How the shape of the whole text carries its meaning
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
The Bell over the Door (story)
[1] The bell over the door of Okonkwo Cycle rang at eight on Ren’s first morning, and a mail carrier walked in holding a front wheel bent into the shape of a potato chip. [2] Ren had been hired to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts, so the wheel went straight to Mrs. Okonkwo, who had owned the shop for twenty-two years. [3] All through June, Ren watched the owner true wheels on the repair stand, plucking each spoke like a guitar string and tightening it a quarter turn at a time. [4] The secret, Mrs. Okonkwo explained, was patience, because a wheel pulled too hard in one place will simply bend somewhere else.
[5] In July the shop became so busy that Ren was finally allowed to fix flat tires, and later to adjust the brakes on bicycles that squealed like startled geese. [6] The real test arrived on a rainy Tuesday in August, when Mrs. Okonkwo was away at an appointment and a commuter appeared with a wheel that wobbled dangerously. [7] Ren set the wheel on the stand, plucked the spokes one by one, and listened carefully for the dull notes that identified the loose ones. [8] It took almost an hour of quarter turns, and twice the wobble traveled around the rim instead of shrinking, exactly as the owner had warned. [9] When the rim finally spun straight between the brake pads, the commuter paid, thanked Ren, and pedaled away through the puddles without a backward glance. [10] Mrs. Okonkwo inspected the wheel the next morning, said nothing for a long moment, and then moved Ren’s name from the sweeping list to the repair board.
[11] By the end of the summer the shop had hired a second student, Bo, to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts. [12] On Bo’s first morning, the bell over the door rang at eight, and a delivery cyclist walked in holding a front wheel bent like a potato chip. [13] Ren took the wheel, set it on the stand, and showed Bo how to pluck the first spoke and listen. [14] This time the wheel did not have to be handed to anyone else.
Esme is filling in the beginning margin. Why does the story start with the bell, the hour and the bent wheel in sentence 1?
- The story really begins in sentence 6, when the test comes on a rainy Tuesday in August.
- It sets up an image the ending repeats, so the reader can measure how far Ren has come.
- It creates suspense about whether the mail carrier will be angry with the shop later on.
- It tells us that a mail carrier rode into a pothole and needed a new wheel that morning.
Milo is marking the turn. Where does the story turn, and what changes there?
- Sentence 9: the commuter pays, thanks Ren and pedals off without a backward glance.
- Sentences 6 to 10: alone with a wobbling wheel, Ren does the repair and earns a place on the board.
- Sentence 5: Ren is allowed to fix flat tires, so the main change in the story is already over.
- Sentence 4: Mrs. Okonkwo explains that a wheel pulled too hard in one place bends somewhere else, teaching Ren patience.
Pia is labeling the end margin. What kind of ending does this story have?
- A circular, happy ending: the opening scene returns, but now Ren is the one who fixes the wheel.
- A sad ending: Ren has to watch somebody new take over the job of sweeping the floor.
- An open ending: we do not learn whether Ren can actually fix the wheel that comes in on Bo’s first day.
- An ending about Bo, who is hired to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts.
Signing Off (story)
[1] The community radio station in the old firehouse on Maple Street broadcast only in summer, and Luz and Jun had hosted its Thursday evening show since June. [2] On the last Thursday of August, the station manager, Mr. Delacroix, warned the two hosts that the board would vote in September on whether the station could afford another season. [3] The transmitter was older than the hosts, the roof leaked onto the record shelves, and the grant that paid the electric bill had run out in July. [4] Luz and Jun decided not to mention any of this on the air, because the show had always been about the town rather than about the station.
[5] For two hours they played requests, read the weather, and interviewed a retired bus driver who had memorized every pothole on Route 6. [6] Near the end, a caller who would not give a name asked them to play the song that had closed the station’s very first broadcast in 1987. [7] Neither host knew the song, and the station’s handwritten logbook from that year had disappeared when the roof first began to leak. [8] Jun stalled by reading the community calendar, while Luz searched the shelves and discovered, behind a box of old cassettes, a record with a faded paper label that said FIRST NIGHT. [9] They played it without knowing whether it was the right song, and the telephone line stayed silent for the entire three minutes. [10] At nine o’clock, Jun read the station identification, and Luz switched off the microphone that would stay off until next summer, if there was a next summer.
