Dear Magneto,
1. I left the house in a hurry and my bedroom was ...... with clothes.
a. scattered b. dispersed c. strewn d. sprinkled
Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005.
Be scattered: occur or be found at intervals rather than all together: there are many waterfalls scattered throughout the marshlands.
Be strewn with: cover (a surface or area) with untidily scattered things: the table was strewn with books and papers.
�... my bedroom was scattered with clothes�
is the same as
�... my bedroom was found at intervals rather than all together with clothes�. This sentence is nonsensical.
For this sentence to be grammatically correct, it would need to be:
�I left the house in a hurry and bedclothes were scattered throughout my bedroom�.
The clue is the word �with�.
1. I left the house in a hurry and my bedroom was strewn with clothes.
1. I left the house in a hurry and my bedroom was covered with untidily scattered clothes.
2. We giggled at the sight of Mrs Brown ...... down the road in her six-inch stiletto heels.
a. staggering b. reeling c. tottering d. stumbling
Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005.
Stagger (verb): [no object] walk or move unsteadily, as if about to fall: he staggered to his feet, swaying a little.
(noun) an unsteady walk or movement: she walked with a stagger.
Totter (verb): [no object, with adverbial] move in a feeble or unsteady way: a hunched figure tottering down the path.
(noun) : a feeble or unsteady gait.
Here, I think that the description of the movement gives us a clue. Both descriptions say �unsteady�, but only �Totter� says �feeble�. This suggests that the movement, (not described as a �walk� but as an �unsteady gait�), is weak and cannot really be described as a walk, in the true sense of the word.
Moreover, the phrase, �the hunched figure� suggests that the figure is not walking upright, or in a normal fashion, but is having difficulty in moving.
These descriptions are more characteristic of a woman tottering in stiletto heels, than a woman staggering from side to side.
Finally, in the Dictionary definitions, both verbs have no object, but �Stagger� is not followed by an adverbial. However, �Totter� is followed by an adverbial.
Both the Dictionary example for �Totter� and the Exam Question use the adverb �down�. The appropriate word to complete the sentence is, therefore, �Totter�.
2. We giggled at the sight of Mrs Brown tottering down the road in her six-inch stiletto heels.
2. We giggled at the sight of Mrs Brown moving in a feeble or unsteady way down the road in her six-inch stiletto heels.
I hope that I have helped you.
Les
