What does seventh grade add to paired passages?

The standard asks how two authors writing on the same topic shape it, by stressing different evidence or reading the same facts differently. Most pairs are two nonfiction accounts, and the questions ask what each author puts first and why it matters.

Are the passages about real events?

Most are, and the facts are checked. Some pairs quote a real historical document or report next to a modern account. Each print picks a pair at random from the grade's set, with an answer key at the end.

7th grade paired passages

7th grade paired passages worksheets

Seventh grade pairs put two authors on one topic who shape it differently: one leans on a diary, the other on a lab result; one reads a fact as a warning, the other as a success. Questions ask what both accept, what each author emphasizes, and how the evidence each one picks leads to a different view.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RI.7.9.

Each click picks one of the 13 passage pairs written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read both passages. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. Some questions ask about one passage, and some ask about both.

Did They Reach the Top?

Going Up: On the morning of June 8, 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine left their high camp on the north side of Mount Everest and headed for the summit. No one…

Turning Back: Other climbers read the same clues and reach the opposite answer. They start with Odell. He was certain in his first reports that he had watched the pair on the…

According to Passage A, why do Mallory's goggles matter? they were in his pocket, a sign the men were coming down near dark · they were found on the summit beside the photograph of his wife, Ruth · they prove that Irvine climbed the Second Step before Mallory did · they were broken in the fall
Answer: they were in his pocket, a sign the men were coming down near dark
According to Passage B, what did Odell change about his account? he later allowed that it might have been the First Step · he said the two figures were climbing down, not up · he said the clouds never parted that day · he said he had seen only one climber

Each print picks one of the 13 passage pairs written for this grade, and its questions come with it. A second print can land on a pair you've used, so check the titles before you hand it out.

What's on a 7th grade sheet

7th grade sheets draw from 13 passage pairs. A pair runs 425 to 482 words in all. 7th and 8th grade print from the same 13 passage pairs. What changes is the standard (RI.7.9 here) and the teaching notes below. None of these passage pairs are on 6th grade sheets. On 6th grade sheets they run 334 to 362 words.

Some of the titles: First in Flight?, Is Pluto a Planet?, Three Seconds in Munich, What Ended the Dinosaurs?, The Night of the Great Storm, Who Invented the Telephone?.

Paired passages. Read both passages. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question. Some questions ask about one passage, and some ask about both. One pair of passages per sheet, with its own question set.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Make a three-column note: what A says, what B says, what both accept. Then circle the evidence each author leans on. When two authors with the same facts reach different views, the difference is usually in which facts they put first, and that is the grade-7 standard in one sentence.

Watch for: Answering from memory of the first passage after reading the second is the classic slip. For a 'both' question, go back and put a finger on the detail in each text before choosing. Two passages on one topic are not the same passage twice. They can disagree, cover different years, or use different kinds of evidence, and the questions are built on exactly those differences.

Common questions about 7th grade paired passages

What does seventh grade add to paired passages?: The standard asks how two authors writing on the same topic shape it, by stressing different evidence or reading the same facts differently. Most pairs are two nonfiction accounts, and the questions ask what each author puts first and why it matters.
Are the passages about real events?: Most are, and the facts are checked. Some pairs quote a real historical document or report next to a modern account. Each print picks a pair at random from the grade's set, with an answer key at the end.

Related worksheets

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Want a different pair? Print again. Each print picks one of the 13.

Aligned to Common Core RI.7.9. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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