Pick the sentence that proves it best
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Flat Loaf (story)
[1] Kira's first loaf of bread came out of the oven as flat as a dinner plate. [2] Jun, who had baked with a grandparent for years, looked at the recipe and asked how warm the water had been. [3] Kira had heated it on the stove until steam rose from the pot, then stirred in the yeast and flour without testing it. [4] Jun explained that yeast is a living thing, and water that is too hot will destroy it before the dough can rise.
[5] A kitchen thermometer showed that the steaming water had reached about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the 120 degrees that bakers treat as the limit for yeast. [6] For the second try, Kira heated the water, waited until the thermometer read 110, and then added the yeast. [7] Within an hour, the dough had swelled to nearly twice its size. [8] The finished loaf was tall and springy, with air holes throughout the crumb.
[9] Kira's grandmother tasted a slice and said the crust was the best part. [10] Jun added that cold water causes the opposite trouble, because the yeast stays alive but works so slowly that the dough barely rises. [11] Kira taped a note with the target temperature above the stove and promised to check it each time.
Ren looks for the cause. All four sentences are true. Which one is the strongest proof of this: “The first loaf stayed flat because the water had been hot enough to destroy the yeast”?
- [3] Kira had heated it on the stove until steam rose from the pot, then stirred in the yeast and flour without testing it.
- [5] A kitchen thermometer showed that the steaming water had reached about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the 120 degrees that bakers treat as the limit for yeast.
- [7] Within an hour, the dough had swelled to nearly twice its size.
- [4] Jun explained that yeast is a living thing, and water that is too hot will destroy it before the dough can rise.
Luz sees a claim put in new words. All four sentences are true. Which one proves it most strongly: “Water that is too cool harms bread in a different way from water that is too hot”?
- [2] Jun, who had baked with a grandparent for years, looked at the recipe and asked how warm the water had been.
- [5] A kitchen thermometer showed that the steaming water had reached about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the 120 degrees that bakers treat as the limit for yeast.
- [4] Jun explained that yeast is a living thing, and water that is too hot will destroy it before the dough can rise.
- [10] Jun added that cold water causes the opposite trouble, because the yeast stays alive but works so slowly that the dough barely rises.
Gutenberg's Printing Press (article)
[1] For most of history, a book was a rare and costly object. [2] A scribe could spend many months copying one Bible by hand, so just churches, universities, and wealthy families could buy one. [3] Around 1450, a goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg began printing in Mainz, in what is now Germany. [4] His key idea was movable type: small metal letters that could be set into a page, inked, pressed onto paper, and then taken apart and used again.
[5] Gutenberg adapted a screw press, a machine already used to squeeze grapes and olives, to press paper against the inked type. [6] He also mixed a thick, oil-based ink that stuck to metal letters better than the water-based inks that scribes used. [7] The famous Gutenberg Bible, printed in about 1455, took roughly three years to make, yet it produced around 180 copies.
[8] Other printers copied the method quickly. [9] By 1500, presses were running in more than two hundred European towns, and printers had produced millions of books. [10] As books became cheaper, more people learned to read, and new ideas spread much faster than scribes could copy them. [11] Historians still argue about how much of this change the press alone caused, since reading was already growing in many places.
Esme looks for the cause. All four sentences are true. Which one is the strongest proof of this: “A printer did not need new letters for every new page”?
- [4] His key idea was movable type: small metal letters that could be set into a page, inked, pressed onto paper, and then taken apart and used again.
- [7] The famous Gutenberg Bible, printed in about 1455, took roughly three years to make, yet it produced around 180 copies.
- [5] Gutenberg adapted a screw press, a machine already used to squeeze grapes and olives, to press paper against the inked type.
- [2] A scribe could spend many months copying one Bible by hand, so just churches, universities, and wealthy families could buy one.
Noah tracks what changed. All four sentences are true. Which one best proves this change: “As printing spread, more ordinary people gained access to reading and new ideas”?
- [10] As books became cheaper, more people learned to read, and new ideas spread much faster than scribes could copy them.
- [11] Historians still argue about how much of this change the press alone caused, since reading was already growing in many places.
- [1] For most of history, a book was a rare and costly object.
- [9] By 1500, presses were running in more than two hundred European towns, and printers had produced millions of books.
Pia sees a claim put in new words. All four sentences are true. Which one proves it most strongly: “Gutenberg built his press from a machine that already existed and gave it a new job”?
- [3] Around 1450, a goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg began printing in Mainz, in what is now Germany.
- [4] His key idea was movable type: small metal letters that could be set into a page, inked, pressed onto paper, and then taken apart and used again.
- [5] Gutenberg adapted a screw press, a machine already used to squeeze grapes and olives, to press paper against the inked type.
