Sinking and Swaddled

Question

by Beth Gilstrap
She swore she felt the earth drop-like a hitch in an elevator-several
miles from her mother's house. She thought of all those bedlinens
agitated, curled, heaped on top of her mother, sunk along with everything
else, beams, roof tiles, the acrylic nails her mom wore, the senselessness
of waste. Her father had sunk, too. Years ago, in a prefab home out on the
lake. One day the lake rose a mite and the ground dove a mite and from
what her mother said, her father was better off down there, probably still
passed out on his leather couch. Ona had been swaddled and
maneuvered into the bow of a rowboat and, as legend tells, slept through
the whole affair. Perhaps it was this swaddling she longed for more than
anything with all this terrible sinking going on.
Ona walked for days, determined to find safety on higher ground. If she
read her instruments correctly, she was adjacent to a national forest. The
public would not stand for the sinking of a national forest so when she
found a slate bungalow, she settled there. Though two walls were missing,
she concluded it was due to wind and rain and the birch tree that had
swindled its way up and through the middle of the sweet, abandoned
home. It wasn't sinking.
The kitchen still held a butcher-block table with a family of plates. Ona
piled them one on top of the other and pulled them to her chest, sick with
grief, sick with longing at the sight of the dust-free circles left behind. After
rinsing each dish in the creek, she dried them with her shirtsleeve and put
them back in place. At dusk, fingertips numb, Ona tore sheets of bark from
the tree, building herself a papery cradle on the uneven floorboards where
she could sleep for years.

Use the passage to answer the question.
Which excerpt from the passage uses language that helps to
build an informal tone? Select the two correct answers.
(1 point)
"Ona had been swaddled and maneuvered into the bow of a
rowboat and, as legend tells, slept through the whole affair."
"At dusk, fingertips numb, Ona tore sheets of bark from the
tree, building herself a papery cradle on the uneven
floorboards where she could sleep for years."
"Ona walked for days, determined to find safety on higher
☐ ground. If she read her instruments correctly, she was adjacent
to a national forest."
"Though two walls were missing, she concluded it was due to
wind and rain and the birch tree that had swindled its way up
and through the middle of the sweet, abandoned home."
"After rinsing each dish in the creek, she dried them with her
shirtsleeve and put them back in place."

Answer 1

The two excerpts from the passage that use language to help build an informal tone are:

1. "Ona had been swaddled and maneuvered into the bow of a rowboat and, as legend tells, slept through the whole affair."
2. "After rinsing each dish in the creek, she dried them with her shirtsleeve and put them back in place."

These excerpts use conversational language and relatable imagery, contributing to an informal tone.