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Following a Weighed Argument is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on holding several competing claims together while reading, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.10. 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.

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

Following a Weighed Argument

RI.5.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Mill: The Local Paper, June 1980

Whately's Mill closed on Friday with the loss of 214 jobs, the largest single closure in the town since the war. The mill had run since 1868. At its height it employed more than 600. Mr Whately declined to say when he had known the closure was certain. The Chamber of Commerce has called for a public inquiry; the union has called the closure "predictable for two years". The council says a retraining fund will open in September. Four other textile mills within twenty miles have closed since 1975. Nobody the paper spoke to expected the site to be used for textiles again.

  1. 1. Summarise this report.
  2. 2. What can you infer from the last sentence?
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between this closure and the four earlier ones.
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. Explain the relationship between switching and the errors people make.
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Why does the author say the conclusion is "unpopular"?

LessonPrint · RI.5.10 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Weighed Argument

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Whately's Mill closed with 214 jobs lost after 112 years, the union called it predictable, the Chamber wants an inquiry, and four nearby mills had already gone. 2. That the industry, not just this mill, was considered finished locally. 3. The report places Whately's within a regional pattern rather than treating it as a single event.
  2. 2.1. Each switch costs time to disengage and re-engage, and alternating tasks produces both longer times and more errors. 2. Genuine multitasking needs one automatic task; what feels like it is rapid switching, which costs time and accuracy without feeling like it does. 3. Because people believe they multitask well and the evidence says otherwise.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.10 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.