In the beginning of the story, O. Henry captures the reader's attention by A. introducing the conflict and villain of the story.
B. telling us the importance of giving gifts at Christmas,
C. using lengthy, complete sentences that announce the joyful arrival of Christmas.
D. using sentence fragments and emphasizing a small amount of money just before Christmas.

In twelve years a slave, when the passengers on the ship learn robert has smallpox, what is their reaction? “panic-stricken” “indifferent” “relieved” “oppressed”

The greatest gift the sumerians gave the world was the invention of writing. the sumerians were a wealthy people. they needed some way to keep track of what they owned. they began drawing pictures. they used a reed as a pen. they drew on soft pieces of clay. the soft clay was then dried in the sun. the tablet became a permanent record. later, the sumerian drawings changed into wedge-shaped symbols. this kind of writing is called cuneiform. by putting symbols together, the sumerians could write entire sentences.

What steps best a reader determine the central idea of a text? select three options.