Question

read the following passage from the grapes of wrath: the little farmers watched debt creep up on them like the tide. they sprayed the trees and sold no crop, they pruned and grafted and could not pick the crop. which statement best describes the diction of this passage? a. the author feels frustrated for the farmers. b. the author repeats words and uses parallelism. c. the author’s words make us feel bad for the farmers. d. the author’s use of “creep” shows how sinister the debt was.

Explanation:

Diction refers to an author's word choice. We analyze each option:

• A focuses on the author's emotion, not word choice itself.
• B describes structural devices (repetition/parallelism), not diction.
• C describes the emotional effect, not the word choice itself.
• D analyzes the specific word "creep" (a diction choice) and its effect, directly addressing the passage's diction.

Answer:

D. The author's use of "creep" shows how sinister the debt was.