Select the phrase that best expresses the meaning of the underlined word. I am…

Concept

Idioms must be read as fixed units, not word-by-word: the same verb ('pull') takes a completely different sense depending on the particle that follows it (up, through, out, off). To answer, replace the underlined word with each phrase and keep only the one whose established idiomatic meaning equals the underlined word.

Application

The underlined word is scolded, meaning to reprimand or criticise someone for a fault or mistake. Among the phrasal verbs offered, pull (someone) up is the one that idiomatically means to rebuke or criticise a person for something they have done wrong. Substituting it gives: 'my teacher who persistently pulled me up for poor spelling' — which preserves the sense of repeated reprimanding.

Contrast

• pull through — to recover from or survive a difficult situation (e.g. an illness). This is about helping someone get better, not correcting them.

• pull out — to withdraw from or rescue someone out of a situation; it carries no sense of reprimand.

• pull off — to succeed in doing something difficult, or to remove/detach something; unrelated to criticising a fault.

Only pull (someone) up carries the meaning of reprimanding for a mistake, so it is the phrase that best expresses scolded.