Which of the following coordinating conjunctions is used to join sentence that contrast with each other

b. our party quickly made its way into the cave / but we failed to find our host [the cyclops] himself inside.

a. by showing how a character reacts to or interacts with his or her   surroundings

explanation:

the setting reveal information about a character by showing how a character reacts to or interacts with his or her   surroundings.

figurative language is a resource that fiction writers use to make better descriptions of what they want to write about or express. they can improve their stories, as they can elaborate more vivid and colorful sentences. this way, the reader will be able to have more detailed images in his/her mind.

places, objects, people and even feelings or emotions can be described with a lot of detail to metaphors, similes and personifications. making different kinds of comparisons to make a description more specific, as well as assigning human qualities to non-human objects (and vice-versa) can be very useful for science fiction writers.  

on the other hand, alliterations allow writers to elaborate more entertaining and creative sentences. it consists in using a sequence of words that start with the same consonant letter. they can be used to emphasize something important the writer wants to express, or just as a fun literary device.