Why the author wrote it, and how the words persuade

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Adopt a Drain, Protect the Creek (newsletter column)

   [1] Every street in Oak Hollow has at least one storm drain, and most of us walk past ours a dozen times a week without giving it a single thought. [2] In Oak Hollow, as in many towns, those drains carry rainwater straight to Miller Creek without sending it through a treatment plant first. [3] A storm drain, in other words, is the creek's front door, and whatever we leave on the doorstep is carried inside.

   [4] In the fall, wet leaves pile up on the grates, the water has nowhere to go, and by evening the corner of Elm and Second is a shallow pond. [5] In the spring, the same drains swallow candy wrappers, plastic bags and grass clippings, and the creek is left to carry them downstream.

   [6] Some neighbors have told me, "Keeping the drains clear is the city's job, not ours." [7] The city does sweep the streets, but its crew reaches each block only twice a year, and leaves fall every day for two months. [8] That is why the Public Works office started Adopt-a-Drain, which lets any household sign up to keep one drain clear.

   [9] Adopting a drain takes about ten minutes a week, a rake and a pair of gloves, and the city even provides the gloves. [10] If you can carry a bag of groceries to your door, you can carry a bag of leaves to the curb. [11] Who would leave trash on a friend's front step and simply walk away? [12] Sign up at the front desk of the community center this month, choose a drain on your own block, and help Miller Creek run clean again.

2. 1.

   Ari is tagging the column's first paragraph on the map. How does the analogy in sentence 3 serve the columnist's purpose?

   • Calling a drain "the creek's front door" shows that litter left in the street ends up in the creek, so a clear drain matters.
   • By setting fall against spring in two matching sentences, it shows that the drains cause trouble in more than one season.
   • By calling a drain a front door, it shows that each drain belongs to a household, so the city can stop sweeping the streets itself.
   • By asking readers what they leave on the doorstep, it makes them admit that they rarely think about their drain.
3. 2.

   Bo is filling in the audience line of the purpose box. Who is the column written for, and which technique shows it?

   • Readers who believe that "keeping the drains clear is the city's job," a view the column repeats and supports.
   • Neighbors who could adopt a drain: the column speaks to them as "you" and ends by asking them to sign up.
   • Neighbors who could adopt a drain: the column quotes pollution figures from Public Works to persuade them.
   • The city's street crew: the column asks the crew to sweep each block more than twice a year.
4. 3.

   Esme is filling in the box for paragraph 2 (sentences 4 and 5). What does the paragraph do, and which device carries it?

   • It shows the problem in two seasons, using the analogy of a front door that leads into the creek.
   • It gives the column's call to action, using parallelism: "In the fall" and "In the spring" open two matching sentences.
   • It shows the problem in two seasons, using parallelism: "In the fall" and "In the spring" open matching sentences.
   • It shows the problem in two seasons, using a rhetorical question about where the leaves will go.

5. Editorial

   Lend Tools, Not Just Books (newspaper editorial): [1] The Brookfield Public Library already lends far more than books, from museum passes to board games to a telescope that is booked months in advance. [2] This newspaper believes that the library board should take one more step and open a tool lending library in the empty room at the back of the Main Street branch.

   [3] Most households need a ladder, a power drill or a tile cutter only a few times a year, yet each family buys its own and leaves it in the garage the rest of the time. [4] A shared shelf of tools would save residents money, free up space in their garages, and keep good equipment from rusting unused. [5] Tool libraries of this kind already run in a number of American cities, often with volunteers who show borrowers how to use each tool safely.

   [6] The library's director has argued, "A library is for books, and a drill is not a book." [7] We respect her love of reading, which has made our library one of the busiest in the county. [8] But a library has always been more than a room full of books; it is a place where neighbors share what few of them could own alone.

   [9] A book teaches you how to fix a fence; a tool library hands you the hammer to do it. [10] Why should a family spend two hundred dollars on a saw that it will use for one afternoon? [11] The startup cost is small, since local builders have already offered to donate the first forty tools. [12] We urge the library board to approve a one-year trial at its June meeting and to let Brookfield borrow its way to a better-built town.

6. 4.

   Jun is tagging the editorial's last paragraph. How does the antithesis in sentence 9 serve the editorial's purpose?

   • It sets a book's instructions against a tool library's hammer, so readers see that tools would finish what books begin.
   • It sets a book against a hammer to show that tools are more useful than books, so the library should lend fewer books.
   • It sets a book against a hammer to teach readers how to repair their own fences at home.
   • It asks why a family should buy a saw for one afternoon, so readers answer for themselves that it should not.
7. 5.

   Kira is filling in the audience line. Who must act on this editorial, and how does the writing show it?

   • The library board: the editorial compares the board to builders who need the right tools for the job.
   • The library board: sentences 2 and 12 name the board and ask it to approve a one-year trial at its June meeting.
   • The library's director, whose view that "a library is for books" the editorial agrees with.
   • Local builders: sentence 11 asks them to donate the first forty tools to the library.
8. 6.

   Luz is filling in the box for paragraph 2 (sentences 3 to 5). What does the paragraph do, and which device carries its point?

