This question is missing the excerpt. I've found the complete question online. It is as follows:
Read the excerpt from Heart of a Samurai. Goemon jumped up. "Agreed," he said, jamming his "knife" into his sash and slashing at Manjiro’s "sword." Their imaginary swords clashed and clattered as they lunged or leaped aside to avoid being hit. Which words contribute most to the excerpt’s pace?
A. "imaginary" and "aside"
B. "sash" and "swords"
C. "slashing" and "lunged"
D. "Goeman" and "Manjiro"
Answer:
The words that contribute most to the excerpt's pace are C. "slashing" and "lunged".
Explanation:
<u>When we think of pace, we think of rhythm, of moving fast, slow, with regularity, with cadence, etc. </u>The words an author uses help readers feel the pace of what is being described more intensely. <u>If the characters are acting or moving fast, or if conflicts are developing slowly, the only way for readers to visualize that is through the author's word-choice. In the case of the excerpt we are studying here, we can say the writer establishes a fast pace through the use of the words "slashing" and "lunged". Both words imply rapidity of movement, celerity, quickness and, for that reason, has the readers imagining the scene in a vivid, accelerated manner.</u>
Some scientists look into outer space while others look elsewhere. Georg Steinhauser looked into his bellybutton and discovered what the lint found there contains and its possible purpose. Mostly made of fabric bits and dead skin, it is most likely used to keep germs and other things out.
d. "not morose, misanthropic, and revengeful, but cheerful, hopeful, and forgiving."
Parallel structure is using the same grammatical structure for elements in a list. This helps with the flow of the sentence and ideas, as well as aids the reader in seeing how the items are similar or different. In this case, the items in both lists are written as adjectives. This allows the reader to see the similarities among the that are grouped together and how the contrast to each other across the conjunction "but". The phrase "two hundred and fifty years" is not part of parallel structure in this sentence.
to inform readers by describing the river and cities on the route
the first sentence describes how travellers travel along the Indian sea, and how merchants also take that river, with their merchandise. All of which, are to travel to India.
