Answer:
B. In the absence of surprise, a witty remark loses much of its humorous effect.
Explanation:
Answer B
Correct. In the first sentence of the third paragraph, the author makes the claim that “merriment” (amusement) can be produced only by “a sudden impression,” that is, a surprise. In the second sentence of the paragraph, the author advances that claim by using the clause “which is expected” to assert that jests (witty remarks) lacking such an element of surprise (because the audience is expecting them) lose much of their humor and are thus effectively “already destroyed.”
numbering the steps and adding illustrations
False, every word has a part of speech that it belongs to.