How a line of dialogue or an event moves the story
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Understudy (story)
[1] Three days before the spring musical, Bo, who had the lead, lost almost all of the singing voice to a cold, and Ms. Fontaine called a meeting in the empty auditorium. [2] Luz, the understudy, sat in the last row with a script folded into a tight square and answered the director's questions in single words. [3] Ms. Fontaine had directed the spring musical for twenty years and knew better than to push a student who had gone quiet. [4] “Can you carry the second act?” Ms. Fontaine asked, and Luz said, “I know the lines. The songs are another matter.”
[5] Bo wrote on the whiteboard, in letters that sloped downhill, “You practice the high part twice every rehearsal and you never miss it, and I hear it through the wall.” [6] Luz read the board twice, and the folded script loosened a little in Luz's hands. [7] For a moment nobody in the empty rows moved, and a stagehand somewhere above them stopped coiling a rope. [8] “Through the wall,” Luz repeated, “so everyone has been listening.”
[9] Ms. Fontaine waited, and the only sound in the auditorium was the radiator ticking in the corner. [10] “I'll sing the second act,” Luz said at last, “but Bo sits in the front row and signals the breaths.” [11] Bo gave a thumbs-up that was a little too eager for someone who had just given up the lead.
[12] On opening night, Luz glanced once at the front row before the first high note and found Bo's raised hand already shaping the breath.
Jun follows the decision. Which sentence provokes Luz's decision to sing the second act?
- [10] “I'll sing the second act,” Luz said at last, “but Bo sits in the front row and signals the breaths.”
- [5] Bo wrote on the whiteboard, in letters that sloped downhill, “You practice the high part twice every rehearsal and you never miss it, and I hear it through the wall.”
- [4] “Can you carry the second act?” Ms. Fontaine asked, and Luz said, “I know the lines. The songs are another matter.”
- [1] Three days before the spring musical, Bo, who had the lead, lost almost all of the singing voice to a cold, and Ms. Fontaine called a meeting in the empty auditorium.
Kira reads between the lines. What does Luz mean but not say in sentence 4?
- Luz plans to refuse the role and leave the musical.
- Luz wants the director to know the songs are easy.
- Luz is afraid of singing the songs in front of an audience, not of forgetting lines.
- Luz has not yet had time to learn the songs and is worried about getting the notes wrong in rehearsal.
Milo studies sentence 5. What two jobs does Bo's note do: one about the speaker and one about what happens next?
- It shows that Bo has listened closely, and it shows that Bo cares about the show.
- It shows that Bo has listened closely and generously, and it pushes Luz to trust the songs.
- It pushes Luz to reconsider, and it makes Ms. Fontaine decide to wait.
- It shows that Luz trusts the songs, and it makes Bo notice Luz's practice.
What the Marigolds Were For (story)
[1] The community garden gave every pair of students one raised bed, and Ari had sketched a plan for tomatoes and beans in neat rows days before Esme arrived with a bag of marigold seeds. [2] The late-morning sun lit the new soil, and the smell of wet earth rose from the bed in a warm cloud. [3] “We should plant the vegetables first,” Ari said, smoothing the sketch over the lid of a toolbox, “and flowers can go in whatever corners are left over.” [4] Esme poured a few seeds into a palm, said nothing for a moment, and then asked, “Left over from what?”
[5] The argument that followed was polite, which made it worse, and it ended with each of them standing guard over one half of the bed. [6] Ms. Okafor, who had tended the next bed for thirty years, wandered over with a watering can and looked at the sketch without comment. [7] “The old gardeners around here plant marigolds beside tomatoes,” she said, “and they rarely explain why, so you might ask what the flowers are guarding.”
[8] Ari looked at Esme, and Esme looked at the seeds. [9] “Some insects stay away from the smell,” Esme said slowly, “and I read that tomatoes grow better with something strong-smelling beside them.” [10] Ari erased the corners, drew a line of small circles between each pair of tomato plants, and wrote marigolds on each one.
[11] Ms. Okafor was already watering the next bed, apparently satisfied that nothing more needed to be said.
Noah follows the decision. Which sentence provokes Ari's decision to redraw the plan with marigolds between the tomatoes?
- [10] Ari erased the corners, drew a line of small circles between each pair of tomato plants, and wrote marigolds on each one.
- [9] “Some insects stay away from the smell,” Esme said slowly, “and I read that tomatoes grow better with something strong-smelling beside them.”
- [7] “The old gardeners around here plant marigolds beside tomatoes,” she said, “and they rarely explain why, so you might ask what the flowers are guarding.”
- [2] The late-morning sun lit the new soil, and the smell of wet earth rose from the bed in a warm cloud.
Ren studies sentence 7. What two jobs does Ms. Okafor's line do: one about the speaker and one about what happens next?
- It shows that Ms. Okafor teaches by hinting, and it shows that she has gardened for thirty years.
