Excluding hebrews, how many known writers penned general epistles? seven three two four five

Correct  FOUR

In addition to Paul, other writers of general epistles in the New Testament were Peter and John (apostles) and James and Jude (brothers of Jesus and leaders in the church).'

The reason for excluding Hebrews from your list is that we don't know for certain the authorship of that epistle.  Among the church fathers, Augustine thought it also was written by Paul, but Tertullian attributed it to Barnabas (a coworker with Paul).  Martin Luther suggested it may have been Apollos, another of Paul's coworkers.  Early 20th century theologian Adolph von Harnack proposed that Hebrews was written by Priscilla, a female coworker of Paul's -- and that her being a woman was the reason that the author's name was not maintained by the church later.

d. the polar jet stream   lies between the polar easterlies and trade winds should be your answer

d. i assume the underlined word is "role." reformat if it isn't.

explanation:

role is closest to part because when replacing words, "playing a vital decision," "playing a vital activity," and "playing a vital dollar" don't make logical sense. the only meaningful choice is "playing a vital part."

this fits one of merriam-webster's definitions of role: "a function or part performed especially in a particular operation or process."