D. "Neither my friends nor my family cares about me," said Finlay.
In this sentence there are two subjects, "friends" and "family". Since the conjunction "neither...nor" is used, the subject-verb agreement gets a little tricky. If both subjects were singular, as in he or she, the verb must agree with a singular subject. This is because it is either one or the other not both. In this sentence, one subject is plural, friends, and one subject is singular, family. Family is considered a collective noun, so even though there are many people in the family, there is only one family. Since family is closest to the verb and it is singular, "to care" must be in the singular form. Option B and C are wrong because the verbs "were" and "are" are plural verbs.
Cacophony means a harsh, discordant mixture of sound that is annoying or irritating. A combination of sounds that is not in harmony.
The words that form the clue to the meaning of cacophony are:
1) blare, battered, trumpet
2) smash, cymbals
3) anguished, screech, poorly-played saxophone
Trumpet, cymbals, and saxophone are all musical instruments. If these instruments were in very good condition and were played well, then the sounds they would have produced will be harmonious.
Narration is the perspective from which the narrator tells the story; True