The author's word choice help to express the tone of the excerpt since The negative connotations of the words "tensely," "clutching," and "sizzled" give the excerpt a tone of nervousness.
Explanation:
Adjectives and adverbs are a very important and defining part of speech as we try to convey and idea or as in this excerpt a feeling and even more to set the mood and atmosphere, the words used are deeply intense and can cause on the reader the same feeling as Louise Carpenter must be holding in that moment
