Read the paragraph.

maria excels in gymnastics and tumbling. she has the commitment and dedication it takes to be successful in a demanding sport. the balance beam is my favorite event to watch because it requires a great deal of focus. maria will continue training in the hopes of landing a spot on the competitive team.

which best explains the inconsistency in writing used in this paragraph?

a. it does not maintain a single point of view.
b. it does not maintain appropriate verb tense.
c. it does not maintain the same tone throughout.
d. it does not maintain the same style throughout.

Which line in this excerpt from the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald contains a simile? about half way between west egg and new york the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. this is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. occasionally a line of grey cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-grey men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight.