Direction: Choose the correct meaning of the underlined phrase/idiom from the…

An idiom is a fixed expression whose overall meaning cannot be worked out from the literal meaning of its individual words; it must be learned and recognised as a whole unit. "Add fuel to the fire" is a common English idiom that means to make an already difficult, heated, or emotionally charged situation even worse, rather than resolving or reducing it.

In the given sentence, the discussion has already become emotional, and Priya is described as trying to "add fuel to the fire." Applying the idiom's meaning here, her action intensifies the already-heated exchange rather than calming it, resolving it, or stepping away from it.

Contrasting this meaning against each option value:

• calm the situation — describes actively reducing tension and restoring a peaceful tone, which is the opposite of pouring fuel onto a fire.

• increase the tension — matches the idiom's literal imagery directly: pouring fuel onto a fire makes it burn hotter and spread further, i.e. it intensifies conflict or anger rather than easing it.

• solve the problem — describes identifying and removing the root cause of a dispute, which is putting the fire out, not feeding it.

• avoid the argument — describes withdrawing from or sidestepping the confrontation altogether, without adding anything to it.

Only "increase the tension" corresponds to the idiom's meaning of intensifying an already emotional or heated exchange, so that is the correct meaning of "add fuel to the fire" in this sentence.