Assess students' ability to analyze how diction, syntax, and figurative language establish tone and develop theme in selected 20th-century short stories. Tasks will require identifying specific word choices and sentence structures, naming and explaining literary devices (e.g., imagery, metaphor, irony), analyzing how these elements create tone, and linking that tone to the story’s thematic meaning using direct textual evidence; item types may include multiple-choice analysis, short-answer explanations, and one extended comparative response.