Question

Fill in the blank with appropriate compound word:
That a child would be born was ____________ by a sage a long time ago.
A) Foretold
B) Foreshadowed
C) Foregrounded
D) Forwarded

Answer 1

Hint: When two words are merged to create a single meaning, the result is a compound phrase. The majority of English compound nouns are noun phrases (also known as nominal phrases) that contain a noun modified by adjectives or noun adjuncts. The two grades are also difficult to discern due to the English proclivity for conversion. The plurality of English compound nouns with more than two words can be formed recursively by combining two words at a time.

Complete answer:
When a modifying adjective is combined with its noun to form a new noun, an open compound word is formed. This isn’t the same as a noun with a modifying adjective. Since we only use a space between the adjective and the noun, it's often difficult to tell whether it's a compound; however, if the two terms are always used together, it's a compound word.

The term 'foretold' in this context refers to something that was announced or spoken about a long time ago, often by a religious figure; hence, Option A is the correct response. Many of the remaining alternatives don't make sense in the context of the rest of the sentence.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: All of the other possibilities are rational diversionary tactics. To find the correct answer, you must first consider the context of each choice. As a consequence, there are three ways to write compound words: a) as open compounds (two words spelled together, e.g., ice-cream), closed compounds (two words combined to form a single word, e.g., doorbell), or hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a hyphen, e.g.:- brother-in-law).