Also in 2026 Practice Test A English, question 14.
Passage Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness
Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness
by Grace Livingston Hill
With a lurch the train came to a dead stop and Margaret Earle, hastily gathering up her belongings, hurried down the aisle and got out into the night.
It occurred to her, as she swung her heavy suit-case down the rather long step to the ground, and then carefully swung herself after it, that it was strange that neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station; but she could hear voices up ahead. Perhaps something was the matter with the engine that detained them and they had forgotten her for the moment.
The ground was rough where she stood, and there seemed no sign of a platform. Did they not have platforms in this wild Western land, or was the train so long that her car had stopped before reaching it?
She strained her eyes into the darkness, and tried to make out things from the two or three specks of light that danced about like fireflies in the distance. She could dimly see moving figures away up near the engine, and each one evidently carried a lantern. The train was tremendously long. A sudden feeling of isolation took possession of her. Perhaps she ought not to have got out until some one came to help her. Perhaps the train had not pulled into the station yet and she ought to get back on it and wait. Yet if the train started before she found the conductor she might be carried on somewhere and he justly blame her for a fool.
There did not seem to be any building on that side of the track. It was probably on the other, but she was standing too near the cars to see over. She tried to move back to look, but the ground sloped and she slipped and fell in the cinders, bruising her knee and cutting her wrist.
In sudden panic she arose. She would get back into the train, no matter what the consequences. They had no right to put her out here, away off from the station, at night, in a strange country. If the train started before she could find the conductor she would tell him that he must back it up again and let her off. He certainly could not expect her to get out like this.
She lifted the heavy suit-case up the high step that was even farther from the ground than it had been when she came down, because her fall had loosened some of the earth and caused it to slide away from the track. Then, reaching to the rail of the step, she tried to pull herself up, but as she did so the engine gave a long snort and the whole train, as if it were in league against her, lurched forward crazily, shaking off her hold. She slipped to her knees again, the suit-case, toppled from the lower step, descending upon her, and together they slid and rolled down the short bank, while the train . . . ran giddily off into the night.
The horror of being deserted helped the girl to rise in spite of bruises and shock. She lifted imploring hands to the unresponsive cars as they hurried by her—one, two, three, with bright windows, each showing a passenger, comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need.
A moment of useless screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention, a sickening sense of terror and failure, and the last car slatted itself past with a mocking clatter, as if it enjoyed her discomfort.
Margaret stood dazed, reaching out helpless hands, then dropped them at her sides and gazed after the fast-retreating train, the light on its last car swinging tauntingly, blinking now and then with a leer in its eye, rapidly vanishing from her sight into the depth of the night.
She gasped and looked about her for the station that but a short moment before had been so real to her mind; and, lo! on this side and on that there was none!
The night was wide like a great floor shut in by a low, vast dome of curving blue set with the largest, most wonderful stars she had ever seen. Heavy shadows of purple-green, smoke-like, hovered over earth darker and more intense than the unfathomable blue of the night sky. It seemed like the secret nesting-place of mysteries wherein no human foot might dare intrude. It was incredible that such could be but common sage-brush, sand, and greasewood wrapped about with the beauty of the lonely night.
No building broke the inky outlines of the plain, nor friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart. Not even a tree was in sight, except on the far horizon, where a heavy line of deeper darkness might mean a forest. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the blue, deep, starry dome above and the bluer darkness of the earth below save one sharp shaft ahead like a black mast throwing out a dark arm across the track.
As soon as she sighted it she picked up her baggage and made her painful way toward it, for her knees and wrist were bruised and her baggage was heavy.
A soft drip, drip greeted her as she drew nearer; something plashing down among the cinders by the track. Then she saw the tall column with its arm outstretched, and looming darker among the sage-brush the outlines of a water-tank. It was so she recognized the engine’s drinking-tank, and knew that she had mistaken a pause to water the engine for a regular stop at a station.
cinders: track bed made from the residue of burnt coal
From A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS by Grace Livingston Hill—Public Domain
Question
In paragraph 2, how does the phrase “when all three had taken the trouble to tell her” affect the tone in the first part of the excerpt?
- AIt creates an accusatory tone by suggesting that Margaret believes that others are responsible for her problem.
- BIt introduces a defiant tone by suggesting that Margaret left the train early to prove a point.
- CIt suggests a frustrated tone by showing that Margaret feels confused by the inconsistent help offered by the railroad employees.