- It shows that Ms. Okafor teaches by hinting, and it pushes Ari to ask Esme what the flowers are for.
- It shows that Ari wants to learn, and it makes Ms. Okafor notice the argument.
- It pushes Ari to ask Esme a question, and it makes Esme pour out the marigold seeds.
The Buzzer Round (story)
[1] At the regional quiz bowl, Kira and Zee sat at the front table with a buzzer between them and a scoreboard that showed their team trailing by twenty points. [2] Around them the audience shifted in the folding chairs, and a parent in the second row pretended to study a program. [3] Kira, who read the first half of every question before anyone else finished, slammed the buzzer on the third word of a geography question and said, “The Danube!” [4] The host, Mr. Tran, shook his head and deducted five points, because the question had asked for the longest river in Asia.
[5] Kira sank into the chair and muttered, “Fast is the only thing I'm good at.” [6] Zee, who had been writing answers on a notepad and covering them with a hand, slid the pad across the table without a word. [7] Written on it, in small neat letters, were the answers to the last four questions, each one correct.
[8] “You knew all of these,” Kira whispered. [9] “I never press,” Zee wrote underneath, “because I'm afraid of being wrong in front of everyone, and you never stop pressing, so we need each other.” [10] Kira read the sentence twice and, on the next question, held a thumb over the buzzer without pressing it until Zee tapped the table once.
[11] The two of them answered the final six questions together, and the scoreboard crept within five points before the buzzer sounded for the last time.
Ren follows the decision. Which sentence provokes Kira's decision to wait for Zee's circle before pressing the buzzer?
- [10] Kira read the sentence twice and, on the next question, held a thumb over the buzzer without pressing it until Zee tapped the table once.
- [9] “I never press,” Zee wrote underneath, “because I'm afraid of being wrong in front of everyone, and you never stop pressing, so we need each other.”
- [5] Kira sank into the chair and muttered, “Fast is the only thing I'm good at.”
- [3] Kira, who read the first half of every question before anyone else finished, slammed the buzzer on the third word of a geography question and said, “The Danube!”
Ari studies sentence 9. What two jobs does Zee's written line do: one about the speaker and one about what happens next?
- It shows that Zee is honest about fear, and it pushes Kira to wait for Zee's signal.
- It shows that Kira will wait for Zee's tap, and it makes Zee admit to being afraid.
- It pushes Kira to wait for the tap, and it makes the team close the gap in points.
- It shows that Zee is honest about fear, and it shows that Zee is a careful writer.
The Card Was Fine (story)
[1] Milo had saved for six months to buy a secondhand camera, and on the field trip to the harbor Tala asked to borrow it for exactly one photograph. [2] The photograph was of the old ferry, which Tala wanted for a poster about the harbor, and Tala framed it carefully while a crowd of gulls lifted off the pier. [3] In the distance the old ferry blew its horn, as if it had been waiting all morning for a chance to pose. [4] A gull's wing clipped the strap, the camera slipped, and it hit the boards with a crack that made three classmates turn around.
[5] Tala crouched over the pieces and said, very quietly, “I will pay for every part of it, even if it takes all summer.” [6] The class gathered in a loose ring, and Mr. Reyes, the chaperone, hurried over from the ticket booth with a worried frown. [7] Milo picked up the lens cap, turned it over twice, and asked, “Did you get the picture?” [8] “That's not what matters right now,” Tala said.
[9] “It might be,” Milo said, sliding the memory card from the cracked body and holding it out, “because the card is fine.” [10] Tala stared at the card and then at Milo's face, searching carefully for the anger that ought to have been there. [11] “I can fix a camera,” Milo said, “but I can't fix a poster that never gets made.”
[12] Tala took the card, and by the end of the afternoon had asked the teacher to put both names on the poster.
Bo follows the decision. Which sentence provokes Tala's decision to put both names on the poster?
- [3] In the distance the old ferry blew its horn, as if it had been waiting all morning for a chance to pose.
- [9] “It might be,” Milo said, sliding the memory card from the cracked body and holding it out, “because the card is fine.”
- [12] Tala took the card, and by the end of the afternoon had asked the teacher to put both names on the poster.
- [11] “I can fix a camera,” Milo said, “but I can't fix a poster that never gets made.”
Esme reads between the lines. What does Milo mean but not say in sentence 7?
- Milo is angry and wants Tala to admit the photograph was a waste.
- Milo cares more about the poster and about Tala than about the broken camera.
- Milo is happy that the camera broke on the pier.
- Milo just wants to know whether the photograph of the ferry came out sharp enough for the poster.
Jun studies sentence 9. What two jobs does Milo's line do: one about the speaker and one about what happens next?
- It makes Tala stare at the card, and it leads Tala to ask the teacher about the poster.
- It shows that Tala is relieved, and it makes Milo hold out the memory card.
- It shows that Milo puts the project before the camera, and it makes Tala stare at the card.
- It shows that Milo puts the project first, and it shows that Milo is calm.