Excerpt: 'The council paved Mill Road in 1868. Three years later it added gas lamps. In 1877 the streetcar line opened. By 1880 the last horse stable had closed.' How does the excerpt organize its information?

Excerpt: 'Unlike the ports upstream, Calder Landing charged no docking fee. Whereas its neighbors hired inspectors, Calder trusted the captains' reports. In contrast, its warehouses stayed empty.' How is the excerpt organized?

Excerpt: 'A dry spring lowered the millpond. Because the wheel turned slowly, the mill ground less flour. As a result, bakers raised prices, and this led families to buy bread in the next valley.' How is the excerpt organized?

Excerpt: 'The canal froze in December. Because the barges could not move, the ironworks ran out of coal. As a result, two furnaces went cold, and wages in the town fell.' What did the halt of the barges directly cause?

Excerpt: 'The county rebuilt the Bell Creek bridge in 1892. The decayed timber suggests the span was near failing. No bridge in the state was uglier. Perhaps the 1889 flood loosened the piers.' Which sentence states a verifiable fact?

Excerpt: 'Ledgers list 41 looms in the Ashby mill in 1854. Wage books show pay fell that year. The owners' choices were shameful. Because looms rose while wages fell, historians conclude the mill leaned on speed.' Which sentence states an opinion?

Excerpt: 'Customs books record 12 ships in 1830 and 3 in 1840. The channel silted after the storm. From those figures, trade had collapsed before the railroad came. Sailors may have feared the shoals.' Which sentence is a reasoned judgment?

Excerpt: 'Diggers found 200 storage jars in the granary. Ash covered the floor at one level. The ash pattern suggests the fire started at the roof. The villagers may have hoped to return by spring.' Which sentence is speculation?

Excerpt: 'The council approved the plan on Tuesday. Its backers boasted of progress; the shopkeepers pleaded for delay. The square was cleared in June.' Which choice by the writer most reveals a point of view about the two sides?

An article says the toll road cut the trip to Ferris by two hours, that merchants gained a day each week, and that travelers praised the grade. It never mentions the toll's cost or the farms taken for the roadbed. What does that omission suggest?

'Most accounts say the 1868 fire emptied Bruin Hollow. The mines shut in 1861 and 1864. Census sheets, though, show the town halved before the fire. The fire finished a decline the mines began.' Which sentence first breaks from the other accounts?

Excerpt: 'The delegates signed the compact in May, but it had no force until each town meeting voted to ratify it. Two towns refused, and the compact failed.' As used in the excerpt, what does 'ratify' mean?

Excerpt: 'The Kesh runs north for sixty miles before it joins the Marrow, the larger river it feeds. Valley maps label the Kesh a tributary of the Marrow.' As used in the excerpt, what does 'tributary' mean?

Excerpt: 'Ships landing wool paid a tariff of two cents a pound at the customs house, while wool carried overland paid nothing. Importers complained the charge doubled their costs.' As used in the excerpt, what does 'tariff' mean?

Excerpt: 'In 1901 the city voted to annex Redmill, adding the village and its 400 residents to the city limits. Redmill's own council dissolved the next spring.' As used in the excerpt, what does 'annex' mean?

An article has four sections: 'What a Toll Road Was,' 'The Ferris Road, 1830-1845,' 'Who Paid the Tolls,' and 'Why the Railroads Ended Tolls.' What does the first section contribute to the article as a whole?

Excerpt: 'Ashford grew around a mill, whereas Bell grew around a ferry. Unlike Ashford, Bell never built a wharf. Both towns, however, shipped grain downriver.' Which words show the excerpt's organizing pattern?

Excerpt: 'The new dam raised the lake behind it. Because the water covered the ford, the county built a ferry. The ferry ran until 1912. Farmers on the far bank paid to cross.' According to the excerpt, why did the county build a ferry?

Excerpt: 'Two ledgers and a wage book survive from the Ashby yard. Because all three show the same drop in orders, the historian concludes the yard was failing by 1877.' What makes that conclusion a reasoned judgment rather than an opinion?

