1. (a) in paragraph 3, are the town and steamboat described using humorous or
nonhumorous details or a mixture of both? Explain. (b) What purpose or purposes
does Twain address by presenting these details?

type of error:

the error in the sentence is a "dangling modifier". a dangling modifier is a phrase, word or clause that "dangles" because there is not target to modify. in this case, "after mopping the floor" is the dangling modifier since it has no word to modify. the noun "house" cannot mop the floor; therefore there is a mistake in the writing of the sentence.

what is the question?

1.   in sonnet 18, the speaker wants to describe the beauty of his love, but can’t find the words to do so. the speaker says “then in mid-utterance the lay was lost” when he tries to think of the words to describe his love’s beauty.   through his defeat of finding words to describe his love, he shows his love for her.

2.   instead of describing how perfect his love is or comparing her to other beautiful things, he says she is average and there is nothing special about her.   at the last 2 lines of the poem, the volta changes the poem by saying that even though his love is average in beauty, his love for her is special and unique. so instead of praising her throughout the whole poem, he contrasts her average characteristics with his special love for her.

3.   the beloved asked the speaker to describe how he feels about her. she begins to describe what she feels but "drop the torch" and says that she can't do it because the words "hid in me out of reach." the the speaker says "nay, let the silence of my womanhood command my woman-love to thy belief" and that her silence will have to be the answer to his question.