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Craft and StructureHardFunction of an image in a literary passage

Craft and Structure practice question

The following text is from a novel. When the removal van pulled away, Ines stood in the empty front room and listened to it. Without the furniture the house had an echo she had never heard, as if it were already practising being someone else's.

Which choice best describes the function of the phrase 'practising being someone else's'?

  1. A. It conveys Ines's sense that the house is already slipping away from her.Correct
  2. B. It shows that the new owners have moved in.
  3. C. It indicates that the house is haunted.
  4. D. It suggests that Ines is glad to leave.

Answer: A. It conveys Ines's sense that the house is already slipping away from her.

The empty echo as the house rehearsing its next life: her loss, felt already.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. It shows that the new owners have moved in.
The van has only just left; no one has moved in.
C. It indicates that the house is haunted.
An echo is not a haunting.
D. It suggests that Ines is glad to leave.
The tone is of loss, not relief.

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