Context That Serves the Reading · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Making context serve your reading

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 15-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. What should you ask about a line's first hearers?

    • How long the book is
    • What the author's income was
    • What these words meant to them then

  2. Where does context belong in an essay?

    • Welded to one quoted word or moment
    • In a history paragraph beside the essay
    • In the introduction, never near quotes

  3. One line, one pressure of its time, one clear effect: that is the method.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. A fact fits every line of the passage equally. What do you do?

    • Cut it as background that unlocks nothing
    • Keep it as the essay's centre
    • Repeat it under each quotation

  5. Knowing about slavery turns a plain object in Douglass into evidence of cruelty. What does this show?

    • Objects prove nothing in old texts
    • One fact can sharpen a single image
    • Every object needs a history chapter

  6. A mild line in its own time can never have shocked its first audience.

    Circle one:   True   False

  7. Censorship explains your passage's missing line, while the king's birthday explains nothing. Which stays?

    • The birthday, since kings matter most
    • Censorship, tied to the line it unlocks
    • Both, since facts are always useful

  8. An essay proves a dated fact, then never quotes the text. What is missing?

    • More dates from the same year
    • A longer history section
    • The quoted word that lands differently once the fact is known
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Answer key

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

Making context serve your reading W1-mt_xjq2wvDyYF-s1

  1. What these words meant to them then · Words land differently across time. Test the period ear first.
  2. Welded to one quoted word or moment · One fact must change one moment. Loose history earns nothing.
  3. True · Short visible chains beat pages of background every time.
  4. Cut it as background that unlocks nothing · If removing it changes no reading, it added nothing. Cut it.
  5. One fact can sharpen a single image · The fact works because it is welded to one image, not spread thin.
  6. False · A mild line then can have been a bomb. Always test the period ear.
  7. Censorship, tied to the line it unlocks · Keep what changes a reading. Cut what merely decorates it.
  8. The quoted word that lands differently once the fact is known · Facts need their pairing. Show the word the fact rewrites.
Worksheet · LightMySky