Choose the word that best expresses the meaning of the underlined phrasal verb:
The school counsellor spent an hour gently trying to tease out what was really troubling the boy.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → elicit
A phrasal verb is a verb joined with a small word such as up, out or together. The two words together have a new meaning.
Tease out means to get information or feelings out of someone slowly and with care. Its closest meaning is elicit. Example: The teacher asked small questions to tease out why Aman had stopped coming to practice.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (1) suppress | to stop a feeling or piece of news from being shown or known | Kavya suppressed a laugh when the fan stopped in the middle of the speech. |
| (2) elicit (answer) | to draw out an answer, fact or reaction from someone (same as tease out) | Her question about the old days elicited a long story from Dadi. |
| (3) dismiss | to treat something as not worth thinking about | The coach dismissed the rumour about the team captain. |
| (4) exaggerate | to make something sound bigger or worse than it is | Uncle always exaggerates the size of the fish he caught. |