Function of Specific Words: Fiction/Drama Practice Test

In the following excerpt from an original drama, Captain Reyes questions Dr. Sato, a scientist, after a failed mission. The crew is exhausted, and the ship’s corridor lights flicker.

REYES: You told me the route was safe.

SATO: I told you it was probable.

REYES: People don’t die on probable.

SATO: People die on certainty, too.

REYES: Don’t turn this into philosophy.

SATO: It isn’t philosophy. It’s arithmetic with bones.

REYES: You’re cold.

SATO: No. I am clean.

The word clean most strongly functions to

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In the following excerpt from an original drama, Theo returns to his childhood home after years away and speaks with his father, Len, who has kept Theo’s room untouched.

LEN: I didn’t throw anything out.

THEO: I noticed. The air still tastes like dust and old apologies.

LEN: You always had a way with words.

THEO: You always had a way with silence.

LEN: I thought if I kept it the same, you’d come back the same.

THEO: That’s not how people work.

LEN: Then how do they work?

THEO: Like this: you pull on a thread and the whole sweater unravels.

The word unravels most strongly functions to

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