A report states: 'The samples suggest the channel silted up before the flood.' True or False: that sentence gives a reasoned judgment drawn from evidence rather than a directly verifiable fact.

Excerpt: 'Fort Nash opened in 1804. The troops left in 1812. Settlers moved into the empty barracks that winter. Finally, in 1830, the county sold the land.' How does the excerpt present its information?

Excerpt: 'Beetles killed the pines above Cade's Mill. Because the bare slopes held no water, spring runoff tore out the mill dam. As a result, the mill closed and the sawyers moved downriver.' How is the excerpt arranged?

Excerpt: 'The tannery dumped bark waste in Crow Creek. Because the fish died, the ice houses lost their trade. As a result, the packing sheds stood empty by 1888.' Which words show how the excerpt links its events?

An article has four sections: 'The 1889 Flood,' 'Building the Levee,' 'Life Behind the Wall,' and 'The Levee Today.' What does 'Building the Levee' contribute to the article as a whole?

Excerpt: 'A wet August rotted the hay. Because feed ran short, farmers sold cattle early. Prices fell, and as a result two Kellner banks called in loans.' Which event began the chain the excerpt traces?

Excerpt: 'Whereas Dun Harbor shipped ice, Renn shipped lumber. Unlike Dun Harbor, Renn kept its docks open all winter. Both towns, in contrast to the inland villages, paid a harbor tax.' What does the excerpt set side by side?

Excerpt: 'The road reached Otter Bend in 1851. A post office opened there in 1853, a school in 1857, and a bank in 1861.' Giving a date for each addition helps a reader see what?

Excerpt: 'The company's agents strode into the valley promising work; the families holding deeds shuffled to the courthouse to protest.' Which word choice most reveals where the writer's sympathy sits?

An account of the Verrick reservoir gives five paragraphs to cheap water and new mills and one sentence to the eleven farms it flooded. What does that balance most reveal?

A history of the Ledd strike quotes three mill owners at length and no workers, though the strike committee's letters survive in the county archive. What does that choice of sources most reveal?

Excerpt: 'Local histories call the 1873 fair the town's proudest week. Attendance was never recorded. The fair's ledger shows a $900 loss. That loss, not the weather, explains why no second fair was held.' Which sentence gives the writer's own conclusion?

A town history reads: 'Judge Calder, a fair-minded man, ruled for the railroad. Some residents lost their homes.' What does the way the history names people reveal?

Excerpt: 'The new charter passed 402 to 388. Its supporters, sensible men of business, had argued for it all winter. Its opponents muttered about taxes and stayed home.' Which pair of words most reveals the writer's stance?

Excerpt: 'The 1861 census lists 96 households in Marrow Bend. Deed books record 14 sales that year. Those who left showed no loyalty. Because sales rose as households fell, historians tie the exodus to the mine.' Which sentence states an opinion?

Excerpt: 'Store ledgers show flour prices doubling by June 1816. Weather diaries list snow that June. From both records, the historian concludes the crop failed before harvest. Farmers may have prayed for warmth.' Which sentence is a reasoned judgment?

Excerpt: 'Surveyors mapped 30 house lots at Grand Ford in 1836. Only 4 were ever built on. The lot sizes suggest the plan aimed at merchants, not farmers. The founders perhaps expected a canal that never came.' Which sentence is speculation?

Excerpt: 'Payrolls list 63 men at the Dun quarry in 1878. No harder work existed in the county. Because output fell while the crew held steady, the good stone was running out. The owners may have feared a strike.' Which sentence states a verifiable fact?

A writer states, 'The Kesh Valley canal was a foolish waste.' What makes that an opinion rather than a reasoned judgment?

Which statement about the Hale ferry could a researcher check directly against surviving records?

A report says: 'Pollen samples show wheat pollen vanishing from the layer above the ash.' It then says: 'The farmers probably fled the eruption.' What separates the second sentence from the first?