   • It grants a point to the other side, and sentence 4 lists that point in parallel: "save," "free up" and "keep."
   • It gives the reasons for a tool library, and sentence 4 lists them in parallel: "save," "free up" and "keep."
   • It gives the reasons for a tool library, and sentence 9 carries them by setting a book against a hammer.
   • It gives the reasons for a tool library, and sentence 4 carries them with a question about garages.

9. Speech

   A Crossing Guard for Pell and Cortland (student speech to the school board): [1] Members of the school board, my name is Milo, I am in tenth grade at Fairhaven High, and each school morning I cross the corner of Pell Street and Cortland Avenue with about two hundred other students. [2] I am here to ask the board to pay for a crossing guard at that corner from 7:15 to 8:00 each morning and from 2:30 to 3:15 each afternoon.

   [3] The corner has four lanes of traffic, a bus stop on one side, and a walk signal that gives people about fifteen seconds to get across. [4] Fifteen seconds is enough time for a runner, but it is not enough time for a freshman carrying a trombone case. [5] Last month a delivery van turned right on red while a group of us was still in the crosswalk, and the driver stopped about an arm's length away. [6] I would call that a close call, though my friends had stronger words for it.

   [7] One board member said at the last meeting, "High school students are old enough to cross a street on their own." [8] We are old enough to cross a street, but we are not old enough to control the drivers who are rushing to work at 7:30.

   [9] A part-time guard would cost the district far less each year than one new school bus, and a guard can see a turning car before a student can. [10] Will the board wait for something worse than a close call before it acts? [11] Please put a guard at Pell and Cortland, so that the biggest worry on the way to school is the history quiz. [12] Thank you for listening to me and to the forty classmates who signed the letter I left with your secretary.

10. 7.

    Noah is tagging paragraph 2 of the section map. How does the understatement in sentence 6 help Milo's speech?

    • Calling the near miss just "a close call" lets the board feel the danger without the speaker sounding dramatic.
    • By setting a runner against a freshman with a trombone, it shows that fifteen seconds is too short.
    • By exaggerating how close the van came, it makes the board picture a crash that did not happen.
    • Calling the near miss "a close call" shows that the van stopped in time, so the corner is safe enough as it is.
11. 8.

    Ren is filling in the box for paragraph 2 (sentences 3 to 6). What does the paragraph do, and which device does sentence 4 add?

    • It gives the speech's call to action, and sentence 4 sharpens it with antithesis: a runner set against a freshman.
    • It shows the danger at the corner, and sentence 4 sharpens it with an analogy comparing the street to a racetrack.
    • It shows the danger at the corner, and sentence 4 sharpens it by asking whether the board will wait for worse.
    • It shows the danger at the corner, and sentence 4 sharpens it with antithesis: a runner set against a freshman with a trombone.

12. Letter

    Quieter Mornings on Larkspur Lane (letter to the town council): [1] To the Ashby Town Council: I work the night shift as a nurse at the county hospital, which means that I come home at eight in the morning and try to sleep until three. [2] For the past two autumns, my sleep has ended at 7:30 almost every weekday, when the first gas leaf blower starts up on Larkspur Lane.

    [3] I am not asking the council to ban leaf blowers, and I am not asking anyone to rake a whole yard by hand. [4] I am asking for a simple rule that keeps gas blowers off between eight at night and nine in the morning on weekdays, and until ten on weekends. [5] Several nearby towns already have rules of this kind, and their lawns look just as tidy as ours.

    [6] The landscaping crews who work on our street have told me, "We have to start early, or we cannot fit in all our customers before dark." [7] I understand that their days are long, and the rule I propose still leaves them most of the daylight in October. [8] A crew could rake or use a quieter electric blower before nine and save the gas blower for later in the morning.

    [9] A gas leaf blower at 7:30 is like a rooster that never learned when to stop crowing. [10] Ask a parent with a sleeping baby, ask a student studying for a test, ask anyone who works at night, and you will hear the same answer. [11] Is a tidy lawn at dawn worth a whole street's lost sleep? [12] Please pass the rule before the leaves start falling next year, and let Larkspur Lane enjoy its mornings in peace.

13. 9.

    Tala is tagging the letter's last paragraph. How does the repetition in sentence 10 serve the writer's purpose?

    • Comparing a blower to a rooster that keeps on crowing shows how early and endless the noise feels.
    • Repeating "ask" lines up a parent, a student and a night worker, so the problem seems shared by many neighbors.
    • Repeating "ask" shows that the writer wants the council to survey the neighbors on Larkspur Lane before it passes any rule.
    • Asking the council a question it cannot answer makes it admit that the rule is needed.
14. 10.

    Ari is filling in the box for paragraph 2 (sentences 3 to 5). What does the paragraph do, and which device shapes it?

    • It narrows the request to a limited rule, using a comparison between a leaf blower and a rooster.
    • It reports the crews' view that they "have to start early," using parallel "I am not asking" clauses.
    • It explains how the writer's sleep is cut short, using parallel "I am not asking" clauses before "I am asking."
    • It narrows the request to a limited rule, using parallel "I am not asking" clauses before "I am asking."