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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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Following a Weighed Argument

RI.5.10

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Canals and Railways

Between 1760 and 1830 Britain built about four thousand miles of canal. Within forty years of that, most of it was losing money. A canal boat carried thirty tons behind one horse, where a cart carried two. That was transformative for coal and stone, which are heavy, cheap and not in a hurry. But a canal cannot climb without locks, cannot be built where there is no water, and freezes. A boat averaged three miles an hour. The railways did not beat canals on cost per ton at first. They beat them on speed, on reliability, and on where they could go — a railway can cross a watershed a canal cannot. Many canal companies were bought by railway companies, sometimes specifically in order to close them. By 1900 most of the network carried nothing. Some of it is now used more than it ever was, by people on holiday.

  1. 1. Summarise this text.
  2. 2. Explain the relationship between a canal's limitations and the railways' success.
  3. 3. Why would a railway company buy a canal in order to close it?
2.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. Explain the relationship between this closure and the four earlier ones.
  2. 2. What can you infer from the last sentence?
  3. 3. Summarise this report.

LessonPrint · RI.5.10 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Weighed Argument

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Canals moved heavy goods fifteen times more efficiently than carts, but locks, water and three miles an hour lost to railways, and the network now carries holidaymakers. 2. Locks, water supply, freezing and three miles an hour were limits a railway did not share, so railways won on reliability and reach. 3. To remove a competitor on the same route.
  2. 2.1. The report places Whately's within a regional pattern rather than treating it as a single event. 2. That the industry, not just this mill, was considered finished locally. 3. 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.

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