Write an argument that weighs the other side
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Challenge Me
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Solar Lights on the Riverbend Path (argument draft)
[1] The Riverbend Path is the only paved route between the east side neighborhoods and Riverbend High School, yet its two-mile stretch along the river has no lights of any kind. [2] This letter asks the parks board to install solar-powered lights along the path, spaced about one hundred feet apart, before the days grow short next fall. [3] At its September meeting, the board explained that its main concern about any new lighting was the cost of digging trenches to bury electric cables along the riverbank.
[4] In December the sun sets before five o'clock, so students who leave practice or rehearsal at six travel the path in complete darkness. [5] A count by the school's athletics office found that about ninety students use the path after sunset on a typical winter weekday, most of them on bicycles. [6] Without lights, riders cannot see the roots and puddles that cross the pavement, and two students reported falls on the path last winter.
[7] Some people think solar lights are a problem. [8] But they are wrong about this. [9] Solar lights are also modern and would look attractive beside the water.
[10] Lights would also let walkers and runners from the neighborhood use the path on winter evenings instead of the narrow shoulder of Route 4. [11] The total price of the solar model, including installation, is listed in the bid that the parks office received from a local electrician in October. [12] So that is why solar lights are good.
Ari sees that sentences [7] and [8] wave the other side away. Which pair should replace them, granting the counterclaim's strength and then naming its limit with evidence?
- Critics who doubt solar lights have plainly not bothered to look at the newer models on the market. The model the city tested last January stayed lit for eleven hours a night, longer than the path is used.
- Critics are right that solar lights store less charge in winter, when days are short and skies are often gray. However, solar lights cost far less to install than wired lights, because no electric cable has to be buried in a trench along the riverbank.
- Critics are right that solar lights store less charge in winter, when days are short and skies are often gray. However, the model the city tested last January stayed lit for eleven hours a night, longer than the path is used.
- Critics are right that solar lights store less charge in winter, when days are short and skies are often gray. On cloudy days, some lights can grow dim well before the last students have gone home.
Bo knows this letter goes to the parks board. Which sentence should replace [9] so that it answers the concern the board raised in [3]?
- Lighting the path would let about ninety students travel home safely after practice and rehearsal on dark winter evenings when the sun sets early.
- Surely even the parks board can understand that solar lights are not exactly a new or complicated idea.
- Because each solar light carries its own panel and battery, the path would need no trenches and no buried cables along the river.
- Solar lights can be aimed downward, so they would not shine into the windows of the riverside apartments at night.
Refinish the Oakmont Gym Floor (argument draft)
[1] The wooden floor in the Oakmont High School gymnasium was installed in 1994, and after thirty years of games, assemblies and physical education classes, its finish is scratched, dull and slippery in places. [2] This letter asks the school board to sand and refinish the existing floor this summer instead of tearing it out and replacing it with a new one. [3] In its spring budget notes, the board stated that its first requirement for any gym project was that the floor be ready before basketball tryouts in November.
[4] Refinishing would cost far less than replacement and would fix the slippery patches that worry the physical education staff. [5] The district's flooring contractor quoted thirty-eight thousand dollars to refinish the floor and about three hundred thousand dollars to remove it and install new maple boards. [6] The contractor's inspection also found that the old boards are solid and still thick enough to be sanded down several more times.
[7] A new floor might be nicer. [8] Still, refinishing is the way to go. [9] Also, refinishing the floor would let the school repaint the team logo at center court in brighter colors.
[10] The physical education staff has reported eleven slips on the worn area near the north basket since September, though none of them caused a serious injury. [11] A fresh finish would give students firm footing again as soon as it has dried and cured over the summer. [12] So the board should refinish the floor.
Jun sees that sentences [7] and [8] wave the other side away. Which pair should replace them, granting the counterclaim's strength and then naming its limit with evidence?
- Supporters of replacement are right that a new floor would go longer before it needed work again. A new maple floor would also look brighter in photographs of games and assemblies.
- Supporters of replacement seem to want shiny new things no matter what they cost the district. However, the contractor found enough wood left for several more sandings, so the old floor can stay sound for many years, which is a point the board should weigh.
- Supporters of replacement are right that a new floor would go longer before it needed work again. However, refinishing uses finishes with little odor, so nearby classrooms would not be bothered by fumes.
- Supporters of replacement are right that a new floor would go longer before it needed work again. However, the contractor found enough wood left for several more sandings, so the old floor can stay sound for many years at a tenth of the price.
Kira knows this letter goes to the school board. Which sentence should replace [9] so that it answers the requirement the board stated in [3]?
- Refinishing takes three weeks in July, while a new floor takes twelve weeks and could not start until September, past tryouts.
- The board surely knows by now that refinishing is the obvious choice that any careful planner would make.
- Refinishing uses water-based finishes with little odor, so teachers in the classrooms near the gym would not be bothered by fumes.
- Refinishing would save the district about two hundred sixty thousand dollars compared with a brand-new floor.
Luz finds sentence [12] a weak ending. Which conclusion follows from the argument and says why it matters?
- The board should also replace the gym's lights and scoreboard this summer while the floor is being refinished.
- In conclusion, the school board should sand and refinish the gym floor this summer instead of replacing it.
