Question

Fill in the blank with the appropriate compound word:
Her _____________ in the sand was smaller than mine.
a) underfoot
b) footprint
c) footfall
d) footnote

Answer 1

Hint:When two words are used together to yield a new meaning, a compound word is formed. For example- sea+weed= seaweed.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which of the options given to us contains a compound word that fits in the sentence such that the sentence makes sense.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question-
Option (a.), 'underfoot', refers to ‘under the feet’.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as ‘her under the feet in the sand’ does not make sense.
Option (b.), ‘footprint', refers to ‘a mark of a foot or shoe on a surface’.
Therefore, option (b.) is correct as ‘the mark of her foot in the sand is smaller than mine’ makes sense as the two footprints’ size is being compared in the sentence.
Option (c.), ‘footfall', refers to ‘the sound of a step of someone walking’.
Therefore, option (c.) is incorrect as ‘footfall’ is a sound, and a sound cannot be appropriately described as ‘small’.
Option (d.), ‘footnote', refers to ‘a printed note placed below the text on a printed page’.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as ‘footnote in the sand’ is not relevant to the context.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the types of compound words. Compound words can be written in three ways: as open compounds (spelled as two words, e.g., ice cream), closed compounds (joined to form a single word, e.g., doorknob), or hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a hyphen, e.g., long-term).