Why the author wrote it, and how the words persuade
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Let Teenagers Sleep
A Parent Speaks to the School Board (speech): [1] Members of the board, my name is Dana Whitcomb, and I am here tonight as the parent of two students at Fairview High School, where the first bell rings at 7:20 every morning. [2] I am asking you to move that bell to 8:30 starting next fall, and I would like to explain why I believe the change is worth the trouble it will cause.
[3] Sleep researchers have found that during the teenage years the body's internal clock shifts later, so most teenagers cannot fall asleep early even when they go to bed early. [4] For that reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 in the morning. [5] Asking a fifteen-year-old to solve equations at 7:20 is like asking a runner to sprint the moment the alarm clock rings, before the legs have even woken up.
[6] Some of you have told me, "The buses cannot run any later without costing the district more money." [7] That concern is fair, and I do not pretend that the bus schedule will be simple to rebuild. [8] But is a bus timetable really more important than whether our students can stay awake in first period? [9] Ask the teachers who see heads on desks at 7:30, ask the coaches who see tired players at practice, and ask the students themselves, who have been telling us this for years.
[10] We can keep a schedule that suits the buses, or we can build one that suits the students who ride them. [11] Other districts have made this change, worked out their bus routes, and kept the later start. [12] Please vote yes on the later start, and give Fairview's students the hour of sleep that their bodies are already asking for.
Ari is filling in the purpose box at the top of the section map. Which choice gives Ms. Whitcomb's purpose and point of view, with a sentence that shows them?
- To warn the board that later buses would cost the district more money; sentence 6 states this concern.
- Fairview High School's bell schedule, which rings at 7:20 each morning; sentence 1 names this topic for the whole speech.
- To get the board to vote for an 8:30 start, because she believes students need the sleep; sentence 12 makes the request.
- To get teachers and coaches to let tired students rest, because they see the problem daily; sentence 9 names them.
Bo is tagging paragraph 2 of the section map. Which device does sentence 5 use, and what does it do?
- A rhetorical question: asking whether early equations are fair lets the board answer the question for itself.
- Repetition: saying "ask the" three times lines up teachers, coaches and students as witnesses.
- An analogy: comparing early equations to a sprint at the alarm makes the problem feel familiar to the board.
- An analogy: comparing students to runners shows that sports practice should also start later in the day.
Esme needs a tag for antithesis: two opposite ideas set side by side in a balanced shape. Which sentence uses antithesis?
- [11] "Other districts have made this change, worked out their bus routes, and kept the later start."
- [4] "For that reason, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30 in the morning."
- [10] "We can keep a schedule that suits the buses, or we can build one that suits the students who ride them."
- [5] "Asking a fifteen-year-old to solve equations at 7:20 is like asking a runner to sprint the moment the alarm clock rings, before the legs have even woken up."
A Protected Lane for Harmon Avenue (speech to the city council)
[1] Good evening, members of the council; I have ridden my bicycle to work along Harmon Avenue for eleven years, and I am here to ask you to approve the protected bike lane on tonight's agenda. [2] A painted stripe tells drivers where cyclists belong, but a lane with a curb or a row of posts actually keeps the two apart.
[3] Last year the city's traffic office counted forty-one crashes between cars and bicycles on Harmon Avenue, more than on any other street in Millbrook. [4] Behind each of those numbers is a person who was riding to a job, to a class, or to a friend's house. [5] How many more of those reports must reach the traffic office before the council decides that a curb is cheaper than a crash?
[6] Several shop owners have written to the council to say, "Removing parking spaces will drive our customers away, and our stores cannot survive that." [7] I understand that worry, because the plan does remove nineteen spaces on the north side of the avenue. [8] Yet the same plan adds a new parking lot behind the library, two blocks away, with room for thirty cars.
[9] A protected lane will make the avenue safer for riders, calmer for drivers, and easier for the people who walk between the shops. [10] The city's engineers estimate that it will cost less than a single year of repaving the avenue, and it should last for many years after that. [11] You have studied this plan for two years, heard from hundreds of residents, and read the reports your staff prepared. [12] Tonight, please vote to build the lane, so that the next person counted on Harmon Avenue is counted as a rider who arrived safely.
Jun is starting the section map with the purpose box. Which choice gives the speaker's purpose and point of view, with a sentence that shows them?
- To get drivers on Harmon Avenue to watch for cyclists and slow down near the shops; sentence 9 names drivers.
- To report last year's crash numbers on Harmon Avenue so that residents know which street is most dangerous; sentence 3 gives them.
- To warn the council that removing parking will drive customers away from the shops; sentence 6 states this view.
- To get the council to approve the protected lane, which the speaker believes will keep riders safe; sentences 1 and 12 make the request.
Letter
Give the Ballfields Recycling Bins (letter to the editor): [1] To the editor: I play shortstop for one of the youth softball teams at the Ridgeway ballfields, and on summer Saturdays I spend nearly as much time at those fields as I do at home. [2] Each of those Saturdays ends the same way, with the trash cans by the bleachers overflowing with plastic water bottles and aluminum cans that could have been recycled.
[3] By the last inning of a doubleheader, the pile beside the snack stand is roughly the size of a small mountain, and it is almost entirely bottles and cans. [4] Aluminum cans can be melted down and made into new cans again and again, yet the cans we drink from at Ridgeway end up buried in a landfill. [5] The league has more than four hundred players on thirty-two teams, and nearly every player brings a drink to every game.
