Why would a writer want to be aware of the connotations of words?
a. to avoid using them altogether
b. to evoke a specific emotional state in the reader
c. to create hidden meanings in otherwise simple texts
d. to check them against the dictionary definitions of

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.

Read the excerpt from act 1 of a doll's house. helmer: nora! [goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] the same little featherhead! suppose, now, that i borrowed fifty pounds today, and you spent it all in the christmas week, and then on new year's eve a slate fell on my head and killed me, and— nora: [putting her hands over his mouth]. oh! don't say such horrid things. helmer: still, suppose that happened, —what then? nora: if that were to happen, i don't suppose i should care whether i owed money or not. helmer: yes, but what about the people who had lent it? nora: they? who would bother about them? i should not know who they were. helmer: that is like a woman! but seriously, nora, you know what i think about that. no debt, no borrowing. there can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. we two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle. nora: [moving towards the stove]. as you , torvald. how does the interaction between helmer and nora advance the plot? nora realizes that helmer will completely disapprove of her having borrowed money, so she has to continue to keep it a secret from him. nora realizes that she and helmer have the same ideas about financial issues, and the conversation brings them closer together later in the play. helmer realizes that nora is more responsible with money than he originally thought, and he trusts her more with finances later in the play. nora realizes that helmer knows a lot more about borrowing and lending, and she will seek his input later when she needs it.

Read the passage first of all if someone says your dream is impossible, they’re wrong. you can’t prove that something is impossible-all you know is that[it] hasn’t been done yet. people said no one could scale mount everest but in 1953, sir edmund hilary and tenzing norway gazed down upon the world from it’s summit. people said that man could not fly, but in 1903, orville and wilbur wright made the first sustained powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine. people said, “okay, we admit that someone could climb mount everest, and we admit that man has learned to fly, but no one will ever, ever walk on the face of the moon.” if we can send three men a quarter of a million miles away and bring them home safely, is there any great task we cannot accomplish? which identifies the textual evidence that best supports the claim: the authors purpose is to persuade? a: the author shares historical information about the wright brothers. b: the author states that men have walked the moon. c: the author states that others who think your dreams are impossible are wrong. d: the author wants to know what tasks we cannot accomplish.