How words relate

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   A Freak Storm, Again (article)

   [1] When flooding closed the coast road for the third time in six years, officials called the storm a freak. [2] The word appeared in press releases, in council minutes and in the first lines of two newspaper stories. [3] A freak is a rarity, an accident of timing that nobody could have predicted, and nobody can be blamed for failing to prepare for it. [4] Hydrologist Ana Reyes, who has tracked the county's rainfall since 1998, prefers the word recurrent. [5] Her records show heavy storms of this kind arriving about every two years, a rhythm closer to a season than to a surprise. [6] She does not claim the storms are growing worse in every measure; the data she cites are modest on that point. [7] Her claim is narrower: that a pattern predicted by records is not a freak, and that a county repeating its repairs has been treating a calendar as an accident. [8] The officials replied that each storm differs in its path and its timing, so each deserves the word unusual. [9] Reyes agreed that no two storms are alike, then added that no two winters are alike either, and nobody calls winter a freak. [10] The disagreement is partly about weather and partly about money, because a freak requires only an emergency fund, while a recurrence requires a redesigned road. [11] Words like freak and recurrent therefore work as budget decisions in disguise. [12] They tell a county which line of the ledger to open before the next rain falls. [13] They do so long before anyone has opened an engineer's drawing or counted the cost of a culvert.

2. 1.

   Which pair of phrases shows how the writer links the word freak to blame and to money, Ari asks?

   • "A rhythm closer to a season" in sentence 5 and "alike either" in sentence 9, which link storms to weather
   • "Nobody can be blamed" in sentence 3 and "requires only an emergency fund" in sentence 10
   • "A rarity" in sentence 3 and "modest" in sentence 6, which both describe how large the storms were
   • "Recurrent" in sentence 4 and "unusual" in sentence 8, which are only the two rival labels
3. 2.

   The writer calls Reyes's data modest (sentence 6) and her claim narrower (sentence 7). What do the two words do together, Bo asks?

   • They are neutral measurements that carry no judgment about whether her claim should be believed
   • They weaken her argument by admitting that her records show very little about the storms
   • They show the writer disagrees with Reyes and sides with the officials who called the storm unusual
   • They make her argument more credible by showing she claims no more than her records support
4. 3.

   A student replaces freak (sentence 1) with unusual and recurrent (sentence 4) with common. How do the two swaps change the argument, Esme asks?

   • The officials' side is strengthened and Reyes's is unchanged, since the first word has moved a long way from its old sense
   • Both labels become mild, so the dispute shrinks to degree and the claim that the word decides the response is lost
   • Both labels become sharper, so the dispute grows more heated and the claim about budgets becomes stronger
   • Nothing changes, since unusual and freak mean the same and common and recurrent mean the same too
5. 4.

   A student replaces disguise (sentence 11) with display and ledger (sentence 12) with map. What happens to the closing argument, Jun asks?

   • The closing claim now blames Reyes, since a map points to the person who drew the route
   • Display and map remove hiding and money, so the claim that words are budget decisions is lost
   • The closing claim is strengthened, since display and map make the words sound more open and honest
   • The style changes, not the claim, since disguise and display both describe how something appears to a reader
6. 5.

   Reyes says no two winters are alike, yet nobody calls winter a freak (sentence 9). Which relationship does her reply rely on, Kira asks?

   • Opposites: storms and winters are opposite seasons, so one cannot stand in for the other in the argument
   • Degree: winters are a weaker form of storm, so winters surprise people less than storms do
   • Cause and result: different winters cause different storms, so storms cannot be predicted from records
   • Individual and type: single storms differ, yet they belong to one recurring type, as winters do

7. Character or Barrier (article)

   [1] The Harlan Valley Trail follows an old rail bed for eleven miles, and for most of those miles it is gravel. [2] The county board's proposal to pave it was introduced as an upgrade. [3] The word carried a smile: nobody argues against improving a trail. [4] Opponents, mostly walkers and birdwatchers, answered with a different word, calling the plan a conversion. [5] A conversion changes what a thing is, not just how well it works, and the board's own documents admitted that paving would attract cyclists who ride faster than walkers prefer. [6] Cyclists, in turn, spoke of access, the idea that a smooth surface lets wheelchairs, strollers and road bikes use the same path. [7] A visitor to the trail finds that both claims are partly right. [8] On a wet morning the gravel is soft and loud underfoot, which some call character and others call a barrier. [9] Each choice of word quietly assigns the trail to someone: character belongs to the people who already love it, and access belongs to those who cannot yet use it. [10] The board's second draft changed the language again, offering a shared-use surface on the busiest four miles and gravel elsewhere. [11] The phrase sounds like a treaty, which may be why neither side has attacked it. [12] But a treaty written in compromise vocabulary only moves the argument to the next word, and the next word will probably be maintenance, which no one has yet agreed to pay for.

8. 6.

   Gravel is what some call character and others call a barrier (sentence 8), and the board's compromise sounds like a treaty (sentence 11). What stance do these choices show, Milo asks?

   • Firmly against paving, since the writer treats the compromise as a trick played on the walkers
   • Firmly in favor of paving, since the writer lets the word barrier stand beside the word character
   • Unconcerned with the outcome, since the writer repeats what others call the gravel and the draft
   • Even-handed but wary: both vocabularies get credit, yet compromise wording is doubted
9. 7.

   Sentence 3 says upgrade "carried a smile," and sentence 5 says a conversion "changes what a thing is." What do the choices show about the two words, Noah asks?

   • Upgrade assumes an improvement no one would oppose and conversion a change of identity, so neither is neutral
   • The two words both concern the trail, so they say the same thing and differ in length
   • Upgrade is the accurate word and conversion is an exaggeration invented by the walkers and birdwatchers who oppose paving
   • Conversion is the accurate word and upgrade is a deliberate lie told by the board to win the vote
10. 8.

    A student replaces upgrade (sentence 2) with conversion and access (sentence 6) with convenience. How do the two changes tilt the argument, Pia asks?

    • Both changes sharpen the debate by the same amount, so the argument stays balanced between the two groups
    • The labels change, but not the argument, since upgrade and conversion both mean a change to the trail and access means convenience
    • The board's plan sounds like a loss and the cyclists' claim like a preference, so the argument tilts toward the walkers
    • The board's plan sounds like a gain and the cyclists' claim sounds like a right, so the argument tilts toward cyclists
11. 9.

    Sentence 5 says a conversion changes what a thing is, not just how well it works. Which relationship does the writer rely on, Tala asks?

    • Cause and result: a conversion causes the cyclists to arrive, and the walkers then leave the trail for good
    • Part and whole: an upgrade is one part of a conversion, so the two words describe one change
    • Same meaning: upgrade and conversion are two names for one change, so the walkers' word adds nothing
    • Kind versus degree: an upgrade changes how well something works, a conversion what kind of thing it is
12. 10.

    Sentence 12 says a compromise in vocabulary only moves the argument to the next word. Which relationship does the writer rely on, Zee asks?

    • Opposites: treaty and maintenance name the two sides, so one of them must eventually win the argument
    • Sequence: each compromise phrase postpones the dispute to the next word, so wording alone never settles it
    • Part and whole: maintenance is one part of every treaty, so the treaty already settles who will pay
    • Degree: each new phrase is a stronger version of the last, so the dispute grows with every draft that follows