Which sentence would be the most effective and clear opening of a short story? a) jackson crept down the hall with a baseball bat in his hand. b) she put the letters on the construction paper, making sure to spell everything correctly. c) after all had been said and done, stephanie knew that she had done her best in everything. d) when nick woke up for his first day of sixth grade smelling pancakes and bacon from downstairs, he knew that today was going to be a big day of change in his life. e

Returning from vietnam, we were given a parade. crowds of screaming people waving signs — not just on one road, one day. no, they were everywhere. every day. on the streets, on the television, on the radio. a hot, angry tangle of shaking fists and ugly words that threatened us like a monster with a hundred heads. our country had chewed us up and spit us out, and now we were being treated as if it were our fault. which sentence best uses figurative language to match the paragraph's tone? a. our feet were frozen in place as the street itself strained to hold us back. b. i felt unappreciated and condemned for actions i had thought were heroic. c. i hadn't expected to find myself in a rags-to-riches situation such as this. d. we had come home to a feeding frenzy and were being treated as bait.