Answer:
The words from the excerpt that best help the reader determine a tone of distress are:
B. "sob," "groped," and "dragging"
Explanation:
<u>Tone is conveyed through word choice, in literature. It helps readers understand what the narrator and/or other characters are feeling, or what the situation is supposed to inspire in readers. </u>The only way for the author to convey such sensations and emotions is by choosing words that are connected to them.
<u>In the passage we are analyzing here, the words "sob," "groped," and "dragging" convey distress. Distress means extreme anxiety or extreme sorrow, suffering, affliction. A person who is not feeling anxious, sad, or suffering is not likely to sob, to grope, or to drag.</u> Lighter words would be used to describe them. <u>Now, if people drag their feet and grope around while sobbing, we can sense they are distressed.</u>
