Choose the options where the underlined words are used correctly.
(A) To cease, to strive not, is my new motto.
(B) A popular phrase exhorts us to be active and seize the day!
(C) I was so angry, I wanted to cease him by his collar.
(D) He wanted to seize the opportunity at the earliest.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (B) and (D) only
(A) To cease, to strive not, is my new motto. — Correct. Cease means to stop. The speaker's motto is to stop and not to strive any more. (Cease and seize sound almost alike: cease means to stop; seize means to take hold of something suddenly and firmly.)
Example: The factory ceased production last year.
(B) A popular phrase exhorts us to be active and seize the day! — Correct. Seize the day means make the most of the present; to seize is to grab, here to grab every chance.
Example: The soldiers seized the enemy's weapons.
(C) I was so angry, I wanted to cease him by his collar. — Incorrect. Grabbing someone by the collar is a physical act of taking hold, which needs seize, not cease (stop).
Corrected: I was so angry, I wanted to seize him by his collar.
(D) He wanted to seize the opportunity at the earliest. — Correct. To seize an opportunity is to use it quickly before it is lost; this is a standard phrase.