- [6] He also mixed a thick, oil-based ink that stuck to metal letters better than the water-based inks that scribes used.
The Paper Plane Test (story)
[1] Noah believed that wide wings would make a paper airplane glide farther than a narrow wing would. [2] Luz was not so sure, so the two decided to test the idea before the class contest. [3] They folded ten wide-winged planes and ten narrow-winged planes from identical sheets of paper and marked a launch line in the hallway. [4] Luz threw each plane at the same angle, and Noah measured the landing spots with a tape measure.
[5] The wide planes averaged 4.1 meters, while the narrow planes averaged 6.3 meters. [6] Noah was surprised, because wide wings had looked like they would hold more air. [7] Luz noticed that the wide planes often dipped their noses and dove after a few meters. [8] Noah suggested that the extra paper at the back of each wide wing might have shifted the plane's balance.
[9] To check, they folded the back edges of the wide wings upward, and those planes flew an average of 5.8 meters. [10] Noah admitted that wide wings were not the problem by themselves, because the balance of the plane mattered more. [11] They entered a narrow plane in the contest and kept the wide-wing notes in their folder.
Kira looks for the cause. All four sentences are true. Which one is the strongest proof of this: “The wide planes landed short because of how their weight was balanced, not because of their width”?
- [7] Luz noticed that the wide planes often dipped their noses and dove after a few meters.
- [9] To check, they folded the back edges of the wide wings upward, and those planes flew an average of 5.8 meters.
- [10] Noah admitted that wide wings were not the problem by themselves, because the balance of the plane mattered more.
- [8] Noah suggested that the extra paper at the back of each wide wing might have shifted the plane's balance.
Bo tracks what changed. All four sentences are true. Which one best proves this change: “Noah's belief about wide wings changed once the tests were done”?
- [10] Noah admitted that wide wings were not the problem by themselves, because the balance of the plane mattered more.
- [1] Noah believed that wide wings would make a paper airplane glide farther than a narrow wing would.
- [11] They entered a narrow plane in the contest and kept the wide-wing notes in their folder.
- [6] Noah was surprised, because wide wings had looked like they would hold more air.
Zee sees a claim put in new words. All four sentences are true. Which one proves it most strongly: “The first results went against what Noah expected”?
- [3] They folded ten wide-winged planes and ten narrow-winged planes from identical sheets of paper and marked a launch line in the hallway.
- [1] Noah believed that wide wings would make a paper airplane glide farther than a narrow wing would.
- [6] Noah was surprised, because wide wings had looked like they would hold more air.
- [5] The wide planes averaged 4.1 meters, while the narrow planes averaged 6.3 meters.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa (article)
[1] The bell tower of the cathedral in Pisa, Italy, is famous for leaning, but it was never designed to tilt. [2] Builders began the tower in 1173, and its heavy stone walls rose on soft ground made of clay, sand, and shells. [3] By the time they reached the third floor, one side had begun to sink, and construction stopped for almost a century. [4] The long pause may have saved the tower, because the soil had time to settle and strengthen under the weight.
[5] When builders returned, they made the upper floors slightly taller on the low side to correct the lean, which gave the tower a gentle curve. [6] The tower was finally finished in the 1300s, and it kept slowly tilting for the next six hundred years. [7] By 1990, the top leaned about 4.5 meters from vertical, and engineers feared it might topple, so they closed it to visitors.
[8] Instead of adding weight or building a wall, they removed soil from beneath the higher side, letting the tower sink back slightly. [9] The work lasted more than a decade, and by 2001 the tilt had been reduced by roughly 45 centimeters. [10] Engineers now expect the tower to remain stable for at least two hundred years. [11] Visitors can climb the tower again, though it still leans.
Ren looks for the cause. All four sentences are true. Which one is the strongest proof of this: “Stopping the work for decades helped the tower survive”?
- [5] When builders returned, they made the upper floors slightly taller on the low side to correct the lean, which gave the tower a gentle curve.
- [4] The long pause may have saved the tower, because the soil had time to settle and strengthen under the weight.
- [3] By the time they reached the third floor, one side had begun to sink, and construction stopped for almost a century.
- [7] By 1990, the top leaned about 4.5 meters from vertical, and engineers feared it might topple, so they closed it to visitors.
Jun sees a claim put in new words. All four sentences are true. Which one proves it most strongly: “The modern fix worked with the ground instead of piling more weight onto the tower”?
- [4] The long pause may have saved the tower, because the soil had time to settle and strengthen under the weight.
- [8] Instead of adding weight or building a wall, they removed soil from beneath the higher side, letting the tower sink back slightly.
- [5] When builders returned, they made the upper floors slightly taller on the low side to correct the lean, which gave the tower a gentle curve.
- [9] The work lasted more than a decade, and by 2001 the tilt had been reduced by roughly 45 centimeters.
