A sentence has been given with a blank to be filled with an appropriate option. Choose the correct alternative.

I strained ________ to catch his options.

hard

The correct answer is hard.

The sentence is saying that the speaker was trying very hard to hear what the other person was saying. The word hard is the most appropriate word to describe the speaker's effort.

The other words in the options do not have the same meaning.

• Hardly means almost not at all.
• Hardest means to the greatest degree.
• Hardness is a noun that means the quality of being hard.