"The bus left at four." Mara stacked the plates without turning around. "I waited until dark." Which narrative technique carries this passage?

Ren nodded and said nothing. He was still working it out: if she had left at noon, then the call could not have come from the house. Which narrative technique is at work?

The kitchen smelled of scorched sugar. Grease had dried in rings on the stove, and the window over the sink was fogged to the corners. Which technique is the writer using?

Ellis set down the wrench. Two winters before, in this same garage, his father had clamped the brake line shut and counted the pedal pumps out loud. Which technique is at work?

The next three years passed in bus rides and night shifts. When Nadia stood on the porch again, the light above the door had been replaced twice. Which technique is at work?

Theo read the message, set the phone face down, and lined up the salt and pepper shakers until their edges matched. Which technique is the writer using here?

A writer gives a character's eleven steps across a lit stage a full paragraph of detail. What effect does this choice create?

A writer covers a character's entire first year of high school in three sentences, then opens a full scene in June. What effect does the three-sentence stretch create?

Rather than stating that two brothers disagree about selling the truck, a writer gives them a page of clipped, one-line exchanges. What does this choice do for the reader?

After a funeral scene, a writer stops the action for a paragraph of the narrator's thoughts about what he did not say at the grave. What effect does this choice create?

A writer opens a chapter with the buzz of the light, the cold vinyl chairs and the bleach smell of a hospital waiting room. What effect does this choice create?

Which version shows the character's anger instead of naming it?

Which version lets the reader hear the disagreement rather than being told that it happened?

Which sentence describes the gym with concrete sensory detail rather than a general impression?

A writer wants the last two seconds before a car stops to feel long to the reader. Which version does that?

Which version gives the narrator's reflection on the photograph rather than only describing it?

A story cuts from a hospital hallway to the morning of the accident. Which transition best marks that the story is moving back in time?

A chapter ends in September and the next scene takes place after the winter. Which opening line marks the jump in story time?

A flashback to a fifth-grade classroom has ended and the story returns to the present-day kitchen. Which sentence best marks the return?

Two plot lines run during the same hour in different places. Which transition marks that the second scene happens at the same time rather than later?