Select the correct text in the passage.
Naturalist writers used setting to enhance the theme of unpredictability in nature. Which four phrases in this excerpt from Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" reflect the mercilessness of the sea?
None of them knew the color of the sky. Their eyes glanced level, and were fastened upon the waves that swept toward them. These waves were of the hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foaming white, and all of the men knew the colors of the sea. The horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose, and at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks.
Many a man ought to have a bathtub larger than the boat which here rode upon the sea. These waves were most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall, and each froth-top was a problem in small-boat navigation.
"These waves were of the hue of slate, save for the tops, which were of foaming white" and "These waves were most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall"
The four phrases in this excerpt that reflect the mercilessness of the sea are:
1. "These waves were of the hue of slate"
2. "at all times its edge was jagged with waves that seemed thrust up in points like rocks"
3. "These waves were most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall"
4. "each froth-top was a problem in small-boat navigation"
The correct phrases in this excerpt that reflect the mercilessness of the sea are:
1. "these waves were of the hue of slate"
2. "all of the men knew the colors of the sea"
3. "the horizon narrowed and widened, and dipped and rose"
4. "these waves were most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall"
To identify these phrases, we need to look for descriptions that convey the harsh and unforgiving nature of the sea. In the given passage, phrases such as "hue of slate," "the colors of the sea," "the horizon narrowed and widened," and "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall" all emphasize the power and mercilessness of the sea.