Worksheet

How word choice and sentence shape set the tone

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    Keep the Sycamores (opinion essay)

    [1] The city has proposed removing the six sycamore trees along the 100 block of Main Street, and I want to begin by saying that its reasons are not foolish. [2] The roots have lifted several sections of sidewalk, a few branches have dropped onto parked cars in storms, and the leaves clog the gutters each fall, which costs the city time and money. [3] Those are fair concerns, and the people who raised them have every right to be heard. [4] I have read the city's report carefully, and I understand why replacing the trees with young ones in planters might look, on paper, like a tidy solution.

    [5] But a tidy solution is not the same as a good one. [6] Those sycamores are close to ninety years old. [7] They shade the bus stop where people wait in July heat, they cool the shop fronts, and they turn the block into the one stretch of Main Street where people actually slow down and talk. [8] Cut them, and that shade is gone for a generation. [9] Planters will not bring it back.

    [10] Other towns have kept trees of a similar age by grinding down raised concrete and pouring flexible paving around the roots. [11] The sidewalks can be repaired and the branches can be trimmed, as other cities do every year, for far less than it would cost to replace what we would lose. [12] I ask the council to choose the slower, harder repair, and to keep the trees that make Main Street worth walking.

  2. Milo marks where the essay's tone changes. Where does it shift, and what change in both word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 5: from urgent to fair-minded, as blunt words like "Cut them" give way to "fair concerns," and short sentences to long ones, as the essay moves along.
    • At sentence 5: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words like "fair concerns" give way to "Cut them," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 10: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words give way to "Cut them," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 5: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words give way to "Cut them," and short sentences give way to long ones.

  3. Noah sums up the essay's view. What is the writer's attitude toward removing the sycamores, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Firmly in favor of planters: the essay calls them "a tidy solution" that looks good "on paper."
    • Respectful of the city's reasons but firmly against removal: long sentences grant "fair concerns," then short, blunt ones push back.
    • In favor of removal: the essay calls the city's reasons "fair concerns" and admits that the roots, branches and leaves cause real damage.
    • Neutral: the writer lays out both sides evenly in long, careful sentences and leaves the choice to the council.

  4. Pia marks sentences 8 and 9, where the essay sounds most urgent. Which pairing of word choice and sentence shape creates that urgency?

    • Word choice: blunt words such as "Cut," "gone" and "will not"; sentence shape: two short sentences, the first opening like a command.
    • Word choice: polite words such as "I ask the council"; sentence shape: one long, balanced request.
    • Word choice: blunt words such as "Cut," "gone" and "will not"; sentence shape: two long sentences that weigh both sides.
    • Word choice: gentle words such as "fair concerns" and "every right"; sentence shape: two short sentences, the first opening like a command.

  5. The Pie Table (story)

    [1] The county fair pie contest was supposed to be a joke, the kind of thing you enter because your neighbor Mrs. Lindgren dared you to, and because the entry form was free, and because it seemed funny to put a plain apple pie next to all those towering lemon meringues. [2] Pia and I spent Saturday morning laughing at ourselves, flour on our elbows, arguing about whether "a pinch" of cinnamon meant two fingers or three. [3] We called the pie Old Reliable and wrote the name on the card in fancy curly letters, as if it were a racehorse.

    [4] Then we carried it into the judging tent. [5] The tables were long. [6] The pies were perfect. [7] There were lattice tops woven so tightly that they looked like baskets, crusts brushed until they shone, a peach pie with a crust shaped like a sunflower, and, at the end of the row, our pie, a little lopsided, with a crack along one side where the steam had escaped. [8] Pia set it down very carefully and did not say a word. [9] I did not say anything either.

    [10] When the judges reached Old Reliable, the oldest one cut a slice, tasted it, and then, without saying anything, cut a second slice. [11] We did not win, but the judge wrote "This tastes like somebody's kitchen" on the back of our card, and I have kept that card on my bulletin board ever since. [12] I think it is the best review I will ever get.

