P. 784 – q. 20

The author of Passage 2 mentions ‘intonations, mistakes, involuntary grunts, and sighs’ (lines 45-46) in order to

a) imply that some audio-book readers have surprisingly poor speaking skills
b) assert that listening to audio books is enjoyable regardless of the reader’s speaking ability
c) argue that a speaker’s vocal inflections can obscure the author’s intended meaning
d) indicate that her ideas are considered idiosyncratic by some
e) suggest that unconscious expressions often betray one’s true opinions

The key here is that the grunts and sighs aren’t intentional. They’re the noises people make when they read in between words. Most people don’t even know how much noise like this they make until they hear recordings of themselves speaking. The author is arguing that hearing these noises is, basically, her version of “reading between the lines.” She learns about the writer and what the writer thinks of his or her own work by listening for those nonverbal sounds.