An Informative Article with Conflicting Numbers
A student must answer comprehension questions on a short informative article about school libraries. The article states in its opening paragraph: 'Over the past decade, the number of school libraries in the region has fallen by nearly a third.' Later it says: 'In the last five years alone, 40 of the region's 120 school libraries closed.' A question asks: 'By how much did the number of school libraries fall over the past decade?' The student answers '40 libraries' and loses marks. The teacher explains that the two sentences measure different periods and that the student must reconcile them. The article also quotes a librarian saying closures were 'a disaster' but gives no data for that claim.
1. Why is '40 libraries' an incomplete answer, and what does the text actually support?
Read the worked answer
The '40 of 120' figure covers only the last five years, while the opening claim covers a decade. So 40 is a five-year figure, not the decade figure. The opening sentence says 'nearly a third,' and a third of 120 is 40 - but the text does not say the decade total equals 40; it only says the fall was 'nearly a third.' A correct answer must attribute each number to its stated period: 'nearly a third over the decade, with 40 closures in the last five years.' The student's error is conflating two time frames, which the question is designed to catch.
2. The librarian's quote calls the closures 'a disaster.' How should a careful reader treat this in a comprehension answer?
Read the worked answer
The quote is an opinion, not a datum. A careful reader distinguishes reported fact ('40 libraries closed') from evaluative language ('a disaster'). If a question asks for the article's evidence, the quote can be cited as a source's reaction but not as proof of impact. The correct move is to label it: the article presents the librarian's judgement without supporting data, so it should be treated as opinion. This tests whether the student separates claim from evidence rather than repeating emotive wording as if it were a finding.