  6. Milo marks the moment the pie story stops joking. Where does the tone shift, and what change in word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from joking to hushed, as playful words like "fancy curly letters" give way to "perfect," and rambling sentences to short, flat ones.
    • At sentence 4: from hushed to joking, as flat words like "perfect" give way to "fancy curly letters," and short sentences to rambling ones as the story goes on.
    • At sentence 4: from joking to hushed, as playful words give way to "perfect," while the sentences stay long and rambling.
    • At sentence 10: from joking to hushed, as playful words give way to "perfect," and rambling sentences to short, flat ones.

  7. Noah thinks about how the narrator looks back on the contest. What is the narrator's attitude toward Old Reliable now, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Embarrassed: the narrator remembers the pie as "a little lopsided," with "a crack along one side," set beside the perfect pies in the long row.
    • Quietly proud: after the hushed, short sentences in the tent, the narrator keeps the card as "the best review I will ever get."
    • Warmly approving: the judge writes "This tastes like somebody's kitchen" and cuts a second slice.
    • Joking and careless: the narrator says the contest "was supposed to be a joke" and named the pie like a racehorse.

  8. Ren marks sentences 1 and 2, where the pie story sounds most carefree. Which pairing of word choice and sentence shape creates that carefree feeling?

    • Word choice: flat words such as "long" and "perfect"; sentence shape: very short sentences of four words.
    • Word choice: plain words such as "county fair" and "Saturday morning"; sentence shape: sentences that name a place and a time.
    • Word choice: hushed words such as "very carefully" and "did not say a word"; sentence shape: long, rambling sentences strung together with "and because."
    • Word choice: playful words such as "joke," "dared" and "laughing"; sentence shape: long, rambling sentences strung together with "and because."

  9. A Letter About the Paper Bus Schedule (letter to the editor)

    [1] To the editor: The transit authority announced last week that it will stop printing paper bus schedules next spring and will post its timetables only on its website and its phone app. [2] The authority says the change will save about $40,000 a year in printing costs, and I do not doubt that number. [3] I also understand that most riders now check the times on their phones, and that a printed schedule can be out of date the day after a route changes.

    [4] Still, I ride the Number 9 bus to the senior center three mornings a week, and I see who is sitting next to me. [5] There is the man who keeps his schedule folded in his hat band. [6] There is the woman with no phone at all, who circles her stops in red pen. [7] There are the teenagers whose phones run out of battery by the afternoon, who check the paper copy taped inside the shelter on Oak Avenue. [8] One morning last winter, when the app was down for most of the day, that taped schedule was the only reliable information at the stop. [9] Not one of these riders was asked about the change.

    [10] I would ask the authority to keep printing a small number of schedules for the shelters and the library, so that a rider without a phone is not left guessing at the curb. [11] Forty thousand dollars is real money, but a bus that people cannot find is not a savings. [12] Respectfully, Harriet Molina, Cedar Street.

  10. Ren marks where the letter turns from granting a point to arguing. Where does the tone shift, and what change in word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and a repeated "There is" pattern gives way to balanced sentences.
    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," while the sentences keep the same balanced shape.
    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and balanced sentences give way to a repeated "There is" pattern.
    • At sentence 10: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and balanced sentences give way to a repeated "There is" pattern.

  11. Tala sums up the letter's view of the plan. What is the writer's attitude toward ending paper schedules, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Pleased with the savings: the authority says the change "will save about $40,000 a year in printing costs."
    • Neutral: the writer simply describes who rides the Number 9 bus, without taking a side on the plan.
    • Against it, though fair to the authority: the writer grants the savings, then lists riders one by one in repeated "There is" sentences.
    • In favor of it: the letter closes "Respectfully," which shows that the writer accepts the authority's decision.

  12. The Wind Shift (story)

    [1] For the first hour of the sailing lesson the lake was so calm that Zee and Ren lay back against the sides of the little boat, trailing their hands in the warm water and watching the clouds drift past the top of the mast. [2] Ms. Haugen, the instructor, sat in her own boat a short way off, reading the sky the way other people read a newspaper. [3] Now and then she called out something easy, like "Ease the sail a little," and the boat would glide obediently forward a few lazy feet.

