The second-hand e-bike: two texts that contradict each other
You are reading an advert and a chat on a second-hand website - the kind of task where you must combine information from two short texts and notice when they clash.
Advert: 'E-bike, two years old, 6,000 km. New tyres fitted last month. Battery still good for about 40 km. €650, cash only, price is fixed. No viewings on Sundays. Collection in Zaandam before 1 June.'
In the chat the seller adds: the bike fell over once, so there is a scratch on the frame; the display sometimes switches off in heavy rain, 'but it always comes back on'; the battery can be tested during a test ride; he is moving house, which is why the bike must go before 1 June.
You are 15, you live in Utrecht, 35 km from Zaandam, and from September you will cycle 12 km to school and 12 km back every day. You have saved €700. You can only travel to Zaandam on Sundays, because you work in your parents' shop on all other days.
1. Can you plan a viewing on your only free day? Give two reasons from the two texts and say what you should do instead.
Read the worked answer
No - Sunday does not work. The advert says 'no viewings on Sundays', and your free day is Sunday. The two texts fit together badly: the advert closes the door on exactly the day you have, and the chat adds a deadline (collection before 1 June) that makes waiting several weeks impossible.
What to do instead: message the seller and ask for a weekday evening viewing, and ask a parent to go with you or instead of you. Do not agree to buy unseen. The reasons are in the chat, not in the advert: a scratch on the frame (cosmetic, acceptable) is mixed with a display that cuts out in rain (mechanical, not acceptable without a test), and the price is fixed, so there is no cheap-price argument for taking a risk.
Reasoning to show: the weak answer is 'no, because it is far away'. Distance is not the obstacle - the day is. A strong answer separates the two texts, shows where they conflict, and turns the conflict into an action (ask for another moment, send someone else).
2. Is €700 enough to buy and collect this bike? Explain, using only what the texts say and naming what you would still need to ask.
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On paper, yes - but with almost nothing left over. The bike is €650 and it is cash only, so €650 of your €700 must be in notes on the day. That leaves about €50 for a return train ticket Utrecht–Zaandam plus the 15-minute walk at the other end. That is tight but possible.
The two problems the text creates:
- The battery claim. 'Still good for about 40 km' is the seller's estimate, not a measurement. Your school route is 24 km a day, so 40 km means roughly one and a half days between charges when the battery is new - and it is already two years and 6,000 km old. Range only goes down.
- No price for a replacement battery is given anywhere in the texts. Do not invent one. Ask the seller how often the battery is charged and whether it has ever been replaced, and test the range claim on the test ride.
Conclusion: €700 covers the purchase and the journey, but there is no money left for a repair. That is a reason to test carefully and to ask questions, not a reason to say the budget is impossible.
3. The seller writes: 'the display sometimes switches off in heavy rain, but it always comes back on'. Why is this a warning sign rather than a small detail?
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It describes water getting into the electronics, and that gets worse, not better. Three things make the sentence suspicious:
- 'Sometimes' plus 'in heavy rain' is a pattern, not a one-off. A fault that appears under a specific condition will appear again under that condition - and you will be cycling to school in Dutch weather all year.
- 'It always comes back on' is a promise, not a guarantee. It is the seller's report of past behaviour. Once you have paid and cycled home, that sentence has no value; the advert itself says cash only and price fixed, so there is no shop to return it to.
- You cannot check it on a dry test ride. A test ride on a sunny afternoon proves nothing about a wet one.
What a strong answer does with this: it turns the detail into a question or a condition - ask for the repair history or receipts, ask whether the bike can be tested after the display has been wet, or decide to walk away. Noticing the fault is not the skill; deciding what it means for the price and for your daily ride is.