A musician stands behind an instrument. She holds two sticks called "mallets" in her hands. The instrument has many rectangle-shaped bars called keys. Each one produces a different sound when the musician hits it with a mallet. What is this thing? It might be a vibraphone. It’s large: usually over 4 feet long and around 3 feet tall. Its keys are made out of shiny metal, and each one has a tube called a resonator underneath. The vibraphone produces a smooth, mellow sound. It is often used in jazz music.
It might also be a marimba. It’s about as large as a vibraphone, and it has resonators too, but its keys are made of dark wood. It makes shorter, softer sounds.
Finally, it might be a glockenspiel. They're also sometimes called “bells” for short. It has thin metal bars and is played with small, hard mallets. Its sound is loud and high-pitched, and it has no resonators.

According to the passage, what are mallets?

(A) a type of xylophone

(B) musicians who pay instruments

(C) sticks used to play certain instruments

(D) a type of music

answer: to inform

explanation: the red death is an exciting passage, but also in some ways scary, so it is not to amuse. the red death is far in the past, so it is not to warn.

that's a lot of reading foo

explanation:

figurative language is a resource that fiction writers use to make better descriptions of what they want to write about or express. they can improve their stories, as they can elaborate more vivid and colorful sentences. this way, the reader will be able to have more detailed images in his/her mind.

places, objects, people and even feelings or emotions can be described with a lot of detail to metaphors, similes and personifications. making different kinds of comparisons to make a description more specific, as well as assigning human qualities to non-human objects (and vice-versa) can be very useful for science fiction writers.  

on the other hand, alliterations allow writers to elaborate more entertaining and creative sentences. it consists in using a sequence of words that start with the same consonant letter. they can be used to emphasize something important the writer wants to express, or just as a fun literary device.