    [4] Then the water to the west went dark. [5] The wind hit. [6] The sail snapped tight, the boat heeled hard, and cold spray came over the side. [7] Ren grabbed the rope and Zee grabbed the tiller, and for three long seconds neither of them knew which way to pull. [8] Across the water, Ms. Haugen's voice came steady and unhurried, as if she were reading out a grocery list: "Let the sail out, point the bow into the wind, and wait for it to pass." [9] They did exactly that, and gradually the boat came upright, and the sail flapped loose and harmless.

    [10] Ten minutes later the gust had blown through, the lake was smooth again, and Ms. Haugen sailed alongside to say, in the same calm voice, that the two of them had just learned the most important lesson of the summer. [11] Back at the dock, Zee and Ren coiled the ropes, hung up the life jackets, and kept describing the gust to anyone who would listen. [12] Zee laughed, still shaky, and Ren said that next time the lake could please send a warning first.

  13. Milo marks the moment the sailing lesson changes. Where does the tone shift, and what change in both word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from alarmed to lazy, as hard words like "snapped" give way to "drift," and short sentences give way to long ones.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as "drift" and "lazy" give way to "snapped" and "hit," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as soft words like "drift" give way to "snapped," while the sentences stay long, slow and drifting.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as soft words like "drift" give way to "snapped," and short sentences give way to long ones.

  14. Noah wonders how the sailing story sees the instructor. What is the narrator's attitude toward Ms. Haugen, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Doubtful: at first Ms. Haugen sits "a short way off" and calls out "something easy," as if not paying attention.
    • Teasing: the story ends with the joke that the lake "could please send a warning first."
    • Neutral: the narrator reports what Ms. Haugen says in plain words, without showing any feeling about her.
    • Admiring: words like "steady and unhurried" and her long, calm instruction stand out against the short, rushed sentences around them.
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How word choice and sentence shape set the tone

Answer Key - Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

  1. Read this first

    Keep the Sycamores (opinion essay)

    [1] The city has proposed removing the six sycamore trees along the 100 block of Main Street, and I want to begin by saying that its reasons are not foolish. [2] The roots have lifted several sections of sidewalk, a few branches have dropped onto parked cars in storms, and the leaves clog the gutters each fall, which costs the city time and money. [3] Those are fair concerns, and the people who raised them have every right to be heard. [4] I have read the city's report carefully, and I understand why replacing the trees with young ones in planters might look, on paper, like a tidy solution.

    [5] But a tidy solution is not the same as a good one. [6] Those sycamores are close to ninety years old. [7] They shade the bus stop where people wait in July heat, they cool the shop fronts, and they turn the block into the one stretch of Main Street where people actually slow down and talk. [8] Cut them, and that shade is gone for a generation. [9] Planters will not bring it back.

    [10] Other towns have kept trees of a similar age by grinding down raised concrete and pouring flexible paving around the roots. [11] The sidewalks can be repaired and the branches can be trimmed, as other cities do every year, for far less than it would cost to replace what we would lose. [12] I ask the council to choose the slower, harder repair, and to keep the trees that make Main Street worth walking.

  2. Milo marks where the essay's tone changes. Where does it shift, and what change in both word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 5: from urgent to fair-minded, as blunt words like "Cut them" give way to "fair concerns," and short sentences to long ones, as the essay moves along.
    • At sentence 5: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words like "fair concerns" give way to "Cut them," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 10: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words give way to "Cut them," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 5: from fair-minded to urgent, as gentle words give way to "Cut them," and short sentences give way to long ones.

  3. Noah sums up the essay's view. What is the writer's attitude toward removing the sycamores, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Firmly in favor of planters: the essay calls them "a tidy solution" that looks good "on paper."
    • Respectful of the city's reasons but firmly against removal: long sentences grant "fair concerns," then short, blunt ones push back.
    • In favor of removal: the essay calls the city's reasons "fair concerns" and admits that the roots, branches and leaves cause real damage.
    • Neutral: the writer lays out both sides evenly in long, careful sentences and leaves the choice to the council.

