I believe it is an Idiom. Are there options to choose from?
The lack of workers in the South limited the industrial expansion. I would recommend some Quizlet, which asks you questions through flashcards, a test, or even a little game. Hope that helps!
A simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid. Now, you simply have to find the simile, and think about how you can interpret it. Since you did not attach the excerpt I can’t answer but at least this is how to do it.
Was is not an action, so it's a linking verb.
