Identify what kind of address is being made
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
In a neighborhood novel, a speaker's sermon urges residents to treat shared courtyards with care and presents that duty as a matter of mutual responsibility. A litany of complaints follows in which several speakers repeatedly list broken pots, scattered packaging, blocked paths, and the same unresolved disputes. Residents deplore the deliberate damage to a hand-painted community mural that had taken children and adults several weeks to complete. The chair writes down the specific repairs requested, then asks how the group can address them without allowing the evening to become an endless exchange of blame.
The sermon offers moral instruction about shared responsibility, but the chair also needs practical decisions about cleaning and repair. The repeated litany reveals continuing frustration while making it difficult to hear which problems have already been assigned to volunteers. Residents continue to deplore the mural damage as they arrange a careful record of what can be restored and who wishes to help. The meeting ends with a short list of agreed tasks, preserving the concern expressed in the speeches while giving participants something concrete to do next.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.