  4. Pia marks sentences 8 and 9, where the essay sounds most urgent. Which pairing of word choice and sentence shape creates that urgency?

    • Word choice: blunt words such as "Cut," "gone" and "will not"; sentence shape: two short sentences, the first opening like a command.
    • Word choice: polite words such as "I ask the council"; sentence shape: one long, balanced request.
    • Word choice: blunt words such as "Cut," "gone" and "will not"; sentence shape: two long sentences that weigh both sides.
    • Word choice: gentle words such as "fair concerns" and "every right"; sentence shape: two short sentences, the first opening like a command.

  5. The Pie Table (story)

    [1] The county fair pie contest was supposed to be a joke, the kind of thing you enter because your neighbor Mrs. Lindgren dared you to, and because the entry form was free, and because it seemed funny to put a plain apple pie next to all those towering lemon meringues. [2] Pia and I spent Saturday morning laughing at ourselves, flour on our elbows, arguing about whether "a pinch" of cinnamon meant two fingers or three. [3] We called the pie Old Reliable and wrote the name on the card in fancy curly letters, as if it were a racehorse.

    [4] Then we carried it into the judging tent. [5] The tables were long. [6] The pies were perfect. [7] There were lattice tops woven so tightly that they looked like baskets, crusts brushed until they shone, a peach pie with a crust shaped like a sunflower, and, at the end of the row, our pie, a little lopsided, with a crack along one side where the steam had escaped. [8] Pia set it down very carefully and did not say a word. [9] I did not say anything either.

    [10] When the judges reached Old Reliable, the oldest one cut a slice, tasted it, and then, without saying anything, cut a second slice. [11] We did not win, but the judge wrote "This tastes like somebody's kitchen" on the back of our card, and I have kept that card on my bulletin board ever since. [12] I think it is the best review I will ever get.

  6. Milo marks the moment the pie story stops joking. Where does the tone shift, and what change in word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from joking to hushed, as playful words like "fancy curly letters" give way to "perfect," and rambling sentences to short, flat ones.
    • At sentence 4: from hushed to joking, as flat words like "perfect" give way to "fancy curly letters," and short sentences to rambling ones as the story goes on.
    • At sentence 4: from joking to hushed, as playful words give way to "perfect," while the sentences stay long and rambling.
    • At sentence 10: from joking to hushed, as playful words give way to "perfect," and rambling sentences to short, flat ones.

  7. Noah thinks about how the narrator looks back on the contest. What is the narrator's attitude toward Old Reliable now, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Embarrassed: the narrator remembers the pie as "a little lopsided," with "a crack along one side," set beside the perfect pies in the long row.
    • Quietly proud: after the hushed, short sentences in the tent, the narrator keeps the card as "the best review I will ever get."
    • Warmly approving: the judge writes "This tastes like somebody's kitchen" and cuts a second slice.
    • Joking and careless: the narrator says the contest "was supposed to be a joke" and named the pie like a racehorse.

  8. Ren marks sentences 1 and 2, where the pie story sounds most carefree. Which pairing of word choice and sentence shape creates that carefree feeling?

    • Word choice: flat words such as "long" and "perfect"; sentence shape: very short sentences of four words.
    • Word choice: plain words such as "county fair" and "Saturday morning"; sentence shape: sentences that name a place and a time.
    • Word choice: hushed words such as "very carefully" and "did not say a word"; sentence shape: long, rambling sentences strung together with "and because."
    • Word choice: playful words such as "joke," "dared" and "laughing"; sentence shape: long, rambling sentences strung together with "and because."

  9. A Letter About the Paper Bus Schedule (letter to the editor)

    [1] To the editor: The transit authority announced last week that it will stop printing paper bus schedules next spring and will post its timetables only on its website and its phone app. [2] The authority says the change will save about $40,000 a year in printing costs, and I do not doubt that number. [3] I also understand that most riders now check the times on their phones, and that a printed schedule can be out of date the day after a route changes.

