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A Speaker's Reasons and Evidence is a free printable Grade 4 English worksheet on identifying what supports a speaker's point, aligned to Common Core standard SL.4.3. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 15 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.

A Speaker's Reasons and Evidence

SL.4.3

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Wolves and the Rivers

Wolves were shot out of Yellowstone by 1926. Fourteen were brought back in 1995. With no wolves, elk had grazed the valleys freely for seventy years. Young willow and aspen were eaten as soon as they grew. The wolves killed some elk. More importantly, they changed where elk would stand still. Open valley floors became dangerous, so the elk stopped lingering there. Willow and aspen grew back along the rivers. Beavers, which need willow, returned. Their dams made ponds. Roots held the banks. The rivers narrowed, deepened and moved less. Some researchers describe this as wolves changing the shape of rivers, though others argue the effect has been overstated.

  1. 1. Quote the words that explain the wolves' most important effect.
  2. 2. The author reports a disagreement. What is it, and how is it presented?
  3. 3. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How Penicillin Was Found

In 1928 Alexander Fleming went on holiday and left a stack of dishes on a bench. Each held a colony of bacteria. When he came back, one dish had a spot of mould on it. Around the mould was a clear ring where the bacteria had died. Fleming realised the mould was producing something that killed bacteria. He named it penicillin and published a paper. Almost nobody noticed. Ten years later, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain read that paper and tried to make penicillin in quantity. That turned out to be the hard part: it took two thousand litres of mould fluid to treat one patient. By 1944 the problem had been solved and penicillin was reaching soldiers in the field.

  1. 1. Quote the sentence that explains why Fleming's discovery went nowhere at first.
  2. 2. The text says the hard part was not the discovery. What evidence supports that?
  3. 3. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?

LessonPrint · SL.4.3 · Set 15 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — A Speaker's Reasons and Evidence

Set 15. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. "More importantly, they changed where elk would stand still." 2. Some researchers credit wolves with reshaping rivers; others say the effect is overstated — both are reported without choosing. 3. To explain a chain of effects and be honest about the dispute — the last sentence gives both sides.
  2. 2.1. "He named it penicillin and published a paper. Almost nobody noticed." 2. It took ten years for anyone to act, and two thousand litres of fluid to treat one patient. 3. To correct the idea that penicillin was one lucky accident — the second half is all about the work that followed.

More practice for SL.4.3

Pick out a speaker's reasons and evidence for each point.

Teaching this next? A Speaker's Reasons and Evidence is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 4 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.4.3 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.