[6] Last spring the parks director told this newspaper, "Recycling bins at parks just fill up with regular trash, so they are not worth what they cost." [7] That has happened in some parks, and I will admit that a bin with no sign beside it can be easy to ignore. [8] But our league could paint the bins blue, put up clear signs, and ask each team to take a turn checking them after games.
[9] The players would do the work, the league would make the signs, and the city would need to supply four bins and a weekly pickup. [10] Is that really too much to ask for fields that hundreds of families visit each weekend? [11] I hope the Parks Department will try the bins for one season and count what goes into them. [12] If the bins fail, we will have learned something, and if they work, Ridgeway will finally stop burying a summer's worth of cans.
Milo is filling in the purpose box for this letter. Which choice gives the writer's purpose and point of view, with a sentence that shows them?
- To explain how aluminum cans are melted down and made into new cans; sentence 4 describes the process.
- To get the Parks Department to try recycling bins at the ballfields for one season; sentence 11 states that hope.
- To show that bins at parks fill up with regular trash and are not worth their cost; sentence 6 says so.
- The bottles and cans that pile up at the Ridgeway ballfields each Saturday; sentences 2 and 3 describe the whole pile.
Noah is tagging the letter's last sentence on the map. Which device does sentence 12 use, and what does it do?
- Antithesis: setting failure against success warns the city that the bins will probably fail.
- Antithesis: "If the bins fail" is set against "if they work," so the trial looks worth doing either way.
- Overstatement: calling the pile beside the snack stand a small mountain makes the waste seem huge.
- A rhetorical question: asking the Parks Department whether the bins will fail makes it admit that they could work.
Pia needs a tag for overstatement: an exaggeration made on purpose for effect. Which sentence uses overstatement?
- [10] "Is that really too much to ask for fields that hundreds of families visit each weekend?"
- [3] "By the last inning of a doubleheader, the pile beside the snack stand is roughly the size of a small mountain, and it is almost entirely bottles and cans."
- [5] "The league has more than four hundred players on thirty-two teams, and nearly every player brings a drink to every game."
- [7] "That has happened in some parks, and I will admit that a bin with no sign beside it can be easy to ignore."
Keep Linden Pool Open Until Labor Day (speech)
[1] Commissioners, I am Grace Pemberton, and for nine summers I have run the snack window at Linden Park Pool, which is scheduled to close on August 15 this year. [2] I am asking the Parks and Recreation Commission to keep the pool open until Labor Day, the first Monday in September, as it stayed open until four years ago.
[3] Anyone who has lived through an August in Linden knows that the last weeks of summer here are a bit warm. [4] Last year the temperature passed ninety degrees on eleven of the sixteen days after the pool closed, and the sprinklers in the park were the main relief that many families could find. [5] Closing a pool in the middle of August is like closing the umbrella stand just as the rain begins.
[6] The commission's chair has explained, "Once the college lifeguards leave, we simply have no one to staff the pool." [7] That is a real problem, and I would never ask anyone to swim without a trained guard on duty. [8] However, the high school swim team has eleven members who already hold lifeguard certificates, and several adults in town have offered to train for the job.
[9] Our families need the pool, our children need the pool, and our older neighbors, who swim laps every morning at seven, need the pool as much as anyone. [10] What is a town pool for, if not for the hottest days of the year? [11] Please vote to extend the season, hire the guards who are ready to work, and let Linden finish its summer in the water instead of on the hot sidewalk. [12] Thank you for listening, and I hope to see each of you at the pool on Labor Day.
Ren is writing the purpose box for this speech. Which choice gives Ms. Pemberton's purpose and point of view, with a sentence that shows them?
- To get the commission to keep the pool open until Labor Day, because she believes late summer is when the town needs it; sentence 2 asks.
- To get older neighbors and families to swim laps in the morning before the pool closes; sentence 9 names them.
- Linden Park Pool's summer season, which is scheduled to end on August 15 this year; sentence 1 names it.
- To recruit swim team members and other adults to train as lifeguards for next summer; sentence 8 mentions them.
Tala is tagging paragraph 2 of the section map. Which device does sentence 3 use, and what does it do?
- Overstatement: it makes the August heat sound far worse than it is, so listeners feel sorry for swimmers and want to help them.
- Analogy: comparing the August closing to closing an umbrella stand as rain begins shows the bad timing.
- Understatement: calling August "a bit warm" shows that the heat is not a serious reason to keep the pool open.
- Understatement: calling a ninety-degree August "a bit warm" makes the point with a wink, and listeners supply the heat.
Zee needs a tag for repetition: the same words said again to build emphasis. Which sentence uses repetition?
- [10] "What is a town pool for, if not for the hottest days of the year?"
- [4] "Last year the temperature passed ninety degrees on eleven of the sixteen days after the pool closed, and the sprinklers in the park were the main relief that many families could find."
- [11] "Please vote to extend the season, hire the guards who are ready to work, and let Linden finish its summer in the water instead of on the hot sidewalk."
- [9] "Our families need the pool, our children need the pool, and our older neighbors, who swim laps every morning at seven, need the pool as much as anyone."