PaginePaginepagineapp.comRead closely. Think about how the author wrote it.
In the window of the antique shop sat a clockwork bird in a gilded cage. When wound, it sang a song no living bird had ever sung — a strange, mechanical warble that somehow made people stop on the sidewalk.
The shopkeeper refused every offer to buy it. "It’s not for sale," he said, again and again, until the town decided he was simply stubborn.
After he died, his granddaughter found his notebook. Fifty years earlier, his wife had been a singer who lost her voice to illness. He had spent three years building the bird from a recording of her last performance, adjusting every gear until it matched the tune she sang to him on their wedding night.
The granddaughter wound the bird once. Then she placed it back in the window, with a new sign: "Not for sale. Listen as long as you like."
Vocabulary: gilded — determine its meaning from context: ________________
Worksheets › Grade 12 English › Craft & Structure › Craft & Structure
Free Grade 12 English worksheet (Common Core RL.11-12.4): analyze point of view, word choice and structure in "The Clockwork Bird". Skill: Word choice, structure and point of view. Level: Grade 12 — also suits Year 13 (UK).
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It is designed for Grade 12 (ages 17–18), but use it with any child who is ready.
Word choice, structure and point of view.
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