Read this excerpt from edgar allan poe’s “the masque of the red death" and answer the question that follows. here the case was very different, as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. the apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. there was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. to the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. these windows were of stained glass whose colour varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. that at the eastern extremity was hung, for example in blue—and vividly blue were its windows. the second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. the third was green throughout, and so were the casements. the fourth was furnished and lighted with orange—the fifth with white—the sixth with violet. the seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. . and thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. what kind of writing does the excerpt represent? a. expository b. descriptive c. persuasive d. argumentative

Read the passage from the opinion of the court in brown v. board of education, written by justice warren. minors of the negro race, through their legal representatives, seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a nonsegregated basis. in each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race. this segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the fourteenth amendment. in each of the cases other than the delaware case, a three-judge federal district court denied relief to the plaintiffs on the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine announced by this court in plessy v. ferguson, 163 u.s. 537. under that doctrine, equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though these facilities be separate. in the delaware case, the supreme court of delaware adhered to that doctrine, but ordered that the plaintiffs be admitted to the white schools because of their superiority to the negro schools. which statement best describes the passage? a. warren explains the students’ position, then describes how it has been previously handled by the courts. b. warren provides reasons why segregation is permissible, then offers evidence to support the reasons. c. warren claims that the students don’t have grounds to sue, then gives reasons why not. d. warren gives a history of segregation in america, then explains how the students fit into that history.