[11] Walking home, the two hosts argued cheerfully about whether the caller had been pleased, disappointed or simply asleep. [12] Neither could say what the board would decide, or whether the record with the faded label had been the song the caller remembered. [13] Luz kept the record in a backpack anyway, just in case someone needed it in September. [14] Behind them, the red light on the firehouse antenna kept blinking over the dark street.
Ren is filling in the beginning margin. Why does the story put the board’s vote in sentence 2, before the show begins?
- It tells us that the station is in an old firehouse and broadcasts in summer.
- It explains why Luz and Jun decide to talk about the station’s money troubles on the air.
- The story really begins with the mysterious caller in sentence 6, near the end of the show.
- It plants a question over the whole broadcast: will this be the station’s last night?
Tala is marking the turn. Where does this story turn?
- Sentence 5: the hosts interview a retired bus driver who has memorized the potholes on Route 6.
- Sentence 6: the unnamed caller’s request adds a mystery to the ordinary last show.
- Sentence 8: the hosts find a record labeled FIRST NIGHT behind a box of old cassettes.
- Sentence 10: Luz switches off the microphone at nine o’clock, until next summer.
Zee is labeling the end margin. What kind of ending does this story have?
- A sad ending: the station closes for good, and the old record is thrown away.
- An ending about the red light on the firehouse antenna, which keeps blinking over the street.
- An open ending: neither the vote nor the true song is settled when the story stops.
- A happy ending: the board votes to keep the station, and the caller thanks the hosts.
The Bell over the Door (story)
[1] The bell over the door of Okonkwo Cycle rang at eight on Ren’s first morning, and a mail carrier walked in holding a front wheel bent into the shape of a potato chip. [2] Ren had been hired to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts, so the wheel went straight to Mrs. Okonkwo, who had owned the shop for twenty-two years. [3] All through June, Ren watched the owner true wheels on the repair stand, plucking each spoke like a guitar string and tightening it a quarter turn at a time. [4] The secret, Mrs. Okonkwo explained, was patience, because a wheel pulled too hard in one place will simply bend somewhere else.
[5] In July the shop became so busy that Ren was finally allowed to fix flat tires, and later to adjust the brakes on bicycles that squealed like startled geese. [6] The real test arrived on a rainy Tuesday in August, when Mrs. Okonkwo was away at an appointment and a commuter appeared with a wheel that wobbled dangerously. [7] Ren set the wheel on the stand, plucked the spokes one by one, and listened carefully for the dull notes that identified the loose ones. [8] It took almost an hour of quarter turns, and twice the wobble traveled around the rim instead of shrinking, exactly as the owner had warned. [9] When the rim finally spun straight between the brake pads, the commuter paid, thanked Ren, and pedaled away through the puddles without a backward glance. [10] Mrs. Okonkwo inspected the wheel the next morning, said nothing for a long moment, and then moved Ren’s name from the sweeping list to the repair board.
[11] By the end of the summer the shop had hired a second student, Bo, to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts. [12] On Bo’s first morning, the bell over the door rang at eight, and a delivery cyclist walked in holding a front wheel bent like a potato chip. [13] Ren took the wheel, set it on the stand, and showed Bo how to pluck the first spoke and listen. [14] This time the wheel did not have to be handed to anyone else.
Esme reads sentence 8: “twice the wobble traveled around the rim instead of shrinking.” What does this moment add to the turn?
- It is the story’s turn, the moment when Ren decides to give up and call the owner.
- The repair nearly fails, so the success in sentence 9 is earned by the patience Ren was taught.
- It reveals that Mrs. Okonkwo’s advice in sentence 4 had been wrong from the start.
- Nothing much: it is just a detail about how bicycle wheels behave when they are adjusted.
Signing Off (story)
[1] The community radio station in the old firehouse on Maple Street broadcast only in summer, and Luz and Jun had hosted its Thursday evening show since June. [2] On the last Thursday of August, the station manager, Mr. Delacroix, warned the two hosts that the board would vote in September on whether the station could afford another season. [3] The transmitter was older than the hosts, the roof leaked onto the record shelves, and the grant that paid the electric bill had run out in July. [4] Luz and Jun decided not to mention any of this on the air, because the show had always been about the town rather than about the station.
