Read the excerpt from “tools of the spymaster." general clinton, concerned about what general howe was planning and doing, made use of a mask to write a secret message in a letter to general burgoyne. before writing the letter, clinton had placed an hourglass-shaped mask on a piece of paper and then had formed the secret message within that shape. the unmasked letter had enough false information in it to fool any american who happened to see it. but when burgoyne viewed the letter with the mask, he read clinton's view of the real situation: howe has made a bad move; i don't have enough men to do anything about it. which word from this excerpt is most useful in determining the central idea?

Read the excerpt below from the poem "exile" by julia alvarez and answer the question that follows. i let myself lie back in deep waters, my arms out like jesus' on his cross, and instead of sinking down like i'd always done, magically, that night, i could stay up, floating out past the driveway, past the gates, in the black ford, papi grim at the wheel, winding through the back roads, stroke by difficult stroke, out on the highway, heading toward the coast. which literary device is used in the comparison between the speaker's experience of fleeing the country and floating in the ocean? i let myself lie back in deep waters, my arms out like jesus' on his cross, and instead of sinking down like i'd always done, magically, that night, i could stay up, extended metaphor symbolism simile theme