If you are tired of swimming, just _____ for a while.
- (a)struggle
- (b)stroke
- (c)float
- (d)streak
Answer
C
Why
Correct: C, float. To float is to stay on the surface without swimming strokes, which is the one option that gives a tired swimmer a rest while still keeping them safely up: 'if you are tired of swimming, just float for a while'.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)struggle: Struggling costs more effort than swimming did, so it is the opposite of the rest the sentence is offering and the very thing a tired swimmer must avoid.
- (b)stroke: A stroke is the arm-and-leg action of swimming itself, so this asks the tired swimmer to carry on doing exactly what they are tired of.
- (d)streak: 'Streak' means to move very fast in a straight line, which is effortful motion rather than rest.
Study next
Word choice driven by the clause that precedes the blankVerbs of movement in water: swim, wade, float, drift, diveLiteral and figurative senses of the same verb
Common traps
- Choosing a word because it belongs to the same topic as the sentence rather than because it fits the logic.
Asked as a fill-in-the-blank item in which four topic-related verbs compete and the preceding clause selects one.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice, not a real PYQ
Choose the word that fits: The log continued to _____ downstream long after the flood had passed.
- (a)sink
- (b)float
- (c)streak
- (d)struggle
Answer(b) float: it stays on the surface and is carried along. - practice, not a real PYQ
Choose the word that fits: If you are out of breath, stop running and _____ for a few minutes.
- (a)sprint
- (b)walk
- (c)race
- (d)dash
Answer(b) walk: the clause names exhaustion, so the advice must cost less effort.