Put ideas in a logical order
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
A Sidewalk on Mill Hollow Road (argument draft)
[1] Mill Hollow Road runs for half a mile between the Westbrook neighborhood and the public library, and along that whole stretch there is no sidewalk, just a gravel shoulder. [2] The county should build a sidewalk on the north side of Mill Hollow Road so that people can walk to the library safely.
[3] Some residents argue that a sidewalk would cost too much, and they point out that the county has already promised this year's road money to repaving Route 6. [4] That concern is fair, because the repaving was approved first and cannot be delayed. [5] However, the county's grant office reports that the state's Safe Walking fund would pay for most of the sidewalk, so the repaving would not lose a dollar.
[6] A county count in June recorded an average of 140 walkers a day on the shoulder, many of them pushing strollers or carrying library books. [7] Because the shoulder is barely three feet wide, the same count found that drivers swerved across the center line to pass walkers more than sixty times a day. [8] Mill Hollow Road was named for a grain mill that stood beside the creek more than a century ago.
[9] A sidewalk might also encourage more people to take evening walks, which would make the neighborhood feel friendlier. [10] Last fall, a library volunteer who walks to work twisted an ankle in a rut on the shoulder and missed two weeks of shifts. [11] Each of those swerves puts both the walker and an oncoming driver in danger.
[12] A sidewalk would turn a risky half mile into a safe route to one of the busiest buildings in town. [13] The county board should apply for the state grant this winter.
Ari checks the writer's plan: claim, reasons building to the strongest, the counterclaim and its limit, then the conclusion. Which order of the five paragraphs follows that plan?
- Paragraphs 1, 4, 3, 2, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 2, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 3, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 4, 3, 5, 2
Bo wants one revision that cuts the sentence breaking its paragraph's unity and moves the sentence that sits in the wrong paragraph. Which revision does both?
- Cut [8] and leave [11] where it is.
- Keep [8] and move [11] to follow [7].
- Cut [8] and move [11] to follow [7].
- Cut [4] and move [11] to follow [7].
A Ramp for the Town Hall (argument draft)
[1] The front entrance of the Carver Falls Town Hall is reached by eleven stone steps, and the other door is a loading entrance at the back that is often locked. [2] The town should build a ramp at the front entrance so that every resident can enter the building through the same door.
[3] The town clerk's records show that in the past year, staff were called to the back door 212 times to let in people who could not climb the steps, including parents with strollers and older residents with walkers. [4] On 37 of those occasions the visitor waited more than ten minutes, and on 9 the visitor left before anyone came. [5] The stone steps were cut from granite taken from a quarry north of town in 1902. [6] That concern deserves real weight, since the steps appear in many of the town's oldest photographs.
[7] Last spring, a resident who uses a wheelchair waited twenty minutes at the back door before a clerk heard the bell. [8] A ramp would also make it easier for workers to wheel in heavy boxes of records and supplies.
[9] A front ramp would let the town hall welcome every resident while keeping the steps that people value. [10] The town meeting should approve a design study this spring.
[11] Some residents want to keep the front of the building exactly as it is, because the town hall is more than a hundred years old and its stone steps are part of the town's history. [12] Yet a ramp of matching stone can run along the side wall without removing a single step, as the library in nearby Elm Grove did in 2019.
Jun plans one revision: remove the sentence that breaks its paragraph's unity and move the sentence that belongs elsewhere. Which revision does both jobs?
- Cut [5] and leave [6] where it is.
- Cut [8] and move [6] to follow [11].
- Cut [5] and move [6] to follow [11].
- Keep [5] and move [6] to follow [11].
Kira lays the five paragraphs against the writer's plan: claim, reasons building to the strongest, the counterclaim and its limit, then the conclusion. Which paragraph order fits the plan?
- Paragraphs 1, 3, 2, 4, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 5, 3, 2, 4
- Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 5, 4
- Paragraphs 1, 3, 2, 5, 4
A Restroom at Ferris Park (argument draft)
[1] Ferris Park has the largest playground in the town of Hadley, two ball fields and a picnic shelter, but no restroom, and the nearest public one is a fifteen-minute walk away at the library. [2] The town should build a small restroom beside the Ferris Park playground.
[3] A restroom might also persuade more families to hold birthday parties and reunions at the park. [4] One grandmother who brings two grandchildren every week says the family now goes home after an hour, as soon as someone needs a restroom.
