|Question 8Verbal

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Text
The following text is from Lady Gregory's 1904 play Spreading the News. Mrs. Tarpey, Bartley, and Mrs. Fallon have been buying and selling goods at the local fair.

MRS. TARPEY: Good morrow, Bartley Fallon; good morrow, Mrs. Fallon. Well, Bartley, you'll find no cause for complaining to-day; they are all saying it was a good fair.

BARTLEY: (Raising his voice.) It was not a good fair, Mrs. Tarpey. It was a scattered sort of a fair. If we didn't expect more, we got less. That's the way with me always; whatever I have to sell goes down and whatever I have to buy goes up. If there's ever any misfortune coming to this world, it's on myself it pitches, like a flock of crows on seed potatoes.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It discusses an event that Mrs. Tarpey believes is unlikely to occur.
A
It uses a counterexample to raise questions about a claim that Bartley made.
B
It provides a description of something that happened to Bartley at the fair.
C
It presents a vivid image to emphasize a claim that Bartley makes.
D