Read the paragraph below. Do you think the claim is supported by strong or weak evidence? Explain your reasoning. Schools should teach students the skill of active listening so they can be successful in the workplace. Active listening is just as important to talking. Adults spend 70 percent of their time communicating and, of that, 45 percent of their time is listening. Studies have shown that employers are more likely to hire applicants with good communication skills. Explain what makes a claim effective, and describe how a writer uses evidence and claims in an argumentative essay.

Read the excerpt from the dark game: true spy stories from invisible ink to cia moles. yet, by the time robert e. lee surrendered to ulysses grant at appomattox, virginia, some four years later, about 620,000 soldiers had died on the battlefields, more than american battle deaths in all other wars from the revolution through the vietnam war. what is the author’s primary purpose for including this detail? to inform readers about the differences between three military conflicts to persuade readers of the seriousness of the american civil war to entertain readers with tales from behind the lines of battle to encourage readers to visit battlegrounds in appomattox, virginia