Worksheet Grade 9 English Language Arts
Merribrook's Rate-Increase Notice: Paraphrase and Claims
A grade 9 ELA worksheet where students paraphrase, summarize, and separate claims from evidence in a fictional water utility's rate-increase notice to customers.
Objectives
- Students will paraphrase and summarize sentences from an informational notice accurately.
- Students will distinguish the notice's central claim from the evidence offered to support it.
Vocabulary
Key words: paraphrase, summary, claim, evidence, rate increase
Teacher overview
Public notices from a water utility are usually read quickly and rarely questioned. This worksheet asks students to slow down and read a fictional rate-increase notice from the Merribrook Water utility the way an informed customer should: restating what it actually says, naming the claim it is really making, and checking whether the evidence supports that claim. Paraphrasing and summarizing accurately are informative-writing skills, and separating a claim from its evidence prepares students to write and to read arguments about public spending.
Student Worksheet
Read the fictional notice from Merribrook Water, then answer the questions.
Notice to Merribrook Water customers (fictional): "Beginning next quarter, the average household bill will rise from about 42 dollars to about 45 dollars a month. We understand no one welcomes a higher bill. This increase is necessary because two of the town's main pipes are more than eighty years old and have broken four times in the past year, each break spilling treated water and cutting off service to nearby homes. The added revenue will replace the oldest half-mile of pipe first. We believe a small increase now is wiser than the far larger emergency repairs a full pipe failure would demand. Merribrook Water remains committed to safe, reliable service at a fair price."
- Paraphrase this sentence in your own words, keeping its meaning: "The added revenue will replace the oldest half-mile of pipe first."
- In one sentence, summarize the main point of the entire notice.
- What is the central claim the notice is making to customers? State it as a single sentence.
- Identify one specific piece of evidence the notice uses to support that claim.
- Label each of these two statements from the notice as fact or opinion: "two of the town's main pipes are more than eighty years old" and "a small increase now is wiser than the far larger emergency repairs a full pipe failure would demand."
- The notice says each break was "spilling treated water." Why might the writer choose the word "treated" here instead of just "water"? What does it add for the reader?
- Rewrite this sentence so a younger sibling could understand it: "The added revenue will replace the oldest half-mile of pipe first."
- This sentence mixes a fact and a recommendation: "We believe a small increase now is wiser than the far larger emergency repairs a full pipe failure would demand." Separate it into the fact it assumes and the recommendation it makes.
- Explain your reasoning: does the notice give enough evidence to support its claim that the increase is necessary? Point to specific words in the notice as you decide.
- Rewrite the closing sentence, "Merribrook Water remains committed to safe, reliable service at a fair price," to be more precise about what the utility is actually promising.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Accept any accurate restatement, such as: "The new money will be used to swap out the oldest half-mile of pipe before any other section." The meaning, order of priority, and the half-mile detail must be preserved.
- Answer: Accept a one-sentence summary such as: "Merribrook Water is raising the average bill by a few dollars to replace old, frequently breaking pipes." The rise and the reason should both appear.
- Answer: The notice's central claim is that the rate increase is necessary to prevent worse and costlier pipe failures. Wording will vary.
- Answer: Any one of: the pipes are more than eighty years old, or they broke four times in the past year, or each break cut off service and spilled treated water.
- Answer: "More than eighty years old" is a fact (it can be checked); "a small increase now is wiser" is an opinion (a judgment about what is wiser).
- Answer: "Treated" signals the water was already cleaned at cost, so a break wastes both water and the money and effort spent treating it, strengthening the case that breaks are expensive.
- Answer: Accept any clear, accurate version, such as: "The extra money will be used to replace the oldest pipes first." It must stay accurate while simplifying the vocabulary.
- Answer: Fact assumed: a full pipe failure would require large emergency repairs. Recommendation: the town should accept a small increase now instead of waiting.
- Answer: Answers will vary but should cite specific evidence (the pipe age, the four breaks) and judge whether that evidence connects to the claim of necessity, noting anything the notice does not prove, such as the actual repair cost.
- Answer: Accept any more precise rewrite, such as: "Merribrook Water will spend the added revenue on replacing the oldest half-mile of pipe first." The revision should replace vague praise with a checkable promise.
Differentiation
Support
Provide the notice with the claim sentence and the evidence sentences already underlined in different colors, and give paraphrase item 1 a sentence starter. Allow the fact-or-opinion item to be answered by circling the correct label.
Extension
Ask students to write a two-sentence reply to Merribrook Water that accepts the claim but asks one fair question the notice leaves unanswered, such as the actual cost of the planned repairs, using precise language.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "paraphrase," "claim," "evidence," and "necessary" with short definitions and one example each. Allow students to paraphrase orally to a partner before writing, and provide a word bank of plain-language synonyms for the notice's formal terms.