esperanto_story1-4, Exercise 3: "Ido nearly killed Esperanto"

Model answer (check the details):

Who says it: some historians stress the damage because several leading figures left and the quarrel lasted years; supporters of Ido say the reform was healthy.

Evidence for: the loss of Louis de Beaufront and others with influence; the confusion among new learners; the time spent on dispute.

Evidence against: the congresses continued every year, the Universal Esperanto Association was founded in 1908, and the movement kept growing until the war in 1914; the number of Ido users remained far smaller than those who stayed with Esperanto (check).

What is missing: membership figures year by year across both movements; records of how many learners dropped out because of the quarrel; independent accounts.

Verdict: the schism was serious and costly, but "nearly killed" is an overstatement on the evidence given here. A cautious statement is "damaged the movement for a time, but did not stop its growth".

Care: use words such as "damaged" and "slowed" unless numbers show more.