Which skill is tested when you determine why the author chose certain words to convey meaning?

• A. Memorizing dates.
• B. Deciding the author’s age.
• C. Analyzing word choice and its effect on tone and meaning.
• D. Analyzing plot.

Answer: (C)

The key skill here is analyzing diction—the specific words an author chooses—and how those word choices shape tone and meaning. When you ask why the author picked certain words, you’re looking at connotation, precision, and imagery, and you consider how those choices set the mood (tone) and influence what the reader takes away about the subject. For example, selecting vivid, sensory details or strong, loaded words can push a reader toward feeling urgent, hopeful, critical, or nostalgic, even if the basic events don’t change. By focusing on how word choice works, you understand how language steers interpretation and emotion.

Other options pull you toward different tasks, like recalling dates, which is about memory rather than text analysis; guessing the author’s age, which isn’t about how the text conveys meaning; or examining plot, which centers on events and sequence rather than the impact of word choices on tone.