. [6] Turbines work best on open hills or offshore, where winds blow steadily, but panels can sit on a rooftop in a quiet neighborhood.
[7] Their output also follows different schedules. [8] Panels make the most power at midday and none at night, whereas turbines may keep spinning after dark if the wind blows.
Luz compares ideas. Which situation below links its ideas the way sentences [3] to [8] do?
- A guide to one sport explains how rain makes the field slippery and how a slippery field slows the game.
- A guide to two sports takes up the equipment, the field, and the season for each sport in turn.
- A guide to one sport describes crowded stands and then lists the new gates that cleared the lines.
- A guide to one sport follows a single season from the first practice to the final game.
Keeping Railroad Switches Clear (article)
[1] In cold regions, snow and ice can pack into the moving rails that guide a train from one track to another. [2] When these switches freeze in place, trains must stop, and a delay on one line can slow the whole network.
[3] At first, workers walked out with shovels and brooms to clear each switch by hand. [4] That plan worked on calm mornings, but heavy snow refilled the switches faster than the workers could clean them.
[5] Engineers then installed gas heaters beside the rails, which melted snow as soon as it landed. [6] The heaters solved most of the trouble, though they burned fuel even when no snow was falling.
[7] To fix that, the railroad added sensors that turn the heaters on only during snow or freezing rain. [8] With the sensors in place, trains kept to their schedules, and the company spent less on fuel.
Milo imagines deleting sentence [6]. What would readers lose?
- They would lose the proof that gas heaters are the cheapest way to keep switches clear.
- They would lose the description of how snow and ice pack into the rails that guide the trains.
- They would lose the reason the workers first went out with shovels to clear each switch by hand.
- They would lose the new trouble with the heaters that the railroad later added sensors to fix.
Noah compares ideas. Which situation below is built like sentences [3] to [8]?
- A bakery opens at six, bakes until noon, sells until four, and cleans up before it closes.
- A bakery's oven heats the air, the hot air dries the dough, and dry dough makes loaves that crack open on top.
- A bakery sells two kinds of loaves: one is soft and wide, and the other is hard and narrow.
- A bakery's loaves kept burning, so it lowered the oven heat; the loaves came out pale, so it added a timer.
Pia studies how the railroad article is built. Which description fits the whole article?
- It compares three ways of clearing switches, giving the same points about each one in turn.
- It records winter work from hand tools to heaters to sensors as three separate events.
- It shows how snow leads to frozen switches and then to train delays, and it stops there.
- It states a trouble, then follows a series of fixes, each one answering a flaw in the one before.
Two Kinds of Volcanoes (article)
[1] Shield volcanoes and steep cone volcanoes are both built from layers of cooled lava, but they look very different. [2] A shield volcano is wide and gently sloped, while a cone volcano rises into a tall, steep peak.
[3] These shapes come from the kind of lava inside each mountain. [4] Shield volcanoes erupt thin, runny lava that spreads far before it hardens, so the mountain grows wide and low.
[5] Cone volcanoes erupt thick, sticky lava that cannot flow far, so it piles up close to the opening. [6] Gas also gets trapped in this thick lava, and the growing pressure can end in a sudden, loud eruption.
[7] That difference explains why the two kinds feel so different to nearby towns. [8] Shield eruptions usually give people time to move away, but cone eruptions can come with little warning.
Ren compares ideas. Which situation below links its ideas the way sentence [4] does?
- Strong wind drives sand against a fence, so a long hill of sand builds up beside it.
- A flat roof and a steep roof are both made of wood and tiles, but their shapes differ.
- A builder lays the beams first, adds the boards next, and nails down the tiles last.
- A flat roof leaked during storms, and the owners solved the leak by adding a slope.
Tala studies how the volcano article is built. Which description fits the whole article?
- It sets two kinds of volcanoes side by side and explains their different shapes with a cause in the lava.
- It explains how the two kinds of volcanoes are alike, since both are built from layers of cooled lava.
- It follows one chain of events in which thick lava traps gas, pressure builds, and a sudden eruption follows.
- It shows that the shape of each mountain decides which kind of lava erupts from it.
Zee wants to add one sentence after sentence [8] that keeps the way the article links its ideas. Which sentence fits?
- Ash from a cone eruption can drift for hundreds of miles and settle on fields far from the mountain.
- Towns near a cone volcano watch for warning signs more closely than towns near a shield volcano do.
- Towns near cone volcanoes could fix the warning trouble by paying scientists to install more sensors.
- Shield volcanoes can grow for thousands of years, adding a new layer of lava with each eruption.