Question

identifying meter

which line is written in iambic tetrameter?

i plan to eat a healthy breakfast.
i brush my teeth first thing in the morning.
i try to fall asleep by ten.
i never like waking up.

Explanation:

Define iambic tetrameter

To identify the correct line, we must first define the target poetic meter. An iamb is a metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable (da-DUM). Tetrameter means there are four of these feet in a line, totaling eight syllables with a steady unstressed-stressed pattern:
da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM

Analyze the first option

Let's scan the syllables and stress patterns of: "I plan to eat a healthy breakfast."

• Syllables: I (1) plan (2) to (3) eat (4) a (5) heal- (6) thy (7) break- (8) fast (9).
• This line has 9 syllables, which does not fit the standard 8-syllable count of iambic tetrameter.

Analyze the second option

Let's scan: "I brush my teeth first thing in the morning."

• Syllables: I (1) brush (2) my (3) teeth (4) first (5) thing (6) in (7) the (8) mor- (9) ning (10).
• This line has 10 syllables and does not follow a strict iambic pattern.

Analyze the third option

Let's scan: "I try to fall asleep by ten."

• Syllables: I (1) try (2) to (3) fall (4) a- (5) sleep (6) by (7) ten (8).
• This line has exactly 8 syllables. Let's look at the stress pattern:

da-DUM | da-DUM | da-DUM | da-DUM
I try | to fall | a-sleep | by ten.

• This perfectly matches the unstressed-stressed rhythm of four iambic feet (Literary Devices).

Analyze the fourth option

Let's scan: "I never like waking up."

• Syllables: I (1) ne- (2) ver (3) like (4) wa- (5) king (6) up (7).
• This line has 7 syllables, which is too short for iambic tetrameter.

Answer:

• I plan to eat a healthy breakfast.
• I brush my teeth first thing in the morning.
• I try to fall asleep by ten. (Correct answer)
• I never like waking up.