Appeals to trust, feeling and reason

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Keep the Reading Room Open (letter to the school board)

   [1] When I started ninth grade at Dunmore High, the reading room was the only place in the building where I never felt rushed, and I know I am not the only student who feels that way. [2] Last year, 412 students checked out books from its shelves, a figure larger than the attendance at any single home football game. [3] Our librarian, Ms. Patel, holds a master's degree in library science and has run the room for twenty-two years. [4] The board now plans to convert the room into a testing center next fall. [5] That change would cost the district about $6,000 in new wiring, and it would remove the one space where students can read in silence. [6] Picture a ninth grader with a library card and nowhere to use it, wandering a hallway that has no door left to open. [7] I ask the board to keep the room open and to hold its tests in the gym, which already has the outlets.

2. 1.

   Ari tags sentence 2 of the letter on a section map. Which appeal does it mainly use, and what shows it?

   • Trust (ethos): it shows the writer knows exactly how the room is used by students each day.
   • Feeling (pathos): it shows how much students love the room, since so many borrow books there.
   • Reason (logos): it counts 412 checkouts and compares them with game attendance.
   • Reason (logos): it gives the $6,000 cost of new wiring and weighs it against the room.
3. 2.

   Bo wants the sentence in the letter that mainly builds trust in a source. Which sentence is it?

   • [4] The board now plans to convert the room into a testing center next fall.
   • [2] Last year, 412 students checked out books from its shelves, a figure larger than the attendance at any single home football game.
   • [3] Our librarian, Ms. Patel, holds a master's degree in library science and has run the room for twenty-two years.
   • [1] When I started ninth grade at Dunmore High, the reading room was the only place in the building where I never felt rushed, and I know I am not the only student who feels that way.
4. 3.

   Esme reads sentence 6. What does that sentence mainly ask board members to do?

   • Believe that the board plans to lock the library for good and send students home.
   • Remind students, the other readers of the letter, to protect their reading rooms.
   • Imagine a student with nowhere to read, so they feel what the change would cost.
   • Show that the room is used by more students than football games.

5. A Fare Worth Paying (speech to a city council)

   [1] My name is Dr. Alicia Moreno, and I have studied city transit for nineteen years at the state university. [2] Last spring my team surveyed 640 riders on the Route 9 line, and 71 percent told us they had skipped a doctor's visit or a job interview because the fare was too high. [3] Those numbers describe real people, such as Mr. Henry Cole, a night janitor who walks four miles home after his shift because he cannot spare two dollars for the bus. [4] A pass that was free for riders earning under thirty thousand dollars would cost the city about 1.8 million dollars a year, which is less than one percent of its budget. [5] Some members of this council will say the city cannot afford the program. [6] I say the city cannot afford to keep its workers from reaching their jobs. [7] I urge you to approve the pilot for one year and to judge it on the results.

6. 4.

   Kira wants the sentence in the speech that gives the city's cost in numbers. Which sentence is it?

   • [7] I urge you to approve the pilot for one year and to judge it on the results.
   • [4] A pass that was free for riders earning under thirty thousand dollars would cost the city about 1.8 million dollars a year, which is less than one percent of its budget.
   • [2] Last spring my team surveyed 640 riders on the Route 9 line, and 71 percent told us they had skipped a doctor's visit or a job interview because the fare was too high.
   • [3] Those numbers describe real people, such as Mr. Henry Cole, a night janitor who walks four miles home after his shift because he cannot spare two dollars for the bus.

7. Save the Harlan Pond (garden club flyer)

   [1] For thirty years the pond behind Harlan Elementary has been the first place that spring arrives in our town, with red-winged blackbirds settling in the cattails before the snow has fully gone. [2] Now the town plans to fill it in for a parking lot, and the first bulldozer is scheduled for June. [3] A study by the county's soil and water office found that the pond holds back about 800,000 gallons of runoff in a heavy storm, water that would otherwise flood the school's lower field. [4] The Harlan Garden Club has tended the pond's banks every spring since 1994, and three of our members are retired biologists. [5] A parking lot would add forty spaces, but the pond protects a field that two hundred children use every day. [6] Come to the town meeting on May 6 and ask the council to think again.

8. 5.

   Milo tags sentence 3 of the flyer on a section map. Which appeal does it mainly use, and what shows it?

   • Trust (ethos): it shows the county office is an official source that the town should believe.
   • Reason (logos): it compares forty parking spaces with a field that children use each day.
   • Feeling (pathos): it warns that the children's lower field could flood in a storm.
   • Reason (logos): it reports a county study that measured how much runoff the pond holds.
9. 6.

   Noah wants the sentence in the flyer that mainly builds trust in the people behind it. Which sentence is it?

   • [4] The Harlan Garden Club has tended the pond's banks every spring since 1994, and three of our members are retired biologists.
   • [1] For thirty years the pond behind Harlan Elementary has been the first place that spring arrives in our town, with red-winged blackbirds settling in the cattails before the snow has fully gone.
   • [3] A study by the county's soil and water office found that the pond holds back about 800,000 gallons of runoff in a heavy storm, water that would otherwise flood the school's lower field.
   • [6] Come to the town meeting on May 6 and ask the council to think again.
10. 7.

    Pia reads sentence 5. What does that sentence mainly ask the council to weigh?

    • Forty parking spaces against a field that two hundred children use daily.
    • The age of the pond against the age of the parking lot.
    • The cost of building the lot against the cost of keeping the pond for another year.
    • Drivers who want more spaces against residents who want a quiet corner of the town.

11. Think Twice About the Helmet Rule (school newspaper editorial)

    [1] The skate park is the one place on our side of town where a teenager can practice a kickflip without being told to leave. [2] The city's proposal to require helmets would cost every rider about thirty dollars, and that is a week of lunch money for many families. [3] Supporters point out that head injuries at the park rose from five in 2021 to eleven in 2023. [4] That figure deserves a close look, because it counts every injury reported to the front desk, and attendance during the same two years more than doubled. [5] Dr. Lena Ruiz, the sports-medicine physician who wrote the city's report, warns that a helmet cuts the risk of serious head injury considerably. [6] We should take her seriously and still ask whether a thirty-dollar rule helps the riders it claims to protect. [7] A free loaner rack by the gate, paid for by the city, would keep every rider safer without pricing anyone out.

12. 8.

    Ren tags sentence 4 of the editorial on a section map. Which appeal does it mainly use, and what shows it?

    • Reason (logos): it rechecks the injury count against attendance that more than doubled.
    • Trust (ethos): it names the doctor who wrote the city's report and quotes her view.
    • Feeling (pathos): it makes readers worry about injuries at the park and what they cost.
    • Trust (ethos): it shows the writer is careful with facts and can be trusted on the issue.
13. 9.

    Tala wants the sentence in the editorial that mainly borrows trust from an expert. Which sentence is it?

    • [1] The skate park is the one place on our side of town where a teenager can practice a kickflip without being told to leave.
    • [3] Supporters point out that head injuries at the park rose from five in 2021 to eleven in 2023.
    • [5] Dr. Lena Ruiz, the sports-medicine physician who wrote the city's report, warns that a helmet cuts the risk of serious head injury considerably.
    • [2] The city's proposal to require helmets would cost every rider about thirty dollars, and that is a week of lunch money for many families.
14. 10.

    Zee reads sentence 7. What is the main job of that sentence in the editorial?

    • To argue that no rider needs a helmet at the park and that the rule should be dropped.
    • To persuade riders to buy a helmet before the new rule takes effect next year.
    • To show that injuries rose because attendance doubled over the same two years.
    • To offer a plan that answers both the safety concern and the cost concern.