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Two Narrators, One Event is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on comparing what two narrators of one event describe, aligned to Common Core standard RL.5.6. 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.

Two Narrators, One Event

RL.5.6

NameDate

Read Text 1 and answer the question under it.

1.Read Text 1 and answer the question under it.

Text 1: The Mill: Mr Whately's Account

I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.

  1. 1. When did he tell the workforce?
2.Now read Text 2 and answer these questions about BOTH texts.

Text 2: The Mill: Ivy Sallow's Account

We knew by the thread. You cannot work a loom for twenty-two years and not notice when the good cotton stops coming. From about the March, it was the cheap stuff, and it broke. So we knew something. What we did not know was how long we had, and that is the part I mind. I could have been looking. My sister found work in Derby that spring and asked me twice. I said the mill would see me out. He stood on a crate on the Friday and told us. Somebody asked how long he had known. He said he would rather not say. That was the answer, really.

  1. 1. What do both accounts agree on?
  2. 2. How does Ivy's account differ from Mr Whately's?
  3. 3. How does this account differ from Ivy Sallow's?

LessonPrint · RL.5.6 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Two Narrators, One Event

Set 23. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The day he could not pay them.
  2. 2.1. That nobody was told until the day the wages could not be paid. 2. His explains why he stayed silent; hers describes what the silence cost somebody who trusted it. 3. Whately explains why silence was necessary; Ivy describes what the silence cost her, including the work in Derby.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RL.5.6 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.