Holding an Interpretation · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Holding your reading under attack

English · English Thinking · ages 15-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. What does testing a rival reading with a conditional question involve?

    • Counting your quotations twice before testing the rival's claim
    • Writing the rival paragraph first without checking its needed evidence
    • Naming the line the text would need for the rival to win

  2. How do you handle a rival reading honestly?

    • State your view, then build the rival at its strongest
    • Hide the rival and defend only your own reading from the quotations
    • Mock the rival before stating it or testing its evidence

  3. Changing your mind when evidence breaks your reading is a skill.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A rival needs one line the text never gives. What follows?

    • The rival fails this test, since those words are absent
    • The rival still wins if the writer may have intended it
    • Both readings must be dropped because one quotation is missing

  5. Your reading explains four lines, the rival explains two. What do you write?

    • Both readings are equal in force because each has some supporting lines
    • Yours holds; grant the rival its two lines, then hold your four
    • The rival wins, since it is the bolder and more original reading

  6. An alternative reading deserves its own paragraph, judged with shared evidence.

    Circle one:   True   False

  7. Two readings explain the shared quotations equally well. What is the sharpest move?

    • Defend the reading you formed first, since you know its evidence best
    • Say the evidence does not settle it and explain the tie
    • Pick the more original reading, since an essay needs a clear winner

  8. A student sees three quotations that undermine a reading but keeps it. What failed?

    • The student needed more than three quotations before changing anything
    • The student stated the reading too clearly and left no room for another view
    • The student ignored evidence and would not revise the reading
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Holding your reading under attack W1-mt_pH7ZCyH5cU-s1

  1. Naming the line the text would need for the rival to win · Name what the rival needs. If those words are absent, the rival fails this test.
  2. State your view, then build the rival at its strongest · Claims must survive attack. Only a strong rival is a real test.
  3. True · It proves you answer to evidence. Clinging to a dead reading fails.
  4. The rival fails this test, since those words are absent · The conditional test decides. Missing words mean the rival falls short.
  5. Yours holds; grant the rival its two lines, then hold your four · Weigh both on shared quotes. Grant the rival its two lines, then hold your four.
  6. True · Parking it separately keeps two readings clear instead of tangled.
  7. Say the evidence does not settle it and explain the tie · When the support is even, say so and show how each reading fits the quotations.
  8. The student ignored evidence and would not revise the reading · A reading must change when the evidence undermines it. Ignoring those quotations leaves the claim undefended.
Worksheet · LightMySky