Question

Expand the underlined phrase to a clause similar in meaning:
I cannot figure out what to do next if I have to get out of this situation.
A) NO CHANGE
B) What I should do next
C) Which step I should take
D) Mathematical expressions

Answer 1

Hint: Synonyms play an important role in replacing a word or a phrase. Synonyms are basically those words that have the same or similar or identical meaning in such a way that it can be substituted or can be replaced in place of each other.

Complete answer:
Let us analyze the given options:
Option A) NO CHANGE – this is an incorrect answer because the correct answer lies in option B, So, this option is void.
Option B) What I should do next – is the correct answer because ‘what to do next’ can be meaningfully substituted with this option because the meaning of both these two short sentences are synonyms of each other i.e., they are similar in meaning and be meaningfully used in place of each other. The infinitive 'to do' is replaced by the verb 'should do' and the subject 'I' is introduced in the sentence. This option maintains the meaning of the underlined phrase.
Option C) Which step I should take – the meaning of which is ‘asking for information’. Thus, the use of options here in the blank will make it grammatically incorrect and also the real meaning or real sense of the sentence. Thus, this option cannot replace the underlined phrase because of the difference in their meaning. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Mathematical expressions – ‘mathematical expression’ is a noun phrase but not a noun clause and the use of this option in the blank will change the meaning of the sentence. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘B’ i.e, I cannot figure out what I should do next if I have to get out of this situation.

Note: For better understanding it is very important to know the difference between the noun phrase and the noun clause.
Noun clause: independent clause and functions as a noun. Noun clauses usually start with what, whom, whatever. Noun clauses will also work as a subject, object, predicate and preposition in the sentence.

Noun phrase: Noun phrase is a group of words containing a noun and it functions as the subject, object or object preposition in the sentence. A noun phrase does not contain a subject or a verb.