CR Question

<p>"Anthony's stamps were his greatest happiness and he bestowed impatient frowns on anyone who interrupted him at play with them."</p>

<p>Which best describes Anthiny's attitude toward those who disrupt him while he is engaged in activities related to stamp collecting?
A) solicitous
B) contemptuous
C) nonchalant
D) aloof
E) sullen</p>

<p>The right answer is B) contemptuous. I chose E) sullen because sullen means "showing irritation by a gloomy silence or reserve." Why is Anthony's attitude contemptuous and not sullen?</p>

<p>This question came from Barron's 2400.</p>

<p>“bestowing impatient frowns” is nowhere near reserved. Sullen is something I would liken to the silent treatment, not something that could be replaced by something like “shooting daggers out of his eyes”, or some other simile/metaphor that shows severe displeasure. Anthony seems like a child at play, someone who would sooner yell at someone who interrupted him, not someone who would show displeasure by gloomy silence.</p>

<p>Sullen is more like the okay.jpg meme face, while contemptuous is more like the FFFFFUUUUUU guy, if that makes any sense. Anyway, yes contemptuous is the right answer.</p>

<p>Did you bother looking up the definition of contemptuous?</p>

<p>how many vocab words do you have to memorize to get a 750+ on the CR</p>