Select the most appropriate option to substitute the underlined word segment…

Concept

An idiom is a fixed multi-word expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from its individual words. In a substitution item the replacement has to do two jobs at once: it must carry the same meaning as the underlined segment, and it must fit the sentence's grammar - the same tense, and the same fit with the words that follow.

Application

1. Read what the underlined segment reports: the action is weeping, and its onset is abrupt ('suddenly'), in the past tense.

2. So the required idiom must mean 'began weeping abruptly', and must be available in a past form.

3. 'Break into tears' is the fixed English idiom for an abrupt, involuntary onset of weeping, and its past form 'broke into tears' keeps the sentence in the past tense.

4. Grammar check: 'broke into tears' takes no object, so it joins directly to the adverbial phrase that follows, giving 'She broke into tears on seeing her mother.'

Contrast

The remaining idioms in this set belong to unrelated areas of meaning, so none of them can replace a report of weeping:

• 'bit the bullet' - forced oneself to face something painful with courage; this is about endurance, not about weeping.

• 'lagged behind' - failed to keep pace with others; this is about relative progress or speed, not about weeping.

• 'blazed a trail' - was the earliest to do something and opened a path for others; this is about pioneering work, not about weeping.

Result: She broke into tears on seeing her mother.