Which statement is true? a. dialogue takes up a lot of room on the page and should be kept to a minimum in short stories. b. dialogue is a way to show what a character is like. c. dialogue should be created in the prewriting stage of short-story writing. d. dialogue is a way of telling, rather than showing, what a character is like.

Read this excerpt from "the all-american slurp." i pulled the strings out of my stalk. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. my brother followed suit. z-z-zip, z-z-zip. to my left, my parents were taking care of their own stalks. z-z-zip, z-z-zip, z-z-zip. suddenly i realized that there was dead silence except for our zipping. looking up, i saw that the eyes of everyone in the room were on our family. mr. and mrs. gleason, their daughter meg, who was my friend, and their neighbors the badels—they were all staring at us as we busily pulled the strings of our celery. what story element does the author develop in this excerpt? a) lot details about the party b) characterization of the lins c) characterization of the gleasons d) setting details about the gleasons’ house