I'm taking the test right now in the last paragraph of this excerpt, how does the author's use of language affect the tone? a. the phrases "finally one by one" and "gave in" convey a tone of weary relief. b. the clause "he could not remember" conveys a trustworthy tone. c. the phrases "'acquire refiners'" and "he could not remember but one" convey a tone of mocking disapproval. d. the clause "at every point they met interference" conveys a bragging tone. excerpt from the history of the standard oil company by ida tarbell at the beginning of the work of absorption—1874—there were between twenty-two and thirty refineries in the town. as we have seen, lockhart and frew sold to the standard oil company of cleveland some time in 1874. in the fall of that year a new company was formed in pittsburgh, called the standard oil company of pittsburgh. its president was charles lockhart; its directors william frew, david bushnell, h. m. flagler, and w. g. warden—all members of the standard oil company and four of them stockholders in the south improvement company. this company at once began to lease or buy refineries. many of the pittsburgh refiners made a valiant fight to get rates on their oil which would enable them to run independently. to save expense they tried to bring oil from the oil fields by barge; the pipelines in the pool refused to run oil to barges, the railroad to accept oil brought down by barge. an independent pipeline attempted to bring it to pittsburgh, but to reach the works the pipeline must run under a branch of the pennsylvania railroad. it refused to permit this, and for months the oil from the line was hauled in wagons from the point where it had been held up, over the railroad track, and there re-piped and carried to pittsburgh. at every point they met interference until finally one by one they gave in. according to mr. frew, who in 1879 was examined as to the condition of things in pittsburgh, the company began to “acquire refiners” in 1875. in 1877 they bought their last one; and at the time mr. frew was under examination he could not remember but one refinery in operation in pittsburgh not controlled by his company.