Question

Read the following passage and answer the question.
"I'm not sleepy," said Rainsford. "I'm going to smoke another pipe on the afterdeck."
…
Rainsford, reclining in a steamer chair, indolently puffed on his favorite brier. The sensuous drowsiness of the night was on him.

In the previous passage, what does the word brier refer to?
A. a chair
B. the afterdeck
C. a pipe
D. sleep

Answer 1

C. a pipe.  If you substitute each answer in for the word, you can rule out the wrong ones. 

Answer 2

Answer:

C. A pipe

Explanation:

Based on the context clues, that is to say, by only looking at the surrounding information of the word "brier", we can infer that this word refers to "pipe", because before Rainsford announced that he was going to smoke a pipe. The next thing that happens is that he is reclining in a steamer chair and "puffed on his favorite brier." Furthermore, from all the choices there is only one thing that can be puffed on or be blown: a pipe.