[5] For two hours they played requests, read the weather, and interviewed a retired bus driver who had memorized every pothole on Route 6. [6] Near the end, a caller who would not give a name asked them to play the song that had closed the station’s very first broadcast in 1987. [7] Neither host knew the song, and the station’s handwritten logbook from that year had disappeared when the roof first began to leak. [8] Jun stalled by reading the community calendar, while Luz searched the shelves and discovered, behind a box of old cassettes, a record with a faded paper label that said FIRST NIGHT. [9] They played it without knowing whether it was the right song, and the telephone line stayed silent for the entire three minutes. [10] At nine o’clock, Jun read the station identification, and Luz switched off the microphone that would stay off until next summer, if there was a next summer.
[11] Walking home, the two hosts argued cheerfully about whether the caller had been pleased, disappointed or simply asleep. [12] Neither could say what the board would decide, or whether the record with the faded label had been the song the caller remembered. [13] Luz kept the record in a backpack anyway, just in case someone needed it in September. [14] Behind them, the red light on the firehouse antenna kept blinking over the dark street.
Bo looks at sentence 3, which lists the transmitter, the roof and the grant. What does this opening list do?
- It is the story’s real beginning, because nothing important happens before sentence 3 begins to list the troubles.
- It describes the equipment and the building that a small radio station needs to run.
- It shows that the hosts have been careless and have let the station fall apart.
- It piles up the station’s troubles, so the reader shares the worry hanging over the show.
Kira reads sentence 9: the phone line stays silent while the record plays. How does this silence affect the turn?
- It shows the caller was satisfied, since a happy listener would have no reason to call again that night.
- The silence leaves the mystery unsolved, so the turn adds a question instead of answering one.
- The silence is the real beginning of the story, because the evening’s show starts there.
- Nothing changes: the hosts simply move on to the station identification at nine.
The Bell over the Door (story)
[1] The bell over the door of Okonkwo Cycle rang at eight on Ren’s first morning, and a mail carrier walked in holding a front wheel bent into the shape of a potato chip. [2] Ren had been hired to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts, so the wheel went straight to Mrs. Okonkwo, who had owned the shop for twenty-two years. [3] All through June, Ren watched the owner true wheels on the repair stand, plucking each spoke like a guitar string and tightening it a quarter turn at a time. [4] The secret, Mrs. Okonkwo explained, was patience, because a wheel pulled too hard in one place will simply bend somewhere else.
[5] In July the shop became so busy that Ren was finally allowed to fix flat tires, and later to adjust the brakes on bicycles that squealed like startled geese. [6] The real test arrived on a rainy Tuesday in August, when Mrs. Okonkwo was away at an appointment and a commuter appeared with a wheel that wobbled dangerously. [7] Ren set the wheel on the stand, plucked the spokes one by one, and listened carefully for the dull notes that identified the loose ones. [8] It took almost an hour of quarter turns, and twice the wobble traveled around the rim instead of shrinking, exactly as the owner had warned. [9] When the rim finally spun straight between the brake pads, the commuter paid, thanked Ren, and pedaled away through the puddles without a backward glance. [10] Mrs. Okonkwo inspected the wheel the next morning, said nothing for a long moment, and then moved Ren’s name from the sweeping list to the repair board.
[11] By the end of the summer the shop had hired a second student, Bo, to sweep the floor and sort the bins of bolts. [12] On Bo’s first morning, the bell over the door rang at eight, and a delivery cyclist walked in holding a front wheel bent like a potato chip. [13] Ren took the wheel, set it on the stand, and showed Bo how to pluck the first spoke and listen. [14] This time the wheel did not have to be handed to anyone else.
Jun reads the last line: “This time the wheel did not have to be handed to anyone else.” What does it do for the ending?
- It leaves the ending open, since we do not learn who will finally fix the bent wheel.
- It points back to sentence 2, closing the circle and showing the change in one short line.
- It tells us that the delivery cyclist’s wheel was repaired quickly that same morning.
- It settles that Bo will one day become the most skilled mechanic the shop has had.
