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A Speaker's Claims and Support is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on summarising claims and explaining what supports each, aligned to Common Core standard SL.5.3. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask 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 16 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

A Speaker's Claims and Support

SL.5.3

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why the Thames Froze

Between 1309 and 1814 the Thames froze hard enough to walk on at least twenty-four times. Since 1814 it has not once. The usual explanation is that the climate has warmed. That is part of it, and not most of it. Old London Bridge had nineteen arches on wide stone piers. The piers took up so much of the channel that the bridge acted as a weir, slowing the water upstream almost to a standstill. Still water freezes; moving water does not. The river was also shallower and wider then, spreading over land that has since been embanked. Shallow water loses heat faster. Old London Bridge was demolished in 1831. The embankments were built between 1862 and 1874. The river that flows through London now is narrower, deeper and faster than the one that froze — and it would not freeze in a colder winter than any of those.

  1. 1. The text gives three reasons for the freezes. Identify them and say which is treated as least important.
  2. 2. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?
  3. 3. Quote accurately the sentence that qualifies the usual explanation.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Can You Do Two Things at Once?

People say they multitask. Mostly they do not. The brain can run two tasks together only if at least one is automatic. Walking and talking works because walking is automatic for an adult. Reading and listening to speech does not, because both need the same language system. What feels like multitasking is usually rapid switching. Each switch costs time — a fraction of a second to disengage and re-engage — and the costs add up. In experiments, people doing two tasks alternately take substantially longer in total than doing them one after the other, and make more errors. They also do not notice. Switching feels efficient because you are busy the whole time. The practical conclusion is unpopular but consistent: for anything demanding, doing one thing at a time is faster.

  1. 1. The text makes two claims about multitasking. Identify the evidence for each.
  2. 2. Quote accurately the sentence that explains why switching feels efficient.
  3. 3. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?

LessonPrint · SL.5.3 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — A Speaker's Claims and Support

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The bridge as a weir, the shallow wide channel, and a colder climate — the climate is called "part of it, and not most of it". 2. To correct a common explanation — the second paragraph names it and downgrades it before giving the real causes. 3. "That is part of it, and not most of it."
  2. 2.1. That it requires an automatic task — walking and talking against reading and listening. That switching is costly — the timed experiments and error rates. 2. "Switching feels efficient because you are busy the whole time." 3. To correct the belief that people multitask — the first two sentences state it and reject it.

More practice for SL.5.3

Summarise a speaker's claims and say what supports each one.

Teaching this next? Summarising a Speaker's Argument is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.5.3 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.