Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. Awkward in movement or manner

Correct — D. The definition has two halves — movement and manner — and the word you want has to cover both.

Clumsy does: it describes someone who moves without coordination, and it extends to anything done awkwardly, as in a clumsy apology.

Every other option shifts the sense somewhere else — to comedy, to attentiveness, or to an uneven distribution → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Clownish — Clownish means resembling a clown, so it points at silliness meant to amuse. A clumsy person is not performing, and the definition says nothing about comedy.
• (b)
  Alert — Alert is quick to notice and react. That describes attention rather than movement, and it runs closer to the opposite of the definition than to it.
• (c)
  Imbalanced — Imbalanced describes an uneven distribution, or a disturbed state of mind. It may explain why someone stumbles, but it is not the ordinary word for awkwardness of manner.

A one-word substitute item is a matching exercise, not a vocabulary quiz. You want the word whose dictionary definition is the phrase in the stem — nothing added, nothing left out.

So read the phrase for its parts. Awkward in movement or manner carries two, which means a word covering only physical stumbling would be incomplete.

Clumsy is defined as awkward in movement or in handling things, and it carries over to speech and behaviour. That is how it takes both halves at once.

Key facts

• Clumsy means awkward in movement or in handling things, and extends to awkwardly done acts such as a clumsy apology.
• Clownish means resembling a clown, which concerns comic behaviour rather than coordination.
• Alert means quick to notice and respond, which runs opposite to the sense the stem wants.

Common traps

• Choosing imbalanced because a clumsy person looks unsteady on their feet
• Reading only the word movement and ignoring "or manner"
• Treating clownish as a neutral word for awkward when it implies comedy

No directly related past PYQ was found.