Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable word.
The children spoke _____ a whisper as they were scared.

Answer 1

Hint: A preposition is a function word that combines with a noun or pronoun or noun phrase to form a prepositional phrase that can have an adverbial or adjectival relation to some other word.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which word can be used to fill the sentence ‘The children spoke _____ a whisper as they were scared.’
The word ‘whisper’ in the sentence is a noun which is defined as ‘speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords’ and as ‘a light noise, like the noise of silk clothing or leaves blowing in the wind’.
Now, we know that prepositions are usually short words which are usually placed directly before a noun. Thus, a preposition shall be used in the blank in this sentence.
Some common prepositions are – to, for, up, on, in, over, etc.
‘In’ is a preposition which is defined as ‘Denoting a state of the subject’ and ‘Indicates a language, script, tone, etc. of writing, speaking, etc.’
Thus, the word which should be used in the blank is ‘in’.
Therefore the answer is ‘The children spoke in a whisper as they were scared.’

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of nouns. A noun is a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action. A noun is the word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition.