Read the excerpt from On the Road. In those days he really didn't know what he was talking about; that is to say, he was a young jailkid all hung-
up on the wonderful possibilities of becoming a real intellectual, and he liked to talk in the tone and using the
words, but in a jumbled way, that he had heard from "real intellectuals"-although, mind you, he wasn't so
naïve as that in all other things, and it took him just a few months with Carlo Marx to become completely in
there with all the terms and jargon.
Which is a key feature of Kerouac's diction that contributes to his writing style?
the use of youth culture slang
o the use of academic language
the use of words from other languages
the use of regional dialects

Read the following excerpt from "the city without us" by alan weisman: almost every other compound in nature contracts when frozen, but h20 (water) molecules do the opposite, organizing themselves into elegant hexagonal crystals that take up about 9 percent more space than they did when sloshing around in a liquid state. pretty six-sided crystals suggest snowflakes so gossamer it's hard to conceive of them pushing apart slabs of sidewalk. which statement best describes the effect of the metaphor on the excerpt's meaning? o a. it likens h2o molecules to hexagonal crystals, which are actually larger than people imagine. o b. it makes the frozen crystals seem like friends to the city to contrast with what a deceitful foe they are. o c. it compares the sloshing liquid to a river of water able to push apart the sidewalk o d. it compares the frozen crystals to delicately lacy snowflakes having an unexpected strength (apex)