Question

read the excerpt from a quilt of a country. once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism. with the end of the cold war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen—african - american, mexican - american, irish - american—would overwhelm the right. what method best helps you determine the denotative meaning of fault lines? analyze the connotation of “fault lines” within the excerpt define “fault lines” from the overall feeling in the neighboring sentences. research the meaning of “fault lines” in an earth science textbook. consider the metaphorical context of “fault lines” in the excerpt.

Explanation:

The denotative meaning is the literal meaning. To find the denotative meaning of "fault lines", one should look at its standard definition. An earth - science textbook would provide the literal, dictionary - like meaning. Analyzing connotation, overall feeling in neighboring sentences, or metaphorical context helps with connotative meaning, not denotative.

Answer:

C. Research the meaning of "fault lines" in an earth science textbook.