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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage teaches a Trailblazer how E.B. White moves from a general claim (nobody likes flies) through three parallel short sentences (cows hated, horses detested, sheep loathed) to a quiet closing shift — Wilbur admired the way Charlotte managed. Copying rewards careful attention to the rhythm of the list and to the tonal change in the final sentence, where the barn's shared annoyance turns, for just a moment, into respect.
Hardly anybody around the farm had a good word to say for a fly. Flies spent their time pestering others. The cows hated them. The horses detested them. The sheep loathed them. Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerman ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell the story of Chapter 7 from the peaceful opening with Charlotte's campaign against insects through the old sheep's news to Charlotte's final promise that Wilbur shall not die.
Discussion Questions
- The chapter begins with Wilbur admiring Charlotte for always giving her victims an anaesthetic so they won't feel pain. How does this small early scene shape the way we see Charlotte later when she promises to save Wilbur?
- The old sheep announces the plan to kill Wilbur in a very matter-of-fact way, saying year after year and same old business. Why does E.B. White give the sheep this flat, tired voice, and what does it add that a more dramatic voice would not?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A planned set of actions aimed at reaching a single important goal.
Item 2
Shaped by good, careful thinking.
Item 3
Disliked with very strong, lasting feeling.
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Critical Thinking
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