[5] Some residents oppose the building because park restrooms must be cleaned and repaired, and they point to the Hadley pool, whose restroom had to close twice last summer for repairs. [6] Their worry is reasonable, since a restroom that is not kept up is worse than none at all. [7] However, the parks department already sends a crew to empty the Ferris Park trash cans each morning, and its director says the same crew could clean a restroom in twenty minutes. [8] In a follow-up survey of the families who wrote those cards, most said they had cut their visits short because there was no restroom nearby.
[9] A restroom at Ferris Park would let families stay as long as they like at the town's busiest playground. [10] The town council should include it in next year's park budget.
[11] Last year, the comment box at Ferris Park collected 212 cards, and 138 of them asked for a restroom, more than any other request. [12] The park is named for Dorothy Ferris, who gave the land to the town in 1952. [13] The department's own counts show that families at the playground stay an average of fifty minutes, far less than at the town's two parks that have restrooms.
In the writer's plan, the paragraph about upkeep comes after the paragraph with the 212 comment cards. Why?
- Because the plan makes the case first and then weighs the other side, so the upkeep worry follows the reasons.
- Because a restroom closed for repairs is a vivid scene that holds readers' attention near the end.
- Because the pool restroom closed last summer, after the comment cards were collected, so it follows them in time.
- Because the upkeep paragraph is the longest in the draft, and the longest paragraph belongs near the end.
Noah checks the draft against the writer's plan: claim, reasons building to the strongest, the counterclaim and its limit, then the conclusion. Which order of the paragraphs follows it?
- Paragraphs 1, 2, 5, 4, 3
- Paragraphs 1, 3, 2, 5, 4
- Paragraphs 1, 2, 5, 3, 4
- Paragraphs 1, 5, 2, 3, 4
Pia looks for one revision that removes the sentence that drifts from its paragraph's point and moves the one in the wrong paragraph. Which revision does both?
- Cut [12] and move [8] to follow [11].
- Cut [6] and move [8] to follow [11].
- Cut [12] and leave [8] where it is.
- Keep [12] and move [8] to follow [11].
Open the Science Lab on Saturdays (argument draft)
[1] The science lab at Calloway High School holds microscopes, balances and a fume hood that most students can use just during a forty-five-minute class period. [2] The school should open the lab on Saturday mornings so that students can work on long experiments while a teacher supervises.
[3] Of the 58 students who entered the regional science fair last year, 41 told the science department that they had to shorten or change an experiment because they could not reach the lab outside class. [4] The lab was remodeled in 2015, when the old wooden counters were replaced with stone ones. [5] In the same year, the department turned away 23 requests to use the lab after school, because each afternoon slot was already taken by a club.
[6] Some teachers argue that Saturday hours would add to their workload, since a teacher must be present whenever students handle equipment. [7] That is a real cost, because teachers already supervise clubs on weekday afternoons.
[8] Saturday hours might also spark a lifelong interest in science for students who now see the lab as just another classroom. [9] Last year, one senior had to abandon a plant-growth experiment for the regional fair because the seedlings needed measuring on weekends. [10] Yet four teachers have already volunteered to take turns, so each of them would supervise one Saturday a month.
[11] Saturday lab hours would let students finish the experiments that they already want to do. [12] The principal should begin with a trial during the spring term.
Ren compares the paragraphs with the writer's plan: claim, reasons building to the strongest, the counterclaim and its limit, then the conclusion. Which order follows the plan?
- Paragraphs 1, 4, 2, 5, 3
- Paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 3, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 3, 4, 2, 5
- Paragraphs 1, 4, 2, 3, 5
In the writer's plan, the paragraph with the senior's plant experiment comes right after the claim. Why?
- Because the paragraph about the senior is short, and a short paragraph eases readers into the reasons.
- Because the plan opens the reasons with the least support, so the hope and the single senior come before the counts.
- Because one senior's lost seedlings are a lively story that catches readers' interest at the start.
- Because the senior's experiment happened last year, before the other events that the draft describes.
Zee needs one revision that cuts the sentence that breaks its paragraph and moves the sentence that answers the wrong paragraph. Which revision does both?
- Cut [4] and leave [10] where it is.
- Keep [4] and move [10] to follow [7].
- Cut [8] and move [10] to follow [7].
- Cut [4] and move [10] to follow [7].