    [4] Still, I ride the Number 9 bus to the senior center three mornings a week, and I see who is sitting next to me. [5] There is the man who keeps his schedule folded in his hat band. [6] There is the woman with no phone at all, who circles her stops in red pen. [7] There are the teenagers whose phones run out of battery by the afternoon, who check the paper copy taped inside the shelter on Oak Avenue. [8] One morning last winter, when the app was down for most of the day, that taped schedule was the only reliable information at the stop. [9] Not one of these riders was asked about the change.

    [10] I would ask the authority to keep printing a small number of schedules for the shelters and the library, so that a rider without a phone is not left guessing at the curb. [11] Forty thousand dollars is real money, but a bus that people cannot find is not a savings. [12] Respectfully, Harriet Molina, Cedar Street.

  10. Ren marks where the letter turns from granting a point to arguing. Where does the tone shift, and what change in word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and a repeated "There is" pattern gives way to balanced sentences.
    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," while the sentences keep the same balanced shape.
    • At sentence 4: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and balanced sentences give way to a repeated "There is" pattern.
    • At sentence 10: from agreeable to pointed, as "I do not doubt" gives way to "Still," and balanced sentences give way to a repeated "There is" pattern.

  11. Tala sums up the letter's view of the plan. What is the writer's attitude toward ending paper schedules, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Pleased with the savings: the authority says the change "will save about $40,000 a year in printing costs."
    • Neutral: the writer simply describes who rides the Number 9 bus, without taking a side on the plan.
    • Against it, though fair to the authority: the writer grants the savings, then lists riders one by one in repeated "There is" sentences.
    • In favor of it: the letter closes "Respectfully," which shows that the writer accepts the authority's decision.

  12. The Wind Shift (story)

    [1] For the first hour of the sailing lesson the lake was so calm that Zee and Ren lay back against the sides of the little boat, trailing their hands in the warm water and watching the clouds drift past the top of the mast. [2] Ms. Haugen, the instructor, sat in her own boat a short way off, reading the sky the way other people read a newspaper. [3] Now and then she called out something easy, like "Ease the sail a little," and the boat would glide obediently forward a few lazy feet.

    [4] Then the water to the west went dark. [5] The wind hit. [6] The sail snapped tight, the boat heeled hard, and cold spray came over the side. [7] Ren grabbed the rope and Zee grabbed the tiller, and for three long seconds neither of them knew which way to pull. [8] Across the water, Ms. Haugen's voice came steady and unhurried, as if she were reading out a grocery list: "Let the sail out, point the bow into the wind, and wait for it to pass." [9] They did exactly that, and gradually the boat came upright, and the sail flapped loose and harmless.

    [10] Ten minutes later the gust had blown through, the lake was smooth again, and Ms. Haugen sailed alongside to say, in the same calm voice, that the two of them had just learned the most important lesson of the summer. [11] Back at the dock, Zee and Ren coiled the ropes, hung up the life jackets, and kept describing the gust to anyone who would listen. [12] Zee laughed, still shaky, and Ren said that next time the lake could please send a warning first.

  13. Milo marks the moment the sailing lesson changes. Where does the tone shift, and what change in both word choice and sentence shape causes it?

    • At sentence 4: from alarmed to lazy, as hard words like "snapped" give way to "drift," and short sentences give way to long ones.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as "drift" and "lazy" give way to "snapped" and "hit," and long sentences give way to short ones.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as soft words like "drift" give way to "snapped," while the sentences stay long, slow and drifting.
    • At sentence 4: from lazy to alarmed, as soft words like "drift" give way to "snapped," and short sentences give way to long ones.

  14. Noah wonders how the sailing story sees the instructor. What is the narrator's attitude toward Ms. Haugen, and how do word choice and sentence shape show it?

    • Doubtful: at first Ms. Haugen sits "a short way off" and calls out "something easy," as if not paying attention.
    • Teasing: the story ends with the joke that the lake "could please send a warning first."
    • Neutral: the narrator reports what Ms. Haugen says in plain words, without showing any feeling about her.
    • Admiring: words like "steady and unhurried" and her long, calm instruction stand out against the short, rushed sentences around them.