Week 10 · Thursday: Argument Writing (Reading and Writing 6-8)

Thursday: Conclusions and Pronouns

Raven reads the last line of Rocket's draft. "And that is why. The end."

"It is a conclusion," Rocket says. "It concludes."

"It stops," Raven says. "A conclusion follows from the argument. It reminds the reader what you proved and why it matters."

Nova hovers over the draft, her light pausing on one line. "Each gardener carries their trays," she reads. "How many gardeners?"

Rocket squints. "One. Each is one. So... carries his or her trays? Or the gardeners carry their trays."

"What do you notice about the second fix?" Raven asks. "It is simpler," Rocket says. "Make it plural and the pronoun agrees."

He rewrites the last paragraph slowly. For once, he does not write fast.

Learn it: a conclusion that follows

A conclusion restates the claim in fresh words, sums up the strongest reason, and says why the claim matters to the reader.

It never adds a brand new reason. Raven thinks aloud: "The claim was a shade tent. The strongest reason was wilting seedlings. The conclusion should say both and end with the garden staying green."

Transitions for conclusions: Therefore, In the end, For all these reasons.

Learn it: pronouns that agree

A pronoun stands in for a noun. It must agree with that noun in number. "The gardeners carry their trays" agrees. "Each gardener carries their trays" mixes one and many.

The easiest fix is to make the noun plural. Another fix is "his or her". Pick one and stay with it.

Watch for shifts too. "If a reader wants a page, you should write a letter" jumps from reader to you. Keep the same person: "If readers want a page, they should write letters."

Rocket's fast fix for any pronoun: point at the noun it stands for. If you cannot point at one noun, the sentence needs work.

Raven's slow fix: read the sentence with the noun in place of the pronoun. "Each gardener carries the gardeners' trays" sounds wrong, so it is wrong.

Restate the claim in new words.
Sum up your strongest reason.
Say why it matters to the reader.
Check every pronoun: does it match one noun or many, and the same person throughout?

Read it: a mentor argument, start to finish

Read it

Start a Porch Reading Club at the Library Branch (an opinion piece from The Signal)
The library branch should host a reading club on its porch one afternoon a week.
First, readers on our block want a place to talk about books, and the porch is already there.
In this week's Signal, four readers wrote in asking for exactly this.
Second, a porch club would welcome people who feel shy indoors.
The porch has benches, a view of the garden, and room for anyone who wanders by to listen.
Some may say the porch is too noisy for a reading club, with the skate ramp nearby.
Even so, the ramp is quiet before four, and the club could meet at three.
Therefore, a porch reading club would give readers a place to meet and give the branch a friendlier front door.
For all these reasons, the library branch should open its porch to readers one afternoon a week.
If readers want this, they should say so, and The Signal will carry their letters.

CHECK IT: THE CONCLUSION

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Which line begins the conclusion?

What does the conclusion do?

Which sentence has pronouns that agree?

How does the piece answer the counterclaim about noise?

Which transition introduces the final restatement of the claim?

The gardeners carry ___ trays under the porch roof. Type the pronoun that agrees.

Each reader should bring ___ own book. Type "his or her" or make it fit one reader.

Type the one-word transition that begins the conclusion in the reading club piece.

About conclusions	True or false?
A conclusion may add a brand new reason.	?
A conclusion restates the claim in fresh words.	?
"Each skater fixed their board" has a pronoun that agrees.	?
Making the noun plural is one way to fix pronoun agreement.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEA conclusion follows from what came before, and each pronoun matches the number of the noun it stands for.

In the reading club piece, which pronoun stands for "readers" in the last line? Type the one word.

WHY THIS EXERCISEReaders is plural, so the pronoun that stands for it must be plural too.

Try it

Read your conclusion aloud to someone at home without reading the rest. Ask them to guess your claim.
If they cannot guess it, your conclusion needs the claim in fresh words.

Checklist

My conclusion restates the claim in new words and says why it matters.
My conclusion adds no new reason.
Every pronoun agrees with its noun, and I never shift from "a reader" to "you".

Signal notebook: write the conclusion for your argument. Start with Therefore or For all these reasons.Read your whole draft and underline every pronoun. Fix any that do not agree, and fix any shift to "you".Copy one sentence from the reading club piece that you think is its strongest line. Write why you chose it.

Your argument now has every part. Tomorrow Nova reviews the week, and you polish the draft for Press Day.