Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
The carriage foundered in a snowdrift and it took two hours to _______ it.
(a)exert
(b)pillage
(c)exacerbate
(d)extricate

Hint: An adjective is a word that expresses an attribute of something. Adjective is the word class that qualifies nouns.

Complete answer: In the given question, we have to find out which of the options given to us indicate that the carriage took two hours to take out or pull out from the snowdrift, as is indicated by the context of the sentence.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a), 'exert', is defined as ‘put to use.’
Therefore, option (a) is incorrect as it does not indicate that the carriage took two hours to take out or pull out from the snowdrift.

Option (b), ‘pillage', is defined as ‘goods or money obtained illegally.’
Therefore, option (b) is incorrect as it does not indicate that the carriage took two hours to take out or pull out from the snowdrift.

Option (c), ‘exacerbate', is defined as ‘make worse.’
Therefore, option (c) is incorrect as it does not indicate that the carriage took two hours to take out or pull out from the snowdrift.

Option (d), ‘extricate', is defined as ‘release from entanglement of difficulty.’
Therefore, option (d) is correct as it indicates that the carriage took two hours to take out or pull out from the snowdrift.

Note: In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of context in a sentence or in general. Context is discourse that surrounds a language unit and helps to determine its interpretation. It is the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event.