The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he …

Question

The stranger still stood in the exact middle of the cottage, where he had first planted himself. His singularity impelled a closer scrutiny. A lean, gloomy figure. Hair dark and lank, mattedly streaked over his brow. His sunken pitfalls of eyes were ringed by indigo halos, and played with an innocuous sort of lightning: the gleam without the bolt. The whole man was dripping. He stood in a puddle on the bare oak floor: his strange walking-stick vertically resting at his side.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence ('His singularity impelled a closer scrutiny') in the text as a whole?

Accepted Answer

B. It sets up the character description presented in the sentences that follow.

Choice A is the best answer. The underlined sentence asserts that the stranger's uniqueness invited careful examination, setting up the following sentences' description of his physical features. B implies a relationship to the prior sentence; C presupposes the prior sentence described him; D mislabels a character description as setting.

Answer

It introduces the setting that is described in the sentences that follow.

Answer

It establishes a contrast with the description in the previous sentence.

Answer

It elaborates on the previous sentence's description of the character.