Analyze Word Choice and Literary Allusions Practice Test

Read the excerpt and answer the question.

After the argument, the apartment felt smaller, as if the walls had leaned in to listen. Mom moved through the living room with the careful quiet of someone walking past a sleeping bear. “I’m fine,” she said, but her words were thin as paper. When Eli tried to apologize, she didn’t shout; she murmured, “We’ll talk later,” and stared out the window where rain stitched gray lines across the sky.

How would replacing “murmured” with “barked” change the meaning and tone?

Read the excerpt and answer the question.

After the argument, the kitchen fell silent. The clock kept talking anyway—tick, tick—like it was taking sides. Dad scrubbed the same plate again and again until the sponge looked exhausted. “I didn’t mean it,” Laila said, but her words sounded thin, as if they’d been stretched too far. The air between them felt sharp, not just quiet. Even the refrigerator’s hum seemed to hold its breath. Laila watched her father’s hands and wished she could rewind the last ten minutes the way you rewind a song.

The author describes the clock as “talking” and the refrigerator as “holding its breath.” How does this personification affect the tone?