Read the excerpt from Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

In the darkness there was a low sob and T.J., hardly sounding like T.J., mumbled, "They the ones got me in it. Where's the bed? I gotta sit down."

In the darkness he groped for the bed, his feet dragging as if he could hardly lift them. "I ain't no bed!" I exclaimed as his hands fell on me.

Which words from the excerpt best help the reader determine a tone of distress?

"exclaimed," "hands," and "feet"

"sob," "groped," and "dragging"

"darkness," "bed," and "lift"

"sounding," "sit," and "ain’t"

Tone is conveyed through word choice, in literature. It helps readers understand what the narrator and/or other characters are feeling, or what the situation is supposed to inspire in readers. The only way for the author to convey such sensations and emotions is by choosing words that are connected to them.

In the passage we are analyzing here, the words "sob," "groped," and "dragging" convey distress. Distress means extreme anxiety or extreme sorrow, suffering, affliction. A person who is not feeling anxious, sad, or suffering is not likely to sob, to grope, or to drag. Lighter words would be used to describe them. Now, if people drag their feet and grope around while sobbing, we can sense they are distressed.