(b) What might Alexie be trying to say about the process of his coming to literacy, in terms of both the effort required AND the height of the obstacles encountered (or, given the metaphor introduced in paragraph 4, the thickness of the doors that must be broken through)?​

he uses the metaphor autumn.

1. an introductory word, phrase, or clause which is missing the word(s) it is supposed to modify- dangling modifier

words, clauses or phrases which add description is known as a modifier. a modifier is found before or after the target words that they want to describe.

for example: happily, she ran towards her father.

herein, happily precedes 'she', its target.

whereas, when an author forgets to mention the target and includes the modifier thus it is known as a dangling modifier, wherein modifier has nothing to describe. these are the errors which confuse the reader.

2. a noun or pronoun's function within a sentence- elliptical clause

it is a clause in which words are being left out. on the other hand, the missing word is understood due to the logic or pattern of the sentence.

for example:

she had five apples;   kanishk, three.

herein the verb 'had' is missing which is otherwise understood.

3. to quickly run: split infinitive

it refers to the construction of the sentence in which infinitive consists with the word or an adverb between to and verb.

for example, he used to secretly ate those apples.

4. a clause with either an implied subject or verb: elliptical clause

5. a word that joins words or phrases of the same grammatical type: coordinating conjunctions are the words which connect clauses and phrases. there are seven coordinating conjunctions that are, yet, so, or, for, and, nor, and but.

for example:

the boy refused to complete the homework nor will he take the punishment.

'and' is the coordinating conjunction.

7. pronoun with no specific antecedent: indefinite pronouns are the pronouns which do not refer to anyone specifically.

for example several, nobody, some and so forth.

8. a pair of words like either/or: correlative conjunctions

these are the pairs of conjunctions used in a sentence to join elements together. these are, , not also, and so forth.

9. masculine and feminine forms: gender

gender refers to the cultural, psychological and behavioral traits that are associated with a particular sex.