Link ideas with the right transition
Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
What Caused the Dust Bowl? (student draft: informative)
[1] The Dust Bowl, a series of severe dust storms that struck the southern Great Plains during the 1930s, is often blamed on drought alone. [2] Rainfall in the region fell well below average for several years beginning in 1931. [3] Dry spells had struck the Plains before without producing storms of such size. [4] What made the 1930s different was what had happened to the land in the decades before.
[5] Beginning in the 1910s, high wheat prices during and after the First World War had encouraged farmers to plow millions of acres of native prairie grass. [6] As a result, the deep roots of that grass had held the soil in place through earlier droughts. [7] Meanwhile, when prices collapsed in the early 1930s, many farmers left their fields bare rather than invest in planting, and nothing remained to anchor the dry soil. [8] Because the loosened topsoil had nothing to hold it, strong spring winds lifted it into the air, and the dust sometimes darkened skies as far east as Washington, D.C.
[9] Nevertheless, federal programs began to respond in the mid-1930s. [10] Farmers were urged to plant rows of trees as windbreaks, so that the wind would lose force before reaching the fields, and to plow along the contours of slopes. [11] Instead, some of the worst land was purchased by the government and reseeded with native grass.
[12] Rain returned in 1939, and the storms faded. [13] Historians credit the conservation measures with helping the soil stay in place after the rains came. [14] The episode remains a warning that weather alone seldom explains an environmental disaster.
Noah sees links at the start of [6] and [7] that set up the wrong relationships. Which revision repairs both without changing the facts?
- Change “As a result,” in [6] to “This mattered because” and change “Meanwhile,” in [7] to “Later,” while adding that drought caused prices to collapse.
- Change “As a result,” in [6] to “This mattered because” and change “Meanwhile,” in [7] to “Later,”.
- Keep “As a result,” in [6] and change “Meanwhile,” in [7] to “Later,”.
- Change “As a result,” in [6] to “This mattered because” and keep “Meanwhile,” in [7].
Pia wants to open [2], [3] and [4] with links that make their relationships explicit. Which set of openers is accurate and varied?
- [2] “Also,” [3] “And,” [4] “Then,”
- [2] “Admittedly,” [3] “Yet,” [4] “Yet,”
- [2] “Admittedly,” [3] “Yet,” [4] “Instead,”
- [2] “Admittedly,” [3] “Therefore,” [4] “Instead,”
Ren could change “Because” to “Although” at the start of [8]. Which statement best explains how that change would affect the sentence?
- “Although” would shift the emphasis to the winds, leaving the loosened topsoil as a minor detail in the sentence and in the explanation.
- “Although” would present the lifting of the soil as a surprise despite the bare ground, which contradicts the cause explained in [6] and [7].
- “Although” would add the new fact that the winds were stronger than usual that spring, which the draft does not give.
- “Although” would keep the cause but state it more strongly, so the meaning of the sentence would stay the same.
Tala sees links at the start of [9] and [11] that set up the wrong relationships. Which revision repairs both without changing the facts?
- Change “Nevertheless,” in [9] to “In response,” and keep “Instead,” in [11].
- Change “Nevertheless,” in [9] to “In response,” and change “Instead,” in [11] to “In addition,”.
- Keep “Nevertheless,” in [9] and change “Instead,” in [11] to “In addition,”.
- Change “Nevertheless,” in [9] to “In response,” and change “Instead,” in [11] to “In addition,” while adding that the programs ended the drought.
Zee wants to open [12], [13] and [14] with links that make their relationships explicit. Which set of openers is accurate and varied?
- [12] “And,” [13] “Also,” [14] “Plus,”
- [12] “Eventually,” [13] “Even so,” [14] “Above all,”
- [12] “Eventually,” [13] “Even so,” [14] “Even so,”
- [12] “Eventually,” [13] “Therefore,” [14] “Above all,”
A Native Garden for Marlow Middle School (letter to the principal) (student draft: opinion letter)
[1] The lawn behind Marlow Middle School covers nearly an acre of closely mown turf, which requires weekly cutting and, in dry summers, regular watering. [2] I propose that the school convert half of that lawn into a native-plant garden of the grasses, wildflowers and shrubs that grew in our region before settlement, so that science classes would gain a living laboratory. [3] However, such a garden would cost the school little after its first season.
[4] Native plants evolved alongside local insects, so many insects can feed only on the plants with which they share a history. [5] An entomologist at the University of Delaware has found that native oak trees support hundreds of species of caterpillars, whereas imported ornamental trees support very few. [6] Those caterpillars are a main food for nesting songbirds. [7] A school garden would not merely look pleasant; it would rebuild one small piece of a local food web.
[8] Maintenance is the most common objection. [9] Consequently, some staff members fear that wild-looking plantings will look untidy and demand more labor than the lawn. [10] Therefore, weeding is indeed necessary during the first two seasons, because young natives compete with aggressive weeds. [11] Instead, once the plants are established, their deep roots usually let them thrive with little or no watering and no regular mowing.
[12] The parent group has offered to organize the planting. [13] Staff would not need to take on extra work. [14] I ask the principal to approve a one-year trial on the north half of the lawn.
Bo sees links at the start of [3] and [10] that set up the wrong relationships. Which revision repairs both without changing the facts?
- Keep “However,” in [3] and change “Therefore,” in [10] to “Admittedly,”.
- Change “However,” in [3] to “Moreover,” and keep “Therefore,” in [10].
- Change “However,” in [3] to “Moreover,” and change “Therefore,” in [10] to “Admittedly,” while adding that natives need more weeding than turf.
- Change “However,” in [3] to “Moreover,” and change “Therefore,” in [10] to “Admittedly,”.
Esme wants to open [5], [6] and [7] with links that make their relationships explicit. Which set of openers is accurate and varied?
- [5] “For instance,” [6] “For instance,” [7] “In short,”
- [5] “In contrast,” [6] “In turn,” [7] “In short,”
- [5] “Also,” [6] “Plus,” [7] “And,”
- [5] “For instance,” [6] “In turn,” [7] “In short,”
Jun could change “so” to “although” in [4]. Which statement best explains how that change would affect the sentence?
- “Although” would treat the shared history as an exception to the insects' feeding, not as the reason that explains it.
- “Although” would show that the insects evolved because of the plants, so the cause would run the other way.
- “Although” would add the new fact that many insects can eat any plant, which the draft does not state.
- “Although” would shift the emphasis from the plants to the insects, so the sentence would be mostly about the insects and their food.
Kira sees links at the start of [9] and [11] that set up the wrong relationships. Which revision repairs both without changing the facts?
- Change “Consequently,” in [9] to “In particular,” and keep “Instead,” in [11].
- Change “Consequently,” in [9] to “In particular,” and change “Instead,” in [11] to “Later,”.
- Keep “Consequently,” in [9] and change “Instead,” in [11] to “Later,”.
- Change “Consequently,” in [9] to “In particular,” and change “Instead,” in [11] to “Later,” while adding that staff asked for a lawn.
Milo could change “so that science classes would gain” to “and science classes would gain” in [2]. Which statement best explains the effect?
- “And” would show that the laboratory caused the school to convert the lawn, so the reason would be reversed.
- “And” would make the garden less important than the laboratory, so the proposal would seem to be about classes.
- “And” would add the new fact that science classes already use the lawn, which the draft does not mention.
- “And” would list the laboratory as one more fact about the garden, not the purpose the writer wants it to serve.