A town record reports: The mill closed in March. Two shops on Bank Street shut by April. The clerk counted 40 families gone by June. The school lost one teacher. Which sentence best supports the statement that residents moved away?

A report on Ashvale says: The canal opened in the spring. Freight rates fell by half. Two warehouses were built by fall. The river still froze each winter. Which two sentences together show the canal made shipping cheaper and busier?

A history reports: The petition carried 300 signatures. The council met the next week. A second petition came from mill workers. The vote passed nine to one. A writer cites the signatures to show wide support. Which sentence adds independent support?

An account of Grayfield says: Rain fell for nine days. The creek rose over the bridge road. Wagons took the ridge path instead. The market opened two hours late all week. Which conclusion does the printed account support?

A history of Hollow Ford says: The ferry carried mail, milk, and doctors. The nearest bridge stood 20 miles north. Ice stopped the ferry in January. The pilot was named Hollis. Which sentence best supports the claim that the town had no easy way across?

A writer claims the new well changed life in Kestrel, then adds: Women no longer walked two miles for water. Children reached school on time. The pump froze twice that winter. Kestrel was never the same. Which sentence only restates the claim?

A council report on the night bus says: Riders after 9 p.m. rose from 40 to 260 a week. The buses run every 30 minutes. Two drivers were hired. The fare stayed at one dollar. Which sentence is evidence that people actually ride the night bus?

A passage reads: For 60 years Dunmore's fishing fleet grew. Then the harbor silted up. Boats moved to Port Reyes, and the canneries closed. Today Dunmore repairs boats for other towns. Which sentence best summarizes the passage?

A passage reads: The railroad brought Weyburn cheap goods and buyers for its wheat. It also let city mills undersell the town's own mill, which closed within two years. How do the passage's two ideas about the railroad interact?

A passage reads: Ashcombe's council voted to pave Mill Road. Farmers wanted it for market days. Shopkeepers feared the dust and the cost. The vote passed by one, and paving began in May. What is the central idea?

A passage reads: Bell Harbor built a seawall after two floods. The wall held in the next storm, but water came around its north end. The town extended it the following year. Which summary reports only what the passage says?

A passage reads: The dam was finished in four years. It held back the spring flood twice. Crews worked through two winters. The dam was the wisest thing the county ever built. Which sentence gives the writer's opinion instead of reporting an event?

A passage carries two ideas, the mine's pay and its damage. Which sentence is where they meet? The mine paid the best wages. Grit from it filled the creek. Miners' families lived on that pay and hauled water uphill. The mine opened before the courthouse.

Text 1, a diary: May 3. We watched the bridge give way from the mill window. Text 2, a textbook: The Fenner Bridge fell in May, according to a mill worker's diary. Which text is the primary source, and why?

Text 1, a letter: The water reached the second stair by noon. Text 2, a later history: By midday the flood had climbed to the second stair of the Hale house, a neighbor's letter records. What does Text 2 draw from Text 1?

Text 1, a shopkeeper's diary: Sept 9. The meeting ran three hours. I said nothing; my hands shook. Text 2, a county history: The September meeting settled the water question in three hours. Where do the two accounts differ in emphasis?

A shopkeeper wrote in her diary on the night of a town meeting: I sat in the third row and heard every word. What kind of source is this diary entry?

Text 1, a diary written the night of a storm: The wind took the church roof. No one knows yet how far the storm reached. Text 2, a history written 20 years on: The storm crossed four counties and damaged 60 buildings. Why can Text 2 give the full extent?

Text 1, a worker's letter: The whistle blew at five, and we ran. My coat froze to the rail. Text 2, a later report: The five o'clock whistle ended the shift at the Corbin works. Which detail appears in the firsthand account but not the later one?

A student is writing a report on one year's harvest in the Rowe Valley. Four sources are available. Which one is a primary source for that harvest?

A town history says: The tannery hired 60 men in 1871. A boardinghouse opened on Pine Street. The church added evening services. Wages were paid in scrip. Which sentence best supports the claim that the new workers came from outside Ashfield?

A report on Dunlap says: The turnpike tolls doubled in 1849. Freight wagons took the old creek road. Two inns on the turnpike closed. The postmaster served nine years. Which two sentences show that traffic left the turnpike after the toll rise?

A history says: The mine opened in 1879. The company kept a stretcher at the shaft head. Three men died in the shaft in 1884. The nearest doctor lived 12 miles off. Which sentence is background rather than support for the claim that the mine was dangerous?

A mill ledger records: 12 looms in 1880. A second story added in 1888. The owner's daughter married in 1889. 30 looms in 1890. Which entry best supports the claim that the mill building itself was enlarged?

A newspaper reported: The fire began behind the livery at 2 a.m. By 3 a.m. it had crossed two blocks. The wind blew from the west. The paper's office stood on Cross Street. Which sentence best supports the claim that the fire spread fast?

Council minutes read: The hall was full. The measure passed, 7 to 6. Two members asked for a second count. The clerk recorded the roll by name. Which sentence is evidence that people outside the council took an interest in the measure?

A county survey notes: The Ridge Road was graveled in 1902. Mail wagons ran it in every month of 1903. Snow closed the valley road each January. The survey cost $400. Which sentence best supports the claim that the Ridge Road stayed open all year?

A passage reads: In 1910 Marden had one schoolhouse for eight grades. The county added two rooms in 1915 and hired a second teacher. By 1920 the older students met in a separate building. Which sentence best summarizes the passage?

A passage reads: Ferris built its courthouse on the hill, above the flood line. Merchants complained of the climb. The county paid to grade a road up to it. In 1898 the river took the lower street, not the courthouse. What is the central idea?

A passage reads: Selby's canal froze for six weeks in 1856. Boats waited at the basin. The company paid crews to cut ice near the locks. Trade resumed in March. Which summary states something the passage never gives?

A passage reads: The quarry gave Redstone steady work and paid for its new bridge. Blasting cracked plaster on Quarry Street, and dust settled on the wash lines. Which sentence belongs in a summary that reports both of the passage's ideas?

A passage reads: Pell's Ferry kept two boats. One carried farm wagons at dawn; the other ran late for mill hands. When the mill cut its night shift, the late boat ran half empty and was sold. What is the central idea?

A passage reads: Wheelwrights in Corbin made 200 wheels a year by hand. After 1885 a city factory shipped wheels by rail for half the price. Two Corbin shops closed; one began repairing wheels instead. Which heading best fits this passage?

A textbook sentence reads: A store clerk wrote that smoke reached the river by noon. What role does the clerk's writing play in the textbook's account?

Text 1, a soldier's pay book: Mar 4. Paid $11. Boots not issued. Text 2, a later study: Winter pay at Fort Reese averaged $11 a month, pay books show. Which statement describes the relationship between the two texts correctly?

A history states that a farmer's letter reported hail "the size of hen's eggs." Which source would best check whether the history quoted the letter accurately?

Text 1, a nurse's diary from the fever summer: I slept in the hall; the ward smelled of vinegar. Text 2, a later report: The fever killed 92 people in three counties. Which question can only Text 1 answer?

In 1938 a writer recorded an interview with a woman who had worked in the Delmar mill in the 1880s. Is the transcript a primary or a secondary source for mill work in the 1880s, and why?

A student writing about a strike has a union pamphlet printed in 1902 and a book about the strike published in 1990. Which is the better source for how the strikers described their demands at the time, and why?

A historian claims that Ridge Township's town meeting of 1877 was crowded. Which source would best support that claim?