Function of Imagery: Fiction/Drama Practice Test

Read the following original drama excerpt and determine the function of the bolded imagery.

Backstage at a small theater. Props are stacked in shadows. The muffled applause fades.

ELI: You missed your cue.

SASHA: I heard it. I just—couldn’t step into it.

ELI: It’s a line, Sasha. You walk, you speak.

SASHA: No. Tonight the curtain felt like a tongue holding back a confession, and the spotlight was a coin someone pressed to my eyelid.

ELI: You’re being dramatic.

SASHA: We sell drama. But my hands were two birds trapped in their own ribs.

Which choice best describes the function of the bolded imagery in the excerpt?

Read the following original drama excerpt and determine the function of the bolded imagery.

Small-town council chamber. Fluorescent lights buzz. A pitcher of water sits untouched.

CHAIR: We’ll hear from Ms. Patel.

PATEL: Thank you. The river isn’t a line on your map; it’s our throat.

COUNCILOR REED: We’re discussing zoning, not poetry.

PATEL: Zoning is poetry with teeth. The proposed factory will pour waste like ink into a well, and our children will drink letters that spell nothing but sickness.

REED: That’s inflammatory.

PATEL: Yes. Because the water will be, too.

Which choice best describes the function of the bolded imagery in the excerpt?