Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
She heard a _______ at the door and went to see who was outside.
a) hit
b) knock
c) lean
d) strike
e) touch

Answer 1

Hint:Nouns are naming words, that is, any word that can name an instant of action, thing, place, person, quality or feeling. They are used with determiners to provide a proper subject for the verb intended to be used. For the above sentence, the noun used is referred to as a count noun, since it is preceded by “a”. At times, the plural form of the noun would be the same in the case of a count noun.

Complete answer:
Since the subject “heard” something, it is most likely a sound.
Now, looking at the options given above,
Hit: Hit is not a sound. It refers to strike or impact on the specific target. Eg: The ball hit the wall creating a dent.
Knock: is the sound produced during the action of tapping a door. This is most likely to be the answer for the above question. Eg: There was a knock on the door.
Lean: refers to bend or to incline on a surface. Here, the word to be used is as sound that the subject heard, removing this word from being an option. Eg: He leaned onto the door, tired from all the running.
Strike: refer to hit with or getting a target. Eg: She will strike the committee down for putting out false claims against her.
So, the correct answer is “Option b”.

Note:
Look for a word that correlates to a sound. It will be much easier to identify amongst the above words. For instance, in the above questions, “hit, lean and strike” are action words while “knock” is a sound made by gentle or even harsh tapping on a door, window or panel.