It is common for patients to stop _______ medicine as soon as they start feeling better.
- (a)eating
- (b)gulping
- (c)swallowing
- (d)taking
Answer
D
Why
Correct — D, taking. 'Take medicine' is the standard collocation for following a course of treatment, so 'stop taking medicine' is the idiomatic way to say patients discontinue their treatment.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)eating — One does not 'eat' medicine; English pairs medicine with the verb 'take', not 'eat'.
- (b)gulping — 'Gulp' means to swallow hastily; it is too informal and specific to describe following a prescribed course.
- (c)swallowing — 'Swallowing' names the one-off physical act, not the ongoing course of treatment that 'stop taking medicine' conveys.
Concept
A collocation item: the verb that pairs with 'medicine' for following a course of treatment is 'take'.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank: The doctor advised him to keep ______ his medicine for a full week.
- (a)eating
- (b)taking
- (c)gulping
- (d)chewing
Answer(b) taking — 'take medicine' is the standard collocation.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct verb: Patients should not ______ antibiotics without a prescription.
- (a)take
- (b)eat
- (c)drink
- (d)bite
Answer(a) take — one 'takes' antibiotics.