The correct answer is: “It gives the passage a breathless, suspenseful feel.”. Taken from the poem “<em>The Highwayman</em>” by Alfred Noyes (1906), the effect of the punctuation in the passage presented above is to create <u>suspense</u>, since it is a surprise to receive a troop of British soldiers instead of the highwayman. Throughout the poem, Noyes uses different tools to <em>mimic sound</em>. For instance, the lines are used to echo the sounds as in the passage above (<em>Marching—marching—</em>). Moreover, the lines emphasize the repetitive rhythm of the marching.
