The following text is from Herman Melville's 1854 novel The Lightning-rod Man.

The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. His singularity impelled a closer scrutiny. A lean, gloomy figure. Hair dark and lank, mattedly streaked over his brow. His sunken pitfalls of eyes were ringed by indigo halos, and played with an innocuous sort of lightning: the gleam without the bolt. The whole man was dripping. He stood in a puddle on the bare oak floor: his strange walking-stick vertically resting at his side.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the overall structure of the text?

In recommending Bao Phi's collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the spoken-word poet don't lose their____blank nature when printed: the language has the same pleasant musical quality on the page as it does when performed by Phi.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The following text is adapted from Virginia Woolf's 1919 novel Night and Day. Katharine is the granddaughter of a celebrated poet.

[Katharine's] descent from [a celebrated poet] was no surprise to her, but matter for satisfaction, until, as the years wore on, certain drawbacks made themselves very manifest. Perhaps it is a little depressing to inherit not lands but an example of intellectual virtue; perhaps the conclusiveness of a great ancestor is a little discouraging to those who run the risk of comparison with him.

As used in the text, what does the word "manifest" most nearly mean?

The discoverers of the minor planet 2731 Cucula named it after the animal genus that includes cuckoos. Most of the recently discovered minor planets, however, are given only an identification number, a trend that can be ______ to there being over 500,000 such bodies known at present, making it nearly impossible to find a unique name for each..

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park need airlines, car rentals, hotels, and restaurants during their visits. These services generate carbon emissions. Emily Wilkins and Jordan Smith found that most of the environmentally harmful emissions come from travel services to and from the park. Wilkins and Smith found that policymakers could help reduce these emissions by encouraging people to visit state or national parks closer to their homes to cut down on their travel.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?