This set practises five skills: finding agreement, separating claim from support, comparing emphasis, noticing qualifications and judging the limits of inference. The questions run from easier to harder, and the answers show the reasoning, not only the result.
Write each answer in full before you open it. A phrase such as “they both like it” will not show the skill, so aim for sentences that name the idea and quote briefly. Use the mistake log and retest queue to keep track of what you miss.
Questions
Use these two original extracts for questions 1 to 5.
Text A (a parent): “Our school’s plan to start lessons at 8.30 instead of 7.45 is sensible. Most teenagers sleep better when they wake later, and my son is noticeably more alert in the morning. The only drawback is that after-school activities will finish in the dark.”
Text B (a teacher): “I welcome a later start, because tired students learn little in the first lesson. However, it will only work if the school day does not simply stretch later. Some staff also worry about buses, which may not suit the new timetable.”
1. State one point on which A and B agree.
Show answer
Both support starting later because it helps students’ alertness. A says her son is “more alert”, and B says tired students “learn little” in the first lesson.
2. “Both writers mention practical difficulties.” Is this a full point of agreement? Improve it.
Show answer
It only names a shared topic. Improved: “Both writers accept the later start but see practical problems afterwards, A with activities finishing in the dark and B with buses and a longer day.”
3. In Text A, which sentence is the main claim, and which gives support?
Show answer
Main claim: the plan is sensible. Support: most teenagers sleep better when waking later (general assertion) and her son is more alert (personal example). Neither gives a figure, so the support is fairly light.
4. Identify two qualifications in Text B and say what each limits.
Show answer
“It will only work if the school day does not simply stretch later” limits the benefit to one condition. “Some staff” limits the worry about buses to part of the staff, not all.
5. Compare the emphasis of A and B in two or three sentences.
Show answer
A stresses student wellbeing, using a personal example, and treats the drawback as a single minor point about daylight. B stresses the benefit for learning but gives more space to conditions and worries, so her support sounds more cautious. Both accept the change, but A is more confident.
Use this original extract for questions 6 to 8.
Text C: “The town library has cut its opening hours to four days a week. The council says visitor numbers fell by a fifth last year, so the change is reasonable. Yet students who have no quiet space at home rely on the evening sessions, which are now gone.”
6. Find one piece of evidence the council uses and say whether it is checkable.
Show answer
Visitor numbers fell by a fifth last year. It is checkable in principle, because library records could confirm it. The extract does not give the source.
7. The writer adds: “Clearly, this is a poor decision.” Explain why this is not support.
Show answer
It is an opinion signalled by “clearly”. It gives no fact or reasoning, so it is a claim, not evidence.
8. What is lost if a summary says, “The writer says the library has shut the evening sessions for students”?
Show answer
The summary drops the council’s reason (falling visitor numbers) and the fact that the cut is to four days a week, not only to the evening sessions. It turns a balanced account into a one-sided one.
Use this original extract for questions 9 and 10.
Text D: “When the results were read out, Hana smiled at the floor and slipped her certificate into her bag without opening it.”
9. Give one inference that is well supported, with the words that support it.
Show answer
She is reserved or uncomfortable with attention. “Smiled at the floor” and putting the certificate away “without opening it” both suggest she avoids showing her reaction in public.
10. A classmate writes, “Hana was secretly disappointed because she expected a higher grade.” Explain the limits of this inference.
Show answer
The extract does not say what she expected or how she felt about the result. “Smiled” could even suggest pleasure. The claim adds a reason and a feeling that are not in the text, so it is unsupported. A safer statement is that she seems to avoid sharing her reaction.
If you got these wrong
| If you missed | What probably went wrong | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or 2 | Naming a topic instead of a shared view | Identify where two voices agree |
| 3, 6 or 7 | Mixing up claim, evidence and opinion | Distinguish a claim from its support |
| 5 | Describing each text separately | Compare different emphases on a shared issue |
| 4 or 8 | Missing or dropping a small limiting word | Notice a qualification that changes an argument |
| 9 or 10 | Adding a reason the text never gives | Explain the limits of an inference from a short extract |
The summary and paraphrase studio and the writing revision compare view let you practise rewriting your weaker answers.
Patterns such as these are easier to fix with someone reading your actual sentences. Our teachers do exactly that in online one-to-one First Language English tuition.