1,2,last--------------------
Hello. Unfortunately you did not comment on the article to which this question refers, which makes it impossible for it to be answered. However, I will try to help you in the best possible way.
To answer this question, you must first read the article to which the question refers. Then you need to identify which element caused the students to think that there would be no prom, that is, you need to identify for what reason, there would be a possibility that this ball would not happen. That reason was what provoked the students' thinking and is the answer to your question. For example: The city may have gone through a natural disaster, the graduation class suffered a huge loss, there was not enough money to organize the ball, among others.
If you want french lessons you should look some up. Some teach Spanish also if your interested
The line is an example of a direct quotation. That is when a quotation by someone is unchanged and presented in its entirety. Of course, it's a part of a larger speech, but it's unchanged and can be as such analyzed for various things that the linguists would be searching for.
