Indicate the role the gerund phrase services in this sentence. Repairing the engine in his car was a major task for Tom.

a.) subject
b.) direct object
c.) indirect object
d.) predicate noun
e.) object of a preposition

Explain the effect of the juxtaposition of the following lines that serve as a beginniing to the new section that begins on page nine: anguish. german soldiers-with their steel helmets and their deaths-head emblem. still, our first impressions of the germans were rather reassuring.