Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank. The glass pane of my…

Concept: In vocabulary-in-context fill-in-the-blank questions, when every option is grammatically valid (here, all four options are simple past-tense verb forms), the blank is decided by meaning alone — the verb chosen must describe an action or event that is realistically possible for the subject of the sentence.

Application: The subject of the blank is 'the glass pane of my window'. A glass pane is a rigid, fragile object, and the everyday event that can happen to it 'this morning' is that it broke — separated into pieces or cracked. Among 'lived', 'rang', 'broke', and 'grew', only 'broke' describes something that can happen to a glass pane, so the sentence reads: 'The glass pane of my window broke this morning.'

Cross-check: Substituting each remaining option confirms this — a glass pane cannot 'live' (living applies to organisms), cannot 'ring' (ringing describes a sound-producing object like a bell or phone), and cannot 'grow' (growing applies to living things or increasing quantities); only 'broke' produces a sentence that makes sense.

• lived: an inanimate glass pane does not exist as a living being over time, so this verb does not fit the sentence's subject.

• rang: a breaking glass pane produces a shattering sound, not the resonant ringing sound this verb describes, so it does not fit.

• grew: a fixed glass pane does not increase in size or maturity, so this verb does not fit.