Monday, January 18, 2016

What page number is "allotted" on in Bridge to Terabithia?

The page number will depend on which version of the book you have. Open up to Chapter 2, and go about halfway into the chapter. Now skim until you find a paragraph that starts with the words "So the students".


Here it is:



"So the students of Lark Creek Elementary sat at their desks all Friday, their hearts thumping with anticipation as they listened to the joyful pandemonium pouring out from the teachers' room, spent their allotted half hours with Miss Edmunds under the spell of her wild beauty and in the snare of her enthusiasms, and then went out and pretended that they couldn't be suckered by some hippie in tight jeans with makeup all over her eyes but none on her mouth."



You might not be able to tell from the context, but "allotted" means "set aside for a specific purpose." Their thirty-minute periods with Miss Edmunds are "allotted," meaning that those time periods have been set aside for the specific purpose of doing the lessons with Miss Edmunds. When you allot time or resources for something, you're planning out how you'll spend that time or use up that resource.


So, "allot" is a kind of official, serious word--you'd say, for example, "Three hours have been allotted for the exam," "We've allotted a few conference rooms to be used for the interviews," or "I've allotted 30% of my income to housing." Because this word is so serious and formal, the narrator in the story here is showing us how the kids are only acting like their lesson time is just some official thing they're scheduled to do, when really, the kids are enthralled with Miss Edmunds and probably wish they could allot more time for her.

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