When the clock begins again

Text: an original contemporary speech-style practice extract.

At eleven fifty-nine, the square will be looking up. For eighteen months, the clock face has shown the correct time only twice a day: once by accident, once by symmetry. Its hands have waited above us while buses arrived, shops opened and children hurried through the rain. In a moment, waiting will become movement.

It would be easy to call this a repair and leave the story inside the tower. But repair has travelled: from the engineer who counted worn teeth on a wheel, to the apprentice who cleaned each part, to residents who sent in photographs of the clock at weddings, marches and ordinary Mondays. Metal has been mended; attention has been shared.

When the bell sounds, it will not announce that the town has returned to some perfect past. Clocks do not turn backwards, however much we stare at them. It will tell us something more useful: that what stops can be examined, cared for and started again. So listen for the first strike. Then look away. The clock has work to do, and so do we.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to interest and engage the reader.

In your answer, consider:

• language features and techniques
• structural techniques
• the effect on the reader.

Support your views with detailed reference to the extract.