1/ In the TOEIC STARTER listening, a woman says: "I �m so hungry. i didn �ty have time for breakfast this morning. I �m having a hard time waking up early enough these days." What �s wrong with this woman? there are 4 answer, but i just confuse between 2 answers:

a/ She didn �t have any food.

b/ She �s too busy.

 

the answer in the book is a.Could you help me explain the meaning of the sentence in underline.

 

2/ what is the function, part of speech, meaning of "by far", "set" in the following sentence:

a/ the holiday season is by far the busiest time of year for most stores

b/ almost all of the prisoners were set free.

 

I am really grateful to you for your help.

well, for the first question, (a) is for sure the right answer because nothing in the context tells us that she is a busy woman. True , we might infer that, but we might also understand that the woman is a late sleeper, in which case she is not really busy. However, she openly says: I AM SO HUNGRY. Therefore, SHE DIDN �T HAVE ANY FOOD.

 

By far = a prepositional phrase meaning BY A CONSIDERABLE MARGIN.

set = past participle of the verb" set ". The expression : SET FREE means: TO GRANT FREEDOM- TO LIBERATE. WERE SET in the statement is a passive form.

     I  hope I was of some help to you.

 

                                    HUGS from here.     abdel

She says: I didn �t have TIME to have breakfast."

I �d like to know the other two options. My guess is the woman is too tired and that is the reason why she can �t wake up early enough. I would definitely choose "Too busy", but if therre is an option saying "too tired" or "exhausted", I would choose that one.