Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

There were, in the darkness of the night, silence for a while except for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we watched, snow began to shift on the ledge.

There were, in the darkness of the night, silence for a while except for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we watched,

There was, in the darkness of the night, silence for a while but for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we were watching,

There was, in the darkness of the night, silence meanwhile except for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we watched,

There was, in the darkness of the night, silence for a while except for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we watched,

There were, in the darkness of the night, silence for a while but for the vicious howl of the wind and then, as we watched,