- Refinishing would give students firm footing by tryouts for about a tenth of the price, so the board could fix a real hazard without a costly rebuild.
- Refinishing the floor this summer would end injuries in the gymnasium for good and give Oakmont High School the finest athletic facilities in the state.
Art Classes in the Empty Storefront (argument draft)
[1] The storefront at 114 Main Street in Garrison has stood empty for two years, its windows papered over, between a hardware store and a bakery that both stay open until eight. [2] This letter asks the Garrison Downtown Business Association to support a plan to let the community art center hold evening classes in the empty storefront until a paying tenant is found. [3] At its last meeting, the association said that it would back any use of the space that brings more customers past the shops on Main Street after five o'clock.
[4] The art center has outgrown its two rooms in the basement of the old firehouse, and it turned away more than forty students from its fall classes. [5] Classes in the storefront would put light, color and activity in a window that now shows brown paper to the people who walk by. [6] The center would pay the electric and water bills and keep the space clean, at no cost to the building's owner or to the association.
[7] Some people think this is a bad idea. [8] But they are mistaken. [9] Also, the students' paintings would look wonderful in the front window.
[10] The center's director has offered to sign an agreement to leave the space on sixty days' notice whenever a paying tenant signs a lease. [11] Similar arrangements have been tried in other towns in the region, and the association could check their results before it decides. [12] So the association should support the classes.
Noah knows this letter goes to the business association. Which sentence should replace [9] so that it answers the condition the association stated in [3]?
- The art center would use washable, water-based paints, so the building's owner would not need to worry about stains or strong fumes.
- Surely even the business association can see that a few art classes are not exactly a risky or complicated idea.
- Classes in the storefront would let the art center accept the more than forty students it had to turn away from its fall classes.
- Evening classes would bring about sixty students and their families down Main Street twice a week, between six and eight, while the neighboring shops are still open.
Pia finds sentence [12] a weak ending. Which conclusion follows from the argument and says why it matters?
- In conclusion, the association should support evening art classes in the empty storefront at 114 Main Street.
- Art classes in one storefront would end empty shops in Garrison for good and make Main Street the busiest street in the county.
- The association should also ask the town to close Main Street to cars on summer evenings for outdoor art shows.
- Classes would fill a dark window and bring evening customers past the shops at no cost to the owner, so Main Street would gain life while the space waits for a tenant.
Swim Lessons for Fourth Graders (argument draft)
[1] The Ashby Municipal Pool is the one public pool within ten miles of town, yet many children in Ashby reach the age of ten without ever learning how to swim safely. [2] This letter asks the recreation department to offer free swim lessons to fourth graders in the Ashby schools, during school hours, each spring. [3] In its reply to an earlier request, the department wrote that it could not add any program that needed more lifeguards than the four it already schedules each morning.
[4] Swimming is an essential safety skill, and most children learn it more easily at nine or ten than they would as teenagers or adults. [5] A survey of Ashby fourth-grade families last fall found that about four in ten children could not yet swim the length of the pool. [6] Lessons during school hours would also reach children whose families cannot easily drive them to the pool on evenings or weekends because of their work schedules.
[7] Some swimmers might not like this. [8] But it is for a good cause. [9] Also, the lessons would be enjoyable and exciting for the children who take them.
[10] The school district already runs buses to the town library for a reading program each spring, so the same buses could carry classes to the pool. [11] The lessons would run for six weeks, two mornings a week, for each fourth-grade class, and every family would receive a short progress report at the end. [12] So the department should start the lessons.
Ren sees that sentences [7] and [8] wave the other side away. Which pair should replace them, granting the counterclaim's strength and then naming its limit with evidence?
- Lap swimmers are right that the lessons would take two of the pool's six lanes on weekday mornings. However, the pool's sign-in sheets show an average of five lap swimmers between nine and ten, too few to fill four lanes.
- Lap swimmers are right that the lessons would take two of the pool's six lanes on weekday mornings. However, the lessons would be free, so families would not need to pay anything for them.
- Lap swimmers who object should remember that the pool belongs to the whole town, not to them. However, the pool's sign-in sheets show an average of five lap swimmers between nine and ten, too few to fill four lanes.
- Lap swimmers are right that the lessons would take two of the pool's six lanes on weekday mornings. Swimmers who train for races would also have to share their lanes more often.
Tala knows this letter goes to the recreation department. Which sentence should replace [9] so that it answers the limit the department set in [3]?
- Instructors from the school district would teach while the guards already on duty watched the pool, so no new lifeguards would be needed.
- Each class would arrive and leave by school bus, so the lessons would add no cars to the pool's small parking lot.
- Lessons would teach a basic safety skill to the four in ten Ashby fourth graders who, according to the fall survey, cannot yet swim the length of the pool.
- The department should realize that a few swim lessons are hardly the complicated program its staff seems to imagine.
Zee finds sentence [12] a weak ending. Which conclusion follows from the argument and says why it matters?
- Free lessons would turn Ashby's children into strong swimmers and end water accidents in the town for good.
- The department should also offer free lessons to middle school students, high school students and adults on weekend afternoons throughout the year.
- Free lessons would give the four in ten who cannot swim a basic safety skill, with no new lifeguards, at the age when it is easiest to learn.
- In conclusion, the recreation department should offer free swim lessons to Ashby fourth graders each spring.