Question

the search partys find by grant allen (excerpt) in this excerpt from the beckoning hand and other stories, the narrator, a surgeon, joins an arctic expedition to escape a broken engagement. one of the expeditions members is a man by the name of lamarchant, who quickly becomes one of the teams most despised members. to the narrators horror, he learns that lamarchant is now engaged to his former love. when lamarchant learns this, he sets in motion a plan that has a terrible consequence for both men. (1) presently, i heard a noise again, and woke up quietly, without starting, but just opened my eyes and peered about as well as the dim light of the little oil - lamp would allow me. (2) to my great surprise, i could make out somehow that lamarchant was meddling with the bottles in the medicine - chest... (3) at four i woke, as i always did, and proceeded to take one of my powders. curiously enough, before i tasted it, the grain appeared to me to be rather coarser and more granular than the quinine i had originally put there. i took a pinch between my finger and select the correct answer. how does the author use pacing to create tension and suspense in the excerpt? a. he relies heavily on dialogue to move the story along. b. he only uses lengthy, descriptive paragraphs. c. he uses a mixture of regular text and dialogue to reveal key details. d. he introduces important information in a series of conversations.

Explanation:

The author uses a combination of regular narrative text to describe events like waking up and noticing things, and dialogue (which is not shown in full here but is implied as a part of the story - telling) to reveal key details that build tension. Option A is too one - sided as it only focuses on dialogue. Option B is incorrect as there isn't only lengthy descriptive paragraphs. Option D is also too narrow as it only mentions conversations. Option C correctly describes the use of both regular text and dialogue for key details to create tension.

Answer:

C. He uses a mixture of regular text and dialogue to reveal key details.