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Weighing the Evidence is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on judging how well a claim is supported, aligned to Common Core standard RI.5.8. 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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Weighing the Evidence

RI.5.8

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. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?
  2. 2. The text gives three reasons for the freezes. Identify them and say which is treated as least important.
2.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. What is the author's purpose, and how do you know?
  2. 2. The text claims railways did not win on cost. What evidence is given for what they did win on?

LessonPrint · RI.5.8 · Set 11 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Weighing the Evidence

Set 11. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. To correct a common explanation — the second paragraph names it and downgrades it before giving the real causes. 2. 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. 2.1. To explain why a successful technology was displaced — the text names the advantage and then the limits. 2. Speed, reliability, and reach — specifically that a railway can cross a watershed a canal cannot.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.5.8 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.