A word choice "In __ of the case, I e-mailed Professor Duneier with many of my questions. He graciously replied, but for him, too, this was going to be a new experience. Knowing this actually helped m

Girls at the piano

A word choice "In __ of the case, I e-mailed Professor Duneier with many of my questions. He graciously replied, but for him, too, this was going to be a new experience. Knowing this actually helped me to relax a little." (A)apprehension (B) collaboration(C0 anticipation (D) assumption The answer is (C). I chose (A) because it seems to me that the student was nervous (or even worried). Is there a usage like "in apprehension of"? Or it's simply wrong because (C) is better?

Jul 3, 2019 6:16 AM

Answers · 5

I’m afraid the the only option that collocates well is “in anticipation of”. While it may be true that the speaker was apprehensive (or not; maybe it was excitement rather than apprehension), the adjective “apprehension” simply doesn’t collocate well between “in” and “of”. Also, we don’t really know if the speaker e-mailed the professor *because* of feelings of apprehension. All we know is that the speaker e-mailed the professor *before* the case. By the way, Piano Girl, what exam are you preparing for?

July 3, 2019

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