Question

review the passage. the simile is shown in bold. if you could slice deep into the earth, you would find that it is arranged in layers. geologists—earth scientists—believe that the topmost layer of rock, or crust, is between four and forty miles thick. earths crust is like an eggshell broken into ten enormous slabs and numerous smaller ones. these slabs, called plates, float on a layer of partially molten rock called the mantle—that is, the layer of rock between earths crust and core. from albert marrin, black gold: the story of oil in our lives. copyright 2012 by albert marrin what is the effect of the simile on the passages meaning or tone? it illustrates that the earths crust is fragmented. it suggests that the earths crust is pale in color. it highlights how fragile the earth is.

Explanation:

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using "like" or "as". In the sentence "Earth's crust is like an eggshell broken into ten enormous slabs and numerous smaller ones", the key part is "broken into...slabs...smaller ones". This comparison focuses on the fragmented state of the crust (like a broken eggshell) rather than color (no mention of color in the simile) or the fragility of the whole Earth (the simile is about the crust's structure, not the Earth's overall fragility).

Answer:

It illustrates that the earth's crust is fragmented.