Read the line: 'Her patience was a thin sheet of ice over deep water.' What does the line say about her patience?

Read the line: 'The old bus coughed up the hill like a runner who had started too fast.' What does the comparison suggest about the bus?

Read the line: 'The kitchen clock nagged at us all through dinner.' What does the word 'nagged' suggest about the clock?

A writer wants to sound critical but not harsh about a neighbor who will not change his plan. Which word fits the blank? 'He was ___ about where the fence should go.'

Read the stanza: 'The fence was down, the gate stood wide, / the pasture empty, cold, and gray. / We called till dusk, then turned aside. / The horses did not come that day.' What does the rhyme of 'gray' and 'day' do?

Read the stanza: 'We packed the truck at half past four. / The dog kept watch beside the door. / And nobody said goodbye.' What does the missing rhyme in the last line do?

Read the line: 'The tin cans clattered, clanged, and clacked down the concrete steps.' What does the repeated hard c sound do in this line?

Read the line: 'The long, slow moan of the low foghorn rolls over the cold bay.' What does the repeated long o sound do?

Read the lines: "'The light is on,' she said in June, and meant: come in. / In December she said it again, alone at the window." What does repeating the line do?

Read the line: 'We waited, and waited, and waited, and then we went home.' What does repeating the word 'waited' do to the line?

Read the lines: 'He won the crown / the year the mill shut down.' What does the rhyme of 'crown' and 'down' do?

Read the line: 'His voice was gravel under a slow tire.' What does the line say about his voice?

Read the sentence: 'He shuffled to the front of the room and mumbled the announcement.' What tone do the words 'shuffled' and 'mumbled' create?

A writer wants to describe a runner's build with plain admiration. Which word fits the blank? 'The runner was ___.'

Read the lines: 'The river argued with the bridge all night, / shoving at its knees, refusing to move on, / and by morning it had taken half the road.' What does describing the river this way add?

Read the lines: 'Her letters came like weather reports: / accurate, dated, and telling us nothing / about the sky over her own house.' What do the lines say about her letters?

Read the line: 'I have told you this a thousand times, and the wall has listened better.' What does the exaggeration convey?

Read the line: 'Rain rapped, then drummed, then hammered on the tin roof.' What do the three verbs do in this line?

Read the sentence: 'Behind the desk sat a nest of wires no one had touched in years.' What does calling the wires a nest add?

Read the line: 'The class settled, and the sound of shoes on the stairs slid softly past the door.' What does the repeated s sound do?