Question

skill practice
directions: read the passage below. then complete the activities.

it was going to be fun taking care of the cliness dog, cat, and lizard—and juan was going to be paid $35 to be their pet sitter for two weeks.
ot bad for dishing out a little food and water and letting a dog in and out,\ he thought.

the first morning of his job, juan was getting ready to shoot some hoops in the driveway when his mother called out, \hey, juan, arent you forgetting something?\ her stern look made sure he wouldnt forget again.

when he got to the cliness house, it took him less than thirty minutes to feed and water all the pets. the rest of the first week went without incident, but juan thought that dusty the golden retriever seemed lonely. so juan decided to bring over his homework each night and keep the animals company.

on the ninth day, juan began to realize just what a responsibility he had taken on. he had just removed the lizard, mr. omalley, from his cage to spritz him with water when the phone rang. dusty started to bark, which startled the cat, felix. felix took off like a shot with dusty in hot pursuit. juan quickly set the lizard down in the terrarium and wheeled around to head off the chase—but he was too late. he heard the shatter of the bedside lamp as the cat and dog bounded over the bed. when he went to the bedroom to survey the damage, he noticed something small and dark flash by the baseboard near the bed. then he saw the cover of the terrarium on the floor and realized that the flash had been mr. omalley! it took juan twenty minutes to catch the lizard and return him to his cage.

when the clines came home, juan apologized for the broken lamp and told them to take its cost out of his fee, but they refused. mr. cline told juan that they appreciated his hard work and the peace of mind they had knowing he was caring for their critters. then he insisted that juan take two twenty-dollar bills for all his trouble. mrs. cline asked juan if he was available to pet sit again the following weekend, and he gladly accepted. this time, though, he knew it wouldnt be as easy it as it sounded.

1. what is the main purpose of the passage?

a. to explain to readers how best to take care of pets
b. to persuade readers that cats and dogs should not live together
c. to express the authors negative opinion about juans pet sitting ability
d. to entertain readers with the story of juans experience taking care of his neighbors pets

1. the author uses a structure to tell a(n) ________.

writing practice
directions: find a news article about a specific current event in a print or an online newspaper. describe the content of the article, and identify the authors general and specific purposes. then identify the overall structure and the structure of at least one smaller section of the article. evaluate how effective you think these structures are. be sure to cite evidence from the text to support your analysis.

Explanation:

1. For question 1: The passage tells a narrative story of Juan's pet-sitting experience, including a funny mishap with the pets, which is meant to entertain readers. Options A, B, and C do not match: the passage does not teach pet care, argue against cat-dog cohabitation, or criticize Juan.
2. For question 2: The passage follows a problem-solution structure: the problem is the chaotic chase of the cat by the dog, the escape of the lizard, and the broken lamp; the solution is Juan catching the lizard, apologizing, and the Clines being understanding. This structure tells an anecdote (or story of a mishap and its resolution).

Answer:

1. D. to entertain readers with the story of Juan's experience taking care of his neighbor's pets
2. problem; anecdote (or story of a mishap and its resolution)