a)

a)

a). The literal meaning of "manipulating" something is to put your hands on it and push it into a new position. For example, you shift a car by manipulating the shift lever. You need to "manipulate" a complicated gadget with many controls. A biologist works with microscopic cells by means of a micromanipulator. A chiropractor treats problems in the spine by "manipulation," pushing vertebrae that are out of place into their proper place. By extension, to "manipulate" means "to artificially change something," metaphorically by pushing or squeezing or shaping. A stock market operator "manipulates" the price of a stock by creating a false rumor to drive the price up. A controlling person may try to "manipulate" someone emotionally by telling them clever lies. There are various words for altering a photographic image. "Retouching" means the practice of making a person look more handsome or beautiful than they really are, by making small changes. "Manipulation" means a bigger change that makes something look different than it really is. A manipulated photo is showing something false. For example, we once wanted to take a group picture of six of us, but there was no seventh person to take the photograph. Five of us sat in a group while I left my seat and took a picture of five people and an empty chair. Then I returned in my seat and another person left theirs and took a second picture. Later I combined the two pictures using Photoshop to make a picture of all six of us together and no empty chairs. That was a manipulated picture. It was false because the picture showed six people setting together, but in real life there had only been five at a time.

B)