Show to sentence so we can see and answer your question :)
There have been about 240,000 incidence per year that have been regarding lighting. But only about 2000 people are killed per year.
Don't mind Martin; he just likes to play devil's advocate, shows that Martin wants to provoke discussion.
The idiom “he just likes to play devil's advocate” is a Latin translation of ‘advocatus diaboli’ , refers to attack an argument even one is in favor of it in order to testify the validity of the proposition or to examine it’s strength.
In this story, we meet Zita, who is a girl with a very vivid imagination. When Zita slips out of her house, we are able to follow the thoughts that go through her head, which enables us to follow her train of thought.
Through these ideas, the author develops the setting of the story as well as Zita's character. We learn that she climbs unto a tree, and that the tree allows her to "jump and weave through the orchard." The use of words like "weave" by McClure creates a sense of vividness and motion. Moreover, Zita is described as jumping unto the roof and then scrambling up to her window. This description continues to develop the setting by explaining where everything is located. It also contributes to the characterization of Zita by describing her courage and agility.
You have to tell us which words are underlined, but I have a feeling the words were "a popular author of children's books." which is an appositive. Author is the same thing as Shel Silverstein.
