Question

Choose the most appropriate option to replace the underlined clause-
Riya was heartbroken when her mother gave away her kittens.
a. Riya had a heart attack
b. Riya was very sad
c. Riya had a heartache
d. Riya broke away

Answer 1

Hint: An idiomatic expression is a type of informal English where the meaning of the expression is different from the literal meaning of the expression.

Complete answer:
The underlined words “Riya was heartbroken” form an idiomatic expression. Her heart did not literally break, it is a metaphoric term, but ‘heartbroken’ means to suffer from emotional grief. So, the answer we have has to be a metaphoric understanding and not a literal one.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
- Option ‘a’ is Riya had a heart attack. Here, this option is conveying a literal meaning of the underlined phrase. This option says that “Riya had a heart attack” which means she is literally having it. So, this is incorrect.
- Option ‘b’ is Riya was very sad. This option gives the correct meaning of the idiomatic expression. Grief means sad, which is clearly used in this option. This option is metaphorically conveyed, hence, is the correct option.
- Option ‘c’ is Riya had a heartache. This option also doesn’t refer to the emotional pain which Diya is going through, but the literal one. So, this is also incorrect.
- Option ‘d’ is Riya broke away. This option is also not referring to the emotional pain of Riya, but the literal one. So this is also not the correct answer.

> As we have analysed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct one. Here, the word which can replace the underlined clause, “Riya was heartbroken” is “Riya was very sad”. Hence, option ‘b’ is the correct option.

Note: Don’t get confused between “sad” and “broke away”. Differentiate the given options by the literal and metaphoric basis.