How words relate

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The Bridge on Mill Street (article)

   [1] For eighty years, the footbridge on Mill Street has carried schoolchildren, shoppers and dog walkers across Tanner Creek. [2] This spring the town council proposed to demolish it, calling the structure aging and obsolete. [3] The words sounded reasonable, even sensible, the language of a council weighing costs. [4] Then an engineer hired by the town reported something less dramatic. [5] The steel beams were sound, she wrote; only the wooden deck had weakened, and a deck can be replaced plank by plank. [6] She called the bridge seasoned, a word that suggests wear earned through use rather than damage. [7] The council replied that repairs would be a stopgap, a small fix that only postpones the real expense. [8] Supporters of the bridge answered that a stopgap lasting another forty years is hard to tell from a solution. [9] By the end of the meeting the language on both sides had hardened, and neither side was describing the same bridge. [10] Council members spoke of retiring it, as if it deserved a pension. [11] Defenders spoke of erasing it, as if a piece of the town's memory were being wiped away. [12] The vote was postponed, but the vocabulary is unlikely to soften, because each phrase carries a decision inside it. [13] A town that calls a bridge obsolete has already agreed to replace it, and a town that calls it seasoned has already agreed to keep it. [14] Nobody on the council has said so aloud, yet the choice of adjective will probably decide the vote before the engineer's numbers are read again.

2. 1.

   Which pair of word choices shows the writer first crediting the council's language and later questioning it, Ari asks?

   • "Reasonable, even sensible" in sentence 3 and "carries a decision inside it" in sentence 12
   • "Hardened" in sentence 9 and "wiped away" in sentence 11, the two harshest words in the passage
   • "Sounded reasonable" in sentence 3 and "a pension" in sentence 10, showing mockery from the start
   • "Aging and obsolete" in sentence 2 and "seasoned" in sentence 6, the two main labels in the dispute
3. 2.

   Council members speak of retiring the bridge, and defenders of erasing it (sentences 10 and 11). What do the two words show together, Bo asks?

   • Retiring frames demolition as an insult to the bridge's age, and erasing frames it as an honor to its history
   • Both words are neutral labels for demolition, so the writer shows no leaning toward either side in them
   • Both words frame the plan as a repair, and they differ in how much the repair would cost the town
   • Retiring frames demolition as a dignified end to service, and erasing frames it as wiping out memory
4. 3.

   A student replaces demolish (sentence 2) with update and seasoned (sentence 6) with old. How do the two changes affect the argument, Esme asks?

   • The changes cancel out, since update favors the council and old favors the bridge's defenders in turn
   • Neither change matters, since update and demolish both mean change and old and seasoned both mean aged
   • Update softens the council's plan and old drops the idea of wear earned by use, so both favor replacing it
   • Both changes favor keeping the bridge, since update sounds careful and old sounds fragile and easy to fix
5. 4.

   A student replaces stopgap (sentence 7) with repair and solution (sentence 8) with cure-all. How do the changes shift what each side seems to say, Jun asks?

   • Repair strengthens the council's objection and cure-all makes the supporters sound modest, so the supporters gain
   • Repair weakens the council's objection and cure-all makes the supporters sound exaggerated, so the council gains
   • The swaps change only the style, since stopgap and repair mean the same and so do solution and cure-all
   • Both swaps flatter the supporters, since repair sounds careful and cure-all sounds complete and lasting
6. 5.

   In sentence 5 the engineer separates the beams from the deck. Which relationship does the writer rely on to suggest the bridge need not come down, Kira asks?

   • Part and whole: only one part, the deck, has failed, so replacing the whole goes beyond the evidence
   • Same meaning: beams and deck are two words for the bridge, so nothing in the sentence is separated
   • Cause and result: the weak deck caused the sound beams to fail, so the whole bridge is now unsafe
   • Degree: sound and weakened are two strengths of one flaw, so the bridge is only a little damaged

7. Whose Word for the Rider (article)

   [1] When the regional transit agency announced that it would trim the Route 9 bus, its news release used the word streamlined four times. [2] The bus would run every thirty minutes instead of every fifteen, and two stops near the hospital would close. [3] To a planner, the language was honest enough, since fewer buses do cost less to run. [4] To a rider who works the early shift, it sounded like a joke told in a flat voice. [5] Mr. Danso, who has taken the bus to the Lakeview clinic for six years, said the new schedule would not streamline his morning but stretch it. [6] The agency also described its passengers as customers, a term borrowed from stores, where a customer who leaves can simply shop elsewhere. [7] Riders without cars cannot leave, and some of them noticed the difference. [8] They began to call themselves dependents on the line, which sounds heavier, though it describes the same people the agency calls customers. [9] A city council member suggested a compromise she called a pilot, a word that promises the change can be reversed. [10] Skeptics asked whether any cut in the history of the system had ever been undone. [11] The agency's spokesperson said that the numbers would decide. [12] The numbers will probably favor the agency, since they count buses rather than the people waiting for them. [13] That is how a vocabulary can win an argument before the evidence arrives: it decides in advance what counts. [14] Anyone who questions the finding must first ask for a different list of words, which is harder than asking for different numbers.

8. 6.

   Which pair of the writer's own word choices shows a move from fairness toward doubt about the agency, Milo asks?

   • "Honest enough" in sentence 3 and "a joke told in a flat voice" in sentence 4
   • "Streamlined" in sentence 1 and "stretch" in sentence 5, the agency's word and the rider's word
   • "Customers" in sentence 6 and "dependents" in sentence 8, the agency's label and the riders' own
   • "A pilot" in sentence 9 and "undone" in sentence 10, showing the writer is sure the cuts will last
9. 7.

   What tone do "honest enough," "a joke told in a flat voice" and "will probably favor the agency" create together, Noah asks?

   • Neutral reporting that takes no side on the Route 9 cut and leaves the judgment to the reader
   • Measured criticism: fair to the planner first, then increasingly doubtful of the agency's numbers
   • Angry mockery of the agency, which the writer shows from the very first sentence of the article
   • Enthusiastic backing for the agency's plan, since the writer calls the planner's language honest
10. 8.

    A student replaces streamlined (sentence 1) with cut and customers (sentence 6) with riders. How would the two changes affect the argument, Pia asks?

    • The tone would change a little, since streamlined and cut both mean reduced and customers and riders both mean passengers
    • The release would be plain-spoken, so the passage would lose its target: words that disguise the cut and the riders
    • The release would sound more flattering to the agency, since cut sounds decisive and riders sounds respectful
    • The first swap would support the agency and the second would support the riders, so the changes would cancel out
11. 9.

    A student replaces dependents (sentence 8) with customers and a flat voice (sentence 4) with a calm voice. What happens to the passage, Ren asks?

    • The riders' protest and the writer's irony both fade, so it no longer argues that the agency's words hide need
    • A few adjectives change, so the agency's view and the riders' view are both unchanged in the passage
    • The riders' protest grows clearer, since customers is the riders' own word for themselves in sentence 8
    • The agency's release now sounds believable, so the passage argues that the cut is fair to the riders
12. 10.

    Sentences 11 and 12 say the numbers count buses, not people. Which relationship does the writer use to argue the vocabulary wins first, Zee asks?

    • Part and whole: counting buses measures one part of the system and leaves out the people waiting
    • Degree: buses are a stronger measure than people, so the agency's numbers settle the question for good
    • Opposites: buses and people are opposites, so the numbers can count one of them at a time
    • Cause and result: counting buses makes the people wait longer, so the numbers support the agency