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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.

Two Plants, Two Histories

Tea and coffee are both leaves or seeds steeped in hot water, and both became national habits. How they got there could hardly be more different. Tea came to Britain through a monopoly. The East India Company controlled the trade for nearly two centuries, and the government taxed it so heavily that by the 1770s most tea drunk in Britain had been smuggled. When the tax was cut in 1784, smuggling collapsed almost overnight. Coffee spread through places rather than trade. The coffee house arrived in Britain in the 1650s and became somewhere to read newspapers and argue. Lloyd's of London and the London Stock Exchange both began in one. Tea won the home; coffee won the meeting. Neither plant grows in Britain. Both habits are entirely imported, and both are now so ordinary that they are thought of as native.

  1. 1. Why does the text end by saying both are thought of as native?
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between the tax and the smuggling.
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What Sleep Is For

Sleep is not switching off. Parts of the brain are busier asleep than awake. Two claims are well supported. The first is that sleep consolidates memory: during deep sleep, the day's experiences are replayed and moved from short-term storage into long-term. Interrupt deep sleep and recall of the previous day drops measurably. The second is that sleep clears waste. The spaces between brain cells widen during sleep, and fluid washes through, removing proteins that build up while awake. A third claim — that a particular number of hours suits everybody — is not supported. Need varies with age and between individuals, and self-reported sleep is unreliable. Teenagers are a special case. Their body clocks genuinely shift later at puberty, which is a biological fact rather than a preference, and school start times mostly ignore it.

  1. 1. Summarise this text.
  2. 2. Why does the author call the teenage body-clock shift "a biological fact rather than a preference"?
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between deep sleep and remembering the previous day.

LessonPrint · RI.5.10 · Set 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Following a Weighed Argument

Set 3. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. To make the point that an imported habit can become invisible as an import. 2. Tea reached Britain through a taxed monopoly that produced mass smuggling; coffee spread through coffee houses that became institutions — and neither plant grows here. 3. The tax was so heavy that most tea was smuggled; cutting it in 1784 removed the reason and smuggling collapsed.
  2. 2.1. Sleep consolidates memory and clears waste from the brain, no single number of hours suits everybody, and teenagers' body clocks genuinely shift later. 2. To pre-empt the assumption that late-rising teenagers are simply choosing to. 3. Experiences are replayed and moved to long-term storage during deep sleep, so interrupting it reduces recall.

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