Read the excerpt from "the revolt of mother."

the woman stood for a moment looking after him, then she went out of the barn across a corner of the yard to the house. the house, standing at right angles with the great barn and a long reach of sheds and out-buildings, was infinitesimal compared with them. it was scarcely as commodious for people as the little boxes under the barn eaves were for doves.

which is the correct definition of the word “infinitesimal” based on its usage in the excerpt?
extremely large
extremely close
extremely small
extremely far away

The answer is "Extremely small".

extremely small.

Infinitesimal refers to something that is extremely tiny, so small as to be impossible to measure. In this excerpt, the author states that the house was infinitesimal for the characters. Although this is part of a hyperbole (because a house cannot be so small as to be impossible to measure), the implication is that the house is extremely small.

arah orne jewett first published "a white heron" in her 1886 collection, "a white heron and other stories." this short story tells the tale of what happens when sylvia, a 9-year-old girl living deep in the forest with her grandmother, meets a young hunter looking to capture, and kill, the white heron living in sylvia's woods. the climax occurs when sylvia must decide whether to him or protect the bird.

rising action

leading up to the climax of the story, the nameless young hunter befriends sylvia and her grandmother, mrs. tilly. he explains to mrs. tilly that he is bent on "stuffing and preserving" a little white heron that he believes lives near their cottage. mrs. tilly offers up that "[t]here ain't a foot o' ground" that sylvia doesn't know and suggests that she may be able to him find the bird.

climax

after following, but not really , the young hunter on his search for the heron, sylvia slips out of bed alone in the middle of the night to find the heron for herself. perched at the top of a gigantic pine tree, sylvia spots the heron, and its nest, in a dead hemlock tree across the way. the following morning she returns home to find her grandmother and the hunter waiting for her at the door. in the moment when she plans to tell the hunter where to find the heron, she suddenly decides to protect the heron and remain silent; even the promise of much needed money does not sway her.

explanation:

showing or suffering from nervousness, fear, or a lack of confidence