- DIt establishes an appreciative tone by showing that Margaret feels cared for by the railroad employees.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks how the phrase affects the tone in the first part of the excerpt. The phrase includes the words “all three” and “taken the trouble,” emphasizing Margaret’s early frustration as she recalls with some confused irritation that the men thought she needed an abundance of help earlier, but none of them is around to help when the train stops, as indicated in Option C.
Option A is incorrect because when Margaret recalls the interaction, there is no indication that she blames the men for her current problem.
Option B is incorrect because, while the description of how Margaret “hastily [gathers] up her belongings” and “[hurries] down the aisle” (paragraph 1) gives the appearance of being defiant, there is no evidence that she intentionally put herself in this vulnerable position just to make a point.
Option D is incorrect because when Margaret recalls the interaction, there is no evidence that she appreciates the care shown to her, but rather she seems a bit offended that the men do not think she could take care of herself, as shown by the author’s description of the forceful way she exits the train without assistance when it stops.
Question analysis
This tone question looks at a phrase from the opening of Grace Livingston Hill’s novel A Voice in the Wilderness, as Margaret Earle steps off a train at night. Students decide what attitude the phrase about the three railroad men creates. The wording is low-key and old-fashioned, which makes the attitude behind it easy to misjudge.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 tone questions usually rest on clearly charged words; this one hinges on an understated phrase in century-old prose. Students must read how Margaret feels about the trainmen from context, without help from any strongly worded clue.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer major
- Complex sentences moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Hard words minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 96 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The phrase is understated, and old-fashioned wording hides how Margaret feels. Students who sense criticism of the trainmen often push it too far into blame, which she does not reach until paragraph 6, while those who take “taken the trouble” at face value hear gratitude. The question rewards reading the whole sentence: “it was strange” and her quick excuse about engine trouble show puzzlement and mild irritation, not accusation.
A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The accusatory choice and the frustrated choice both find a negative attitude toward the railroad employees; only the degree separates them, since Margaret calls their absence “strange” and excuses it rather than blaming them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The phrase sits deep inside a 66-word sentence that opens with her swinging the suit-case down and closes with voices up ahead, so its contrast is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Margaret never says she is annoyed; the feeling comes from the contrast between “all three had taken the trouble to tell her” and none of them coming to help. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
Each choice turns on a tone word, “accusatory,” “defiant,” “frustrated,” “appreciative,” and students unsure of these labels cannot match them to the scene. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Strategy: Reread the full sentence the phrase sits in, ask how Margaret feels about the three men at this moment, and match both the feeling and its reason to a choice.
Traps
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
- Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
The wrong answers, classified
A Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Rightly hears criticism of the three trainmen but inflates puzzlement into blame; she even excuses them with possible engine trouble, and only in paragraph 6 thinks “They had no right.”
B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Builds a story of defiance from her hasty exit in paragraph 1, though nothing suggests she left the train early to prove anything to anyone.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Takes “taken the trouble” as gratitude for the men’s care, reading the phrase on its own and missing the sentence’s point that none of them came to help.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks about tone: the feeling or attitude that the words give. What does one phrase show about how Margaret feels toward the train workers?
Read the whole sentence
In paragraph 2, Margaret thinks “it was strange that neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station.”
Work out the feeling
A conductor, a brakeman and a porter are train workers. To take the trouble means to make an effort. All three made an effort to tell her about her stop. But now none of them comes to help. That doesn’t add up, and she calls it “strange.” She feels puzzled and a bit annoyed. That is frustration.
She even makes excuses for them: “Perhaps something was the matter with the engine.” So she is not blaming them.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. “Accusatory” means blaming. Margaret makes excuses for the workers instead.
- B is wrong. “Defiant” means boldly refusing to obey. Nothing shows she left the train to prove a point.
- C is right. The workers were helpful at first and then vanished. She is confused and frustrated.
- D is wrong. “Appreciative” means thankful. The point is that nobody came to help.
Watch out: A is tempting because she does find the workers’ absence odd. But odd is not the same as their fault.
Choose the answer
The phrase shows Margaret puzzled by help that came and then disappeared. So the answer is C.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer, because both A and C find something negative in her thoughts. But A goes too far. Margaret does not blame the workers. She guesses they “had forgotten her for the moment.” She is puzzled, not accusing, as C says